 |
| Some of the corruption scandal faces Together we steal (source) |
The party ruling in Spain, People's Party (PP, conservative to fascist), member of the European People's Party, is now officially rotten to the bone and beyond. There is not a single member that is not implicated in one or many corruption cases: from the Gurtel scandal in Valencia (which was no problem for them to win elections again) to the latest case of systematic illegal extra pay in cash to all, absolutely all, members of the party's ruling circles, going through the Bankia escandal, the shameful sellout at loss of the Navarrese Savings Bank CAN, the many local urbanism corruption cases and the interrelation of them all.
Never mind that they lie more than talk, saying today A and admitting tomorrow that it was B without the slightest shame.
They are totally discredited but then again, even after their discredit, they have managed to win elections because their voters are so loyal that it is really scary. This loyalty they seem to achieve by the control of most media and the rallying of the Catholic Church, which still has some influence.
As the main opposition party revealed itself as class traitor in such blatant ways that they will never again be rehabilitated most probably, especially as they are not willing to correct their ways and revise their loyalties at all.
The result is that by just retaining their c. 10 million voter pool, the conservatives can win more and more elections because of the increased voter disaffection. Elections that therefore have less and less legitimacy and, together with the corruption, the increased poverty and brutal unemployment, the irrational social cuts used to bail out the banksters (in Spain as in France, Britain and Germany) and the military (local and NATO).
Absolutely all are rotten
 |
| "Rotten Party" (source) |
The President of the Government (also President of the PP), Mariano Rajoy, got €25,200 between 1997 and 2008. The Secretary General of the PP and President of Castile-La Mancha Mª Dolores de Cospedal (who rejects the accusations),
As the speaker of which is almost the only real, ethical, opposition, which is the Basque Nationalist Left, said: it is not that one apple is rotten but the whole basket is. But as BGG reminded very appropriately today, decades ago already, Jon Idigoras, then briefly speaking in the name of part of the Basque People in the Spanish Parliament said exactly the same and not just regarding the PP but the whole Spanish political system: it is intrinsically rotten. Other big names implicated are former PM J.M. Aznar, long time party treasurer Luis Bárcenas (who lends his the name to the affair), many ministers under Aznar (Javier Arenas, Francisco Álvarez Cascos, Ángel Acebes, Rodrigo Rato (formerly IMF Director General and Bankia CEO), Jaime Mayor Oreja, Ana Mato, etc.
Importantly there are also cash payments to media bosses, notably the infamous neofascist website Libertad Digital (don't let yourself be fooled by the name: they are plain fascist and hate all kind of real freedom). A couple of local politicians have been the only ones to leave the Rotten Party, the Partido Podrido, as the acronym PP is more and more often re-read by Spaniards all the rest resist, some maybe hoping the storm somehow moves on, others hoping they somehow get away untainted and can inherit the power machine after kicking the very eroded bearded lying mummy of Rajoy.
It is really regrettable what is happening; on the web change.org i´m seeing right now there 797,199 signatures against PP in just three days. It is intended to reach one million.
ReplyDeleteAs you you mention in the post is an absolute truth, her 10 million voters are always the same sheep. It's scary. Even after the general elections in Galicia took absolute majority. : (
But what is the alternative? As you say, socialist´s are a big traitor.
And this may mean that people do not vote, and the PP continues with 9-10 million blind sheep.
The only alternative in Spain proper is United Left, however their leaders are often not very radical (a few are however) and the electoral system is rigged by design against anyone outside the Twin Capitalist Party. It's an old practice in all the so-called "democracies": rig the system in the name of stability, that way as long as they can muster a plurality (what in Spanish is called "mayoría relativa") of some sort, they will have legal support to rule. Legitimacy... that's another matter.
DeleteIt is infamous in any case that provinces with no personality nor population like, say Ávila, Soria, Cáceres and all the rest, have three or more representatives, while the urban centers that concentrate all the population have very little representation instead. That way rural oligarchies can rule the whole system without much effort.
I recalled later that only 54% of adult citizens voted in Galicia (http://forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com.es/2012/10/galicia-only-54-voted-real-figure-was.html), meaning that the Parliament only really represents, as a whole, to a mere 48% of the citizenry.
DeleteWe are leading to that kind of non-representative, merely formal, "democracy".
It is true that in Galicia pp won an absolute majority because the high abstention in the vote.
ReplyDeleteThe electoral system is unfair and makes no sense.
But there are times that people must unite before an injustice and should go to vote.
It is our fault that the system is rotten, it is absolutely incredible that anyone still voting for the PP and the PSOE.
Many people are afraid of change, to the fall of the monarchy, and bipartisanship, instead of hope.
But i am very angry with the "barcenasgate", because they take off of our salaries a lot of money everymonth, they increase our taxes, but the salaries never going up, and we must pay, and pay , while they hide our money in Suiza.
But, i´m wondering, what do they make with our taxes?; sanitary system is going down, and the educational system also...where is our money? in suiza? and they are trying to destroy the pension system for retired and unemployed people...and never creates jobs for people...
It is time to change, no more monarchy ,pp and psoe.
You are very much right, David: it is a most serious matter and the people (each one and all together) should assume their share of their responsibility but denying the leeches the ability to keep ruling, robbing and oppressing. I am also in total agreement that a radical change is very much needed, in Spain, in Europe and through the World. And I hope that it will eventually (soon?) happen - I cling to that hope almost desperately (some days I feel very pessimistic however).
DeleteNow, leaning back from the more than just indignation, I also tend to see things from a "historical", and somewhat Marxist, point of view. I think I understand (to my despair) that the working classes of the developed world have been bribed (very especially with homes in property but in general with a half-decent lifestyle and many gadgets and caprices) for many decades, making them what Marx described as "lackeys" and what we could easily describe a lower "middle class". Used to such benefits, Capitalism and the regimes associated with it seem less evil and even good.
This system of social bribing has collapsed for good and will not return but the popular classes do not yet fully understand that and want the "old good times" to come back. Only when the squeeze, the moral decay, the misery... extend for some time without any light in the horizon, only then will the masses realize the hard truth.
If they do at all.
If they do, they will then probably coalesce into organized revolutionary forms (of which political parties and labor unions can only be a part, IMO) causing revolutionary change.
There is a known grave risk however. Often when the "middle classes" feel dispossessed and betrayed by the system, they lean (partly) towards the reactionary, fascist, forces, who sport a populism and a false radicalness that can attract many.
So I can only imagine that the situation will gradually, even sharply at times, evolve towards a showdown of extremes: the true radical pole of social revolution (whichever exact form it takes, I'm no prophet and times of change imply great uncertainty always) and the fake one of fascism-populism (for example UPyD in Spain, Golden Dawn in Greece, etc.) I feel that in the long run the social-revolutionary option should prevail, because (no matter how hard I try) I find impossible that the iron-handed farce of fascism can offer anything but more of the same... but worse. But "the forces of darkness" have many powerful allies, who see in them a "plan B", so I feel that the showdown will happen in any case.
...
... Whatever the case the much needed change won't surely happen overnight and will take some time to coalesce into full force. I look forward to this decade with great interest as one of seeding and even some opportunities but a very difficult one in any case.
DeleteMost people still need to learn a lot but let's be very alert in any case because sometimes change just happens almost overnight. For example certain March 8th the women of Petrograd marched demanding food and by the end of the year the whole Tsarist Empire, so proud and apparently immovable, had collapsed and a new era (with its own challenges) had begun. For example, it's said that certain July 14th Marie Antoniette wrote in her (lost) diary: "nothing special happened today, just some riot at a bakery near the Bastille", a few days later she and her husband were forced to reside in Paris and "welcomed" not by the customary "long live the King" but with a democratic "long live the Nation". For example, in December 1956, the Castro brothers, Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara, among others, were beaten badly and had to escape to Sierra Maestra, two years later almost exactly they had taken power and Batista was dead. They were not yet even 30 years old.
As that old 80s movie insisted on... things change. And very especially when the times come as revolted and desperate as they are now. Things will change and we will take part in that change one way or another. The exact nature of the change I can't predict, but I do have hope and even, I'd dare say, great expectations.