Podemos

[PaddyJoe]

What do you make,PJ, of podemos' praise of Emilio Botín the other day??

Ah, I missed that. Montero is now claiming that he was taken out of context and that he has nothing to do with bankers or politicians who are complicit with them in implementing austerity. That's quite a row back from claiming that there are benevolent bankers like Botin.

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2365...r-amigo-botin/

[Ogiol]

Ah, I missed that. Montero is now claiming that he was taken out of context and that he has nothing to do with bankers or politicians who are complicit with them in implementing austerity. That's quite a row back from claiming that there are benevolent bankers like Botin.

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2365...r-amigo-botin/

Just to let people know the context, Emilio Botín is the head of Banco Santander, a big bollox really who has directly influenced the impoverishment of huge swathes of Spanish society through his influence on government and the actions of his bank.

The head of Podemos Madrid, no less, said, 'Jesús Montero afirmó en una entrevista que el Banco Santander ha contribuido al bienestar social de España.' - Which means '' Jesus Montero stated during an interview that Santander Bank has contributed to the societal welfare of Spain''.

He may be row-row-rowing his boat right back up the stream, but certainly not merrily and a lot of 'believers' are very angry with him and Podemos, and if that's the sort of thing they are willing to compromise on then they make SF look like Ché Guevara...

I have very little time for them and have been suspicious for a while now, even being a pragmatist myself, and would tend to agree with a famous Spanish author (whose name escapes me atm) who said recently that the Spanish culture and mentality is rotten from within.

[fluffybiscuits]

Pablo Iglesias brings to mind thoughts of Luke Ming Flannagan with his mannerisims. Extremely sharp speaker and the pony tail to the way he dresses! Certainly Catalonia adores him as before Christmas thousands were present for a rally in Barcelona where he wowed the crowds. A lot of friends I have in Dublin are from the South of Spain and Madrid, they see Podemos as not just saviours but also changing the culture of how Spain is governed with a particular emphasis on local level politics. So in Spain its city hall>regional>provincial>national is the hierarchy. At the bottom two levels its packed with Social party members and pepe members (the other centre right party in Spain?)

On Saturday a 100,000 packed out Madrid in a march against austerity. Madristas showed solidarity with their provincial neighbours

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-madrid-syriza

More than 260 buses arrived in Madrid for the march, many paid for by a crowdfunding campaign. Hundreds of Madrileños opened their homes to travellers for the night, while others offered free rides back and forth across the country. “How could I not come for this?” asked Mari Henrahos, 67, who had left her small town in Alicante province before sunrise to drive to Madrid. “We’re losing everything that we fought so hard for in the late 1970s. Spain is the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone, but now we’re also one of the most unequal.”

[PaddyJoe]

Looks like the authorities are opening an investigation into Podemos finances. A lot of their funding has come from South American governments through consultative work in the last couple of years.
Interesting that nobody had any interest in their finances until they became a serious threat to the PP and the PSOE

[PaddyJoe]

15 seats and almost 600,000 votes for Podemos in the Andalucian regional elections today. Respectable but not earth shattering as some polls had the party at 20 seats.
The ruling PP got hammered and the PSOE are nine seats short of an overall majority. They ruled out an agreement with Podemost before the elections though.

http://elpais.com

[Dr. FIVE]

They ruled out an agreement with Podemos before the elections though.

good


Here's the votes



Lot of personal vote for Susana Díaz of the PSOE which may account for some damping of Podemos result. PP getting a kicking is no bad thing all the same

[fluffybiscuits]

15 seats in the Spanish region of Andalusia

An inevitable event may be that Andalusia plays out on a larger scale,Socailists do not have votes for a total majority giving Podemos a stick to beat them with. Do they do a Syrzia and go into govt with a party which imposed austerity or go into opposition?

[Binn Beal]

The Podemos result, while a great leap forward, may have suffered from the shilly-shallying or lack of direction from the Greek government. I suspect that many voters in Spain, as elsewhere in Europe, were hoping that Greece would be a beacon for a major change in direction. To date the Greek government have not revealed their plan, if any, and appear to be acting the smart Alexis with the Germans rather than giving leadership.

[GregTimo]

The 'communist' dominated IU (United Left) are a significant factor despite being in decline (IA split from them before helping to set up PODEMOS it is said). Many councillers they control municipalities like the famous 'utopian' one in Andulusia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinaleda)and the scandal hit one in Madrid (described in the 2nd article)
Good analysis/translation which I lost , a hodge-podge of other ones which give partial pictures
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/58612
(young IU candidate who hopes to help renew that organisation )
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/03/p...quierda-unida/
(Written by a former mayor so likely IU connection)
' In the event that PODEMOS and United Left coalition had formed, it would have exceeded the PP in Seville, Cadiz and Malaga and PSOE + Citizens would have no absolute majority' ...
The composition of Parliament would become: PSOE: 44 (-3)PP: 31 (-2) POSEMOS + IU: 26 (+6) Citizens: 8 (-1) ! The electoral laws are not neutral The PSOE has benefited greatly : with 35.43% of the votes obtained 43.2% of the deputies, while PODEMOS, with 14.84% of votes, down to 13.76% of MPs. ' http://www.publico.es/opinion/andalu...avorecido.html
Gossip on the history of Podemos and relation to IU (February) http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/...at-or-promise/
Ongoing stuff here which I can't figure (people with good Spanish might figure the gossip, where there are talks of re-alignments between IU and PODEMOS specially in Madrid; possible joint lists for the local elections coming soon under another label (Ganemos -'let's win')? http://www.publico.es/search/?query=podemos

[GregTimo]

That article http://revolting-europe.com/2015/02/...lass-struggle/

[C. Flower]

That article http://revolting-europe.com/2015/02/...lass-struggle/

Interesting article, thanks, although there is a pre-occupation with election results, which are not the be all and end all.

I think the attraction of soft opposition movements against austerity / neoliberalism is inevitable. The left should not be thrown into crisis by it, but should give critical support, shoulder to shoulder with all anti austerity movements coming from the population.

[fluffybiscuits]

Interesting article, thanks, although there is a pre-occupation with election results, which are not the be all and end all.

I think the attraction of soft opposition movements against austerity / neoliberalism is inevitable. The left should not be thrown into crisis by it, but should give critical support, shoulder to shoulder with all anti austerity movements coming from the population.

Tell that to the Shinners...

[C. Flower]

Interesting. http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...syriza-podemos

I have the point of view that class struggle is a prime driving force in social change / history and that the working class is a particular potential for social change (it does not need the employing class). There is a question though of how to organise in an era of relative decline in manufacturing employment in Europe, and how other sections of the population react to having their aspirations and living standards crushed in 'austerity'. Podemos learned from Latin America, and adapted. It may be that some things could be re-acquired by the left.

Out of 215 million + people working in the EU, only 30 million work in manufacturing industry.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-193_en.htm

30% of the population of China now works in manufacturing industry.

https://www.cia.gov/Library/publicat...elds/2048.html

[Dr. FIVE]

Richard on Declan Ganley's mates https://medium.com/@hiredknave/ciuda...s-20d5bea3565b

[C. Flower]

Richard on Declan Ganley's mates https://medium.com/@hiredknave/ciuda...s-20d5bea3565b

I've been reading Syriza material today and was surprised (shouldn't have been) how close it has become to Podemos's.

Perhaps the ‘C’ in ‘C’s’ stands for CIA.

Lol! Is this a cousin group to Te Potami and Renua Ireland ?

The problem for Podemos is that there isn't a third way. The road at a certain point divides in a fork and that is that. Given the immense pressures to go along with the status quo, that is where the third way diverts to.