A bittersweet birthday for Spain’s Podemos – The Irish Times

At the height of its popularity in 2015, Podemos drew tens of thousands of people to Madrid’s Puerta del Sol Square. The party’s ponytailed leader, Pablo Iglesias, 36, called them out in a fiery speech, slamming austerity and citing Spain’s most famous literary heroes.

“We are not a brand. We are a nation of ordinary people,” he said. “We have dreams like Don Quixote, but we take our dreams very seriously.”

When Iglesias addressed his supporters in January 2014, just a year after the party was founded, Podemos (or “We Can”) was leading the polls. But as the party marks its 10th anniversary this week, those dreams he spoke of were harshly criticized. Tested. Podemos’ status as an electoral powerhouse has declined, Iglesias and many of his colleagues have withdrawn from active politics, and internal party fights with left-wing rivals have often overshadowed the policy agenda.

But despite its decline, few would dispute the fact that Podemos has had a profound and irreversible influence on Spanish politics.

The 2011 Indignant (or “Rage”) movement convinced Iglesias and a group of left-wing university academics that the new party was viable. During that period, young Spaniards protested across the country demanding greater housing rights, greater employment opportunities, and an end to the two-party system dominated by the center-left Socialist Party and the conservative Popular Party (PP). went.

Initially, Podemos eschewed the left-right paradigm, espousing a position in favor of the “lower ones,” and arguing against the political and economic “caste” that dominated Spain’s national life, from bankers and corporate bosses to governors. ” was viewed as an enemy. This strategy reflected inspiration that Podemos took from far-left Bolivarian governments in Latin America, such as the Hugo Chávez regime in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

The smoldering anger of many voters on the left and right due to the PP government’s spate of corruption scandals and the effects of prolonged austerity has led to a surge in Podemos’ support.

“They knew how to deal with Spaniards, how to communicate with Spaniards, and how to read the current social situation,” said José Pablo Ferrandis, head of public opinion at Ipsos Spain. “He had political intelligence.”

In the 2015 local elections, Podemos and its regional coalition captured many cities, including Madrid and Barcelona. He came in third place in the general election that year, almost overtaking the Socialist Party.

But infighting, a long-standing staple of the Spanish left, was never far away. A very public ideological debate was waged between Iglesias, who espoused a militant and overtly leftist line, and Iñigo Errejon, the party’s number two, who was considered a more moderate party. A third group of hardliners, calling themselves anti-capitalists, only further complicated this dynamic.

“Podemos will always be in crisis,” journalist and commentator Enric Juliana pointed out in 2017. “But Podemos could become more flexible if its three groups manage to free themselves from the mental torment of the Spanish left, which is always haunted by the past.”

Iglesias’ victory in this battle strengthened his leadership, but locked Podemos into a far-left position that limited its electoral appeal, even though it was now at the helm.

“When they entered the facility, they were torn between playing an organizational role as a party and maintaining tensions in the streets,” Ferrandis said. “And that’s confusing to a lot of voters.”

Meanwhile, many of their traditional supporters felt betrayed when Iglesias and his partner, Podemos politician Irene Montero, bought a €600,000 house on the outskirts of Madrid, saying the couple had previously I felt that I had joined the very “caste” that I was living in.

By 2019, Podemos had lost half its parliamentary representation. However, due to the fragmentation of Spanish politics, the party ended up forming a coalition government as a junior partner of Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party.

Many Spaniards are happy to see Podemos’ efforts.However, it is possible to show concrete results.

Podemos played a key role in ensuring the government implemented the furlough scheme during the coronavirus outbreak. But as Spanish politics becomes increasingly polarized during the pandemic, the party and its leaders have become a lightning rod for the government. He and Montero were forced to abandon their summer vacation in northern Spain after being harassed and abused on the streets, and extremists held protests in front of their home for weeks.

Meanwhile, details have emerged of a deep state campaign involving politicians and police officers aimed at defaming the party.

By the time of last year’s local and general elections, Podemos appeared to be approaching a wasting force. He now has just five MPs and is embroiled in a feud with his new left-wing rival, Mr Smar, who can sometimes seem mean and vindictive.

Many Spaniards are happy to see Podemos’ efforts. However, the party can point to concrete achievements. While it succeeded in getting other parties to follow its example in holding leadership primaries and practicing transparency, its focus on gender equality, housing, and social justice in general kept these issues within Spain’s national debate. pushed up to the center of

“The most important lesson of the last 10 years for Podemos is that they have shown that this country can change,” said party spokeswoman Isabel Serrano.

Podemos may be fighting for its survival in June’s EU elections, but whatever happens, it has already left an undeniable legacy.

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