American progressives distressed about the prospect of being offered a choice this fall between a right-wing billionaire and a one-time corporate lawyer on the board of Wal-Mart, might look to Spain for a reminder that left-wing leaders with principles and charisma do still exist.
In Madrid on Wednesday, Pablo Iglesias, the 37-year-old leader of Podemos, an anti-austerity party formed just two years ago, blocked the center-left Socialist Party’s attempt to form a centrist coalition government and demonstrated a flair for political theater that galvanized his supporters on social networks.
During an impassioned speech to parliament, Iglesias said that his radical left party, which is now Spain’s third largest, would not allow the “miserable” leader of the more mainstream Socialists, Pedro Sánchez, to become prime minister because he had adopted the economic policies of the right.
The debate in parliament was closely watched on social networks, and the Podemos leader then made his opposition to the proposed government even more clear by leaping from his seat to congratulate a Catalan ally who also spoke against it with a bear hug and a kiss on the lips.
That image, of Iglesias kissing the Catalan representative Xavier Domènech, was both celebrated and mocked in Twitter memes, as his supporters rejoiced at the sight of the two men kissing directly in front of deputies from the conservative People’s Party — which recently tried and failed to ban gay marriage in Spain — and his detractors evoked comparisons to Soviet-era kisses between the leaders of communist states.
Las caras de los populares pic.twitter.com/JuECAfAteT
— Jot Down Magazine (@JotDownSpain) March 2, 2016
The kiss (2016).
— Gora Señor (@Desebe) March 2, 2016
Pablo Iglesias and Xavier Domenech, Spain.
Digital print on canvas. pic.twitter.com/JAyqrlHk6e
Gorbachov-Honecker, 1986. Iglesias-Domenech, 2016. El beso. #InvestiduraOndaCero pic.twitter.com/oxRPJURsUR
— Juan Carlos Vélez (@jcvelez) March 2, 2016
Podemos, which means “We can” in Spanish, has also ruled out forming a coalition with the Socialists and will now be hoping to become the leading party of the left at the next general election, likely to be held in June.
I don’t know if he’s really refused to sell out. Before the elections he stated that he would not be part of any government he did not preside, he quickly changed positions on this as soon as the election results were in and he was the second party on the left and not the first as he had hoped. Only after failing to strike a deal with the socialist he has become so critical of them. The reason is opposed to the current coalition is because he knows that by doing so, the elections will be repeated in June, when he has a chance of being the most voted left wing party, and therefore the leading alternative to the highly unpopular conservative party. It is worth remembering, that almost all the measures they proposed in their first political program, for example: implementing a universal rent or exiting the euro have long been forgotten in favour of more ‘moderate’ (i.e. centre) policies. As Chomsky has pointed out, Podemos is not a left wing party or socialist party, let alone a radical one since they are not in favour of working owning or administering factories and so on. They are merely an anti-austerity party.
I have read people praising the Spanish electoral system, or comparing it favourably to the U.S. one. You must remember: 1) no separation of powers exists in Spain, the parliament elects the president, unlike in the united states where both are elected separately, lets not even get on how the supreme and constitutional court justices are selected. 2) You cannot elect the parliamentary members directly, instead, you simply get to vote for a party list, over which you have no control. Imagine if instead of voting in single constituencies as in the U.S. you were given the choice of voting for a list elaborated by the Republican party or one elaborated by the Democratic party. This would be a disaster: no chance of electing your candidate in a primary and no chance of the MPs representing you in the least. An MP in Spain owes his job not to the people who vote for him, but to the party elite who will decide whether to include him on the party list or not… I understand that the U.S. system is highly imperfect but it is miles ahead of the Spanish one.
If only the Dems had half the courage of this guy.
But here’s the thing–we HAVE a multi-party system. Look at your ballets. There will be other parties listed. It’s just that Americans are so indoctrinated to think that they have only two choices no one bothers to look!
Take off the blinders. Vote anything but Democrat or Republican. It doesn’t matter which third party you choose. The goal is not to choose a leader, but to get votes away from the Democrats and Republicans and get our next leader (who will surely be a Democrat or Republican) elected with only 39% of the vote. That will be a historic low. THAT should be embarrassing. THAT should send a message.
The whining and handwringing about the lesser of two evils is spineless. Come on, America, show us still have a pair. Vote third party.
As some commenters have noted, you can’t compare electoral politics in other countries with the U.S. or U.K., because the latter two lack proportional representation while the rest have it. The winner-take-all system that we and the U.K. have is far less democratic, but the two gangs, er, I mean parties that benefit from it are not going to let it change; we would have to force that change. This is just as important as getting money out of politics, another thing we’d have to force because those in power are profiting mightily from it.
Thanks for your comment Jeff. I agree. AND one of the other differences between the United States and many of the nations with PR systems compared with our two-party (winner-take-all, single-seat districts/Electoral College) is the recognition of the validity of referenda. In the U.S., referenda at the national level are not recognized as a right or legitimate process for decision-making. We’ve never had one. Most nations with PR recognize the sovereignty of the voting age citizens. So do some nations such as the UK, who don’t have PR systems. So for us to “force” PR, as you suggest, a simple-but-not-easy pathway is to force initiative-and-referendum and initiative-and-convention-and-referendum to do the big three: overturn laws, pass laws, and propose and ratify amendments. In any case, I agree that forcing such changes (public financing, PR, referenda) would be a good thing, via majority decision. Robert Mackey, what say you?
Robert Mackey, I’d like to see writers and readers connect the dots between the multi-party politics of parties like Podemos and the electoral system in Spain, which is a multi-party system by design. Similarly, I’d like to see writers and readers connect the dots also between the two-party, corrupt system in the United States (well-lamented in the comments by ItsMeAgain) and undemocratic features in the Constitution. I’m not sure why so many writers and readers don’t see and write about those connections. American progressives “might look to Spain for a reminder that left-wing leaders with principles and charisma do still exist.” However, unless we in America look deeper at the causes of the absence of smaller parties here, we will be left with uninformed fantasies about charisma instead of looking at the system prerequisites for smaller parties—multi-party constitutional redesign using the obvious, normal methods of direct democracy such as initiative-and-referendum, and initiative-people’s convention-referendum.
When you have the unchecked owners of the federal reserve funding closeted ideas endlessly, there appears this great anomaly that no one can explain (and everyone thinks someone else must be OK with even though that is far from truly statistical) that what is supported in the funded institutions is not at all when is supported in the minds of the populace.
Wait until the end of this week for another vote. It is just for show. They will support pro euro socialists and betray their voters. They already did.
politics of joy!
Mr. Mackey
“…….American progressives distressed about the prospect of being offered a choice this fall between a right-wing billionaire and a one-time corporate lawyer on the board of Wal-Mart, might look to Spain for a reminder that left-wing leaders with principles and charisma do still exist……”
They do exist, but thankfully they are not in power.
The pictures aren’t working :( I clicked the link to see “The Kiss” (haha!) but the link vanished. I tried the others now and neither are they. :( :(
The links vanish after clicking them and then there’s nothing to click.
With our two party state – just one more than China! – a third party with real representation (or a fourth or a fifth like in most Western European countries) is not possible in this great nation!
Our political/economic elite has created a system guaranteeing that they – and only they – will remain in charge forever. We may choose between umphteen of toasters and car models, but when it comes to political parties and political agendas our elites have prevetted their 2 candidates which we graciously are allowed to pick from.
Even in Iran the electorate had more choice in the last election than us: they had 8 prevetted candidates to choose from (and did choose the most liberal and progressive ones on display).
Or as ‘Edo Roshi’ writes in his comment on article ‘ Donald Trump embodies how great republics meet their end ‘:
“What are Americans supposed to do? Keep drinking the Kool-Aid? Take the Blue Pill? Americans in general are completely powerless. They are ruled by selfish elites, and it is ugly. The trip to the ballot box is the only statement a little citizen can make. The reality is this: if the elites and Washington class were doing a great job, there would be no Donald Trump.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/743d91b8-df8d-11e5-b67f-a61732c1d025.html
I long for a two-party state.
I’ve listened to many political intellectuals speak. You know — Chomsky, Greenwald, Chris Hedges, Richard Wolff, Cornel West, and so on. But I gotta say, Pablo Iglesias might be the most impressive one.
I’d like to live in Spain.
Iglesias is indeed a brilliant speaker and leader of the ‘popular classes’, but also his authoritarian and undemocratic practices inside Podemos are quite worrisome, which is the why support for him declined making Podemos much weaker than it was a year ago. His often excessively harsh, arrogant, petulant, insulting tone, even towards other left wing options, makes it difficult to form a winning majority.
Worrisome are the practices of the center left Psoe and even worst the right winged PP, and on the contrary, Podemos will not only rise after a new eleccion but they could even be very close to winning. I just hope my people wakes up and stop being afraid of doing the right thing, and stop the money making politicians that only care about where they will end up after running office. It is time for change and I hope here we do the same with Bernie.
Chomsky is not a political intellectual. He is a linguist who shares his anti American opinions, and shares his anti capitalist views while enjoying his fortune .
Greenwald LOL is not even a real journalist. He is a self proclaimed investigative journalist who became famous thanks to Snowden. Like Chomsky he shares his anti American and anti capitalist opinions while enjoying the fortune he makes with the same US corporation he bashes.
You have no idea what the word intellectual means so there is not point of asking why would you place Iglesias among Greenwald!!