Spain: A new breeding-ground for the Far-Right ?

[Tender Branson]

With 25% unemployment, evictions and poverty here to stay, is there cause for concern ?

The Extreme Right in Spain: An Approaching Breakthrough?

Spain is one of the few European countries which in recent decades hasn’t experienced the emergence of a successful “new extreme right” party into its political system. However, Spanish society and its party system are experiencing a series of rapid changes that could be opening a political space for these kinds of parties. In the last ten years, immigration has become a major social issue and part of the population expresses strong opposition to the presence of foreigners. At the same time, the erosion of mainstream political parties has been extremely intense in the last five years. In this context, a new extreme right political party - Platform for Catalonia (PxC) - has had increasingly good electoral results and has received great media attention. The party almost entered the Catalan parliament in 2010 and achieved a major success in the 2011 local elections. In this sense, there is a widespread belief that the party has very good chances of entering the Catalan parliament at elections to be held in 2014.

The importance of Platform for Catalonia must be understood not only in relation to its growing electoral strength, but also because it represents a rupture with - and a renovation of - the Spanish extreme right. The party avoids identifying itself with Franco’s legacy and with the ultranationalist discourses that are related to it. Also, in a very similar way to the 'new' extreme right in Europe, the party has dropped a “racialist” discourse on immigration and highlighted its opposition to the “Islamic cultural invasion”. At the same time, the party has embraced an anti-establishment discourse that does not openly question “liberal democracy”. Similar to the British National Party (BNP), the party has developed an electoral strategy that is based on strong local campaigns. This is allowing the PxC to gain votes and political power in certain municipalities and, progressively, extend its presence and electoral appeal to other areas.

Platform for Catalonia is increasingly having a broader impact on the whole Spanish political landscape. On one hand, other extreme right parties are trying to adopt its “innovative” political offer and electoral strategy. On the other hand, it has recently created a state-wide political party - Platform for Liberty - that is rapidly reaching other Spanish regions. It must also be mentioned that the party has been able to introduce itself into the European network of successful extreme right parties. Besides having contacts with parties such as the BNP and Italian Lega Nord, it has a stable and institutional collaboration with the Flemish Vlaams Belang and the Austrian Freedom Party. These two parties are assessing PxC on its electoral strategies and have been said to have funded part of its electoral campaigns. According to party sources, the main objective of this collaboration would be the possibility that PxC presents a state-wide list of candidates at the fast-approaching 2014 European elections. In this sense, the Catalan and European elections in 2014 will be a decisive moment in the evolution of the extreme right in Spain.

http://www.matthewjgoodwin.com/2012/06/extreme-right-in-spain-approaching.html

Julio, what do you say ? What are the chances that there's an increase in far-right thinking and support for them in future elections ?

[DC Al Fine]

I was under the impression that the Spanish electoral system was set up so that it was very difficult for parties not names PSOE or PP to win seats.

[Niemeyerite]

I think it's really unlikely PxC will enter the Catalonian Parliament. They almost did it in 2010, when they had momentum. Now that people care more about independentism than immigration, I believe Anglada will have less votes than 2 years ago. It's been successful in some towns in Catalonia, but "Plataforma por la Libertad" will probably be a failure, as the far-right vote is still loyal to the PP, and Anglada sometimes says he's a catalonian nationalist.

So, I don't see PxC becoming a factor in national or even Catalonian politics. However, I could be wrong. Never underestimate the silliness of francoists

[Gren]

One of the main reasons why the far-right is weak in Spain is that people relate it to Franco's regime. Supporting a party of that type is therefore not a popular stance, even if the current social and economic situation favors the appearance of such a political alternative. As Julio said, ultra-conservatives overwhelmingly support the People's Party. There are some right-wing parties, such as AES, España2000, FEJONS, PxC and so on, but they're all marginal.

However, it wouldn't be realistic to rule out completely the influence that the extreme right could have in the near future. Many people who currently support center-left and even nationalist parties are fed up with the amount of social benefits that certain immigrants receive. Julio, don't try to put down the potential voters of right-wing parties by calling them francoists. The type of voter I'm referring to is far from being a loony right-wing catholic integrist, or even the stereotypical blue-collar unemployed angry white man who thinks that immigrants stole his job. I'm talking of middle class people who fare decently, public servants, salaried employees and cualified workers who make between 1,500-2000€ a month. That includes most of the people around me, and many of them are now complaining about the advantages that some immigrants and minorities have. They are not envious people, they've just worked their whole lives and paid their taxes and never received a single penny from the government. They're all for a strong welfare state that supports the needy, yet they won't tolerate that their money be wasted in indivuals that have done nothing to deserve it. These people don't believe that immigrants are lazy and selfish, but they understand that it isn't moral to spend 30 million € a year in supporting about 400 Magrebhi boys when you've got thousands of families out there who can't even fulfill their BASIC needs; less so when this tiny group of individuals accounts for a whooping 50% of the crimes carried out in my city (Bilbao)

As we all know, the far-right has mastered the ability to exploit social discontent and anger, specially in times of economic hardship. If we don't react to the government's reckless spending, things are gonna get worse. It's not a matter of xenophobia, it's just plain old common sense. Racism will inevitably arouse if we are unable to tackle this issue and if we don't get rid of the already excessive political correctness.

[Velasco]

Why do you like Falange so much, Simfan? I'm sure that you aren't a bad guy, but it seem quite strange to me some of your tastes. Maybe some kind of misguided romanticism?

[dead0man]

Italy doesn't want you to forget about her.  link

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Stay classy Euros!