(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
BOOK: The Spanish sensation Podemos – and how to do left-wing populism in times of crisis
Author: Lotte Elstad. Publisher: Manifest
Journalist and writer Lotta Elstad is known for his walraffing of the Norwegian hotel industry. Now she has again published a book on Manifest Publishing, one of the most exciting political phenomena in Europe in recent times.
A new left-wing populism. I The Spanish sensation Podemos – and how to do left-wing populism in times of crisis, Elstad follows the development of 15. the May Movement in Spain from 2011, better known in Norway as the Indignados Movement, which laid the foundation for the rise of the political party Podemos, via the general election to the European Parliament – when the party came from nowhere to win the full five seats – and until the national election campaign this year.
Elstad finally summarizes what must be the purpose of the book publishing: If it is not a manifesto for the Spanish party, it is approaching a defense script for the new forms of left-wing populism that have emerged in Europe in recent years. The author writes that Podemos' strategy has been to create one on-hegemony, not the more limited "counter propaganda". Inspired by the left-wing populist parties in countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, an alternative, advanced discourse was established that could be implanted in debate programs in the corporate media, which is also the dominant channel for public education in Spain. This is how the media phenomenon Pablo Iglesias was created [leader of the party since 2014, ed. note.].
Podemos has since the beginning evolved in the span between two seemingly contradictory poles. On the one hand, the party has faced a central, charismatic leadership figure with excellent speech gifts and political analytical ability. On the other hand, the moral authority of the party – which sets it apart from the other parties – is based on the open and innovative party structure in which local circles, party assemblies and online forums are given greater weight than in other political parties. This represents an attempt to continue the practice of direct and participatory democracy that characterized the May 15 movement.
This contradiction makes people uncertain where Podemos really stands. The party has also not completed its party program, only presented a sketch for a relatively moderate program for the economy. Because the party is not yet able to show results, but only rhetorical and moral points in an increasingly clear media game, it is also difficult for Podemos to emerge as a clear and not least responsible alternative to "safe" and well-known sizes that are still relatively freely given dominate the news picture. In March, in the swift elections in Andalucía – Spain's most troubled province – the PSOE went ahead with the victory despite corruption scandals, while Podemos made a poorer choice than expected. Podemos has then also rallied in the latest polls, from being the largest to the third largest party in the country.
Neither right nor left? When the rhetoric has not yet come into practice, the party's opponents and skeptics can concentrate on black campaigns and to pervade the less convincing plays of the party leadership. When Pablo Iglesias has reiterated that the party is not on the right or the left, but in the center, the tactical assessment, which is enough to mark the distance both to previous fronts in Spanish politics and the corrupt PSOE, may have failed. Iglesias states that most of the party come from the left and identify with this, and that they see a clear enemy in the "caste" – read: The One Percent. At the same time, Podemos is a party that is open to all, and represents a form of moral or popular center in Spanish politics. But the damage may already have been done.
In my opinion, the party's future will be determined by two factors up to the national election in December. Podemos has decided not to stand in the municipal elections which will be held on May 23; here, members of the party's local team instead go into innovative electoral lists such as Now Madrid og Barcelona and Comú, which has a less centralized and more participatory democratic structure than the party nationally. If the charts make a better choice than expected – these are moderate because they have had little time to organize and run campaigns – Podemos' internal balance of power is likely to be drawn closer to the local circles in the party.
If Podemos members enter positions of power across the country, as well as in the EU, Podemos will have more paths into the media than through the "mothegemonic channels". That is when we will see if the party manages to turn the huge popular support of the May 15 movement into a realpolitical force, without crushing too many eggs in the process. There is nothing to say about the political creativity of the party. The question is whether Podemos, just like Syriza, will be able to consolidate political power while building a consistent bridge between radical thinking and practice without losing touch with its moral and popular foundations. If Podemos is not only able to build on the popular initiatives – ecological cooperatives, neighborhood assemblies and grassroots networks, which have been at the heart of the popular movement – but involve them directly and actually give them political and economic power, everyone's eyes should be on Spain. It may then be that we see the seed of an alternative political model. But first, Podemos doesn't just have to could win. They must win.
If Podemos is able to not only build on the popular initiatives – ecological cooperatives, neighborhood assemblies and grassroots networks […] but actually give them political and economic power, everyone's eyes should be on Spain.
Magnus Marsdal's lyricist. It is perhaps with this in mind that we should read Magnus Marsdal's April Fool on Manifest Magazine's website this year: Was it just a joke when he launched a new left-wing party called "Solidarity"? Or did he play the role of the left-wing "fool" and framed the left-wing criticism in the form of a gag – a joke that is not only fun, but should make one think again?1
Lotta Elstad's book comes as a welcome input into a debate about what should be done with what we are used to call the "left side" in Norwegian politics, where a number of small parties appear to be powerless in breaking the Right and the Labor Party's political hegemony. One weakness of the book may be that the differences in how the policy works in the south and north are probably larger than they are. For example, the explosive emergence of the right-wing extremist and anti-immigration party Ciudadanos is not mentioned, which has so far succeeded in appearing as a moderate "cloning" of Podemos. Spain is not an exception here. But at the same time, Elstad leaves the reader to draw his parallels.
The Spanish sensation Podemos – and how to do left-wing populism in times of crisis can contribute to a more advanced and innovative debate about what can become a unifying radical policy in Norway in the time ahead. As Podemos and the May 15 movement have helped to politicize social life and raise the discursive level in Spain, it is high time that we take up the continental lifeline that is being thrown at us in Norway.
Von der Fehr is a freelance journalist.
mvdfehr@gmail.com
1http://www.manifesttidsskrift.no/et-nytt-radikalt-parti/
