Montapollos: inconsistent provocation had a price
Montapollos: inconsistent provocation had a price
At some point in the last few months, one of the visible faces of Spanish politics, representative of Ciudadanos, was baptized in social media as “Montapollos” (troublemaker). Traditional media also echoed this.
Ciudadanos’ huge downfall in last general elections is due, among others, to circumstantial reasons. We could highlight the recent appearance on the scene of Vox, the far right movement, which would have disrupted the voting routines of right-wing and extreme-right voters. But leaving aside these specific factors, the biggest disaster would demonstrate that, despite being profitable in the short and medium term, exacerbation and lack of coherence, in the long run, take their toll. And sometimes bills are pretty high. Could it be said then that we are dealing with a huge deflated soufflé?
The orange party was born in 2005, as a platform to defend the rights of Spanish speakers in Catalonia. They took advantage of an important niche in the Catalan political panorama at that time. Convergència i Unió still had a leading role, which it hat held for decades. Regarding the PSC, which had been in opposition for all that time, it raised to the presidency of the Catalan government with the so called tripartite (three left-wing parties alliance). The most catalanist half of this party had the initiative at the time, how things have changed! On its side, the Partido Popular of Catalonia seemed to have more connection with a past of unity of destiny in the universal than with the Catalan reality.
Ciudadanos, logo
In that context and taking advantage of the evident discontent of a part of the population that felt orphaned, Citizens began to appear on the media scene based on magnifying the problems between Catalan and Castilian languages. The strategy was simple: despite the fact that there was no major concern about the language, the fact of appearing in the media, questioning one of the main pillars of the prevailing nationalism, gave them a lot of visibility. And it gave its potential voters the feeling that finally someone was doing something, that they were defying those in power. This was the beginning of “pollo politics”. It was Ciudadanos against everyone.
The “political pollos” basically consist in defending causes that do not imply a specific work in the short term, but that give a lot of media visibility and provoke exasperation. Tension serves, simultaneously, to give a small dose of satisfaction to discontented people. On the other hand, they attract the avidity of media and social networks.
At first, they were not defined from an ideological point of view. Nor did their name indicate any specific inclination: Ciudadanos (citizens). In a European democratic system, who is not a citizen? It therefore became the party of all citizens. That is to say the party of everyone.
This habit of giving names that want to express everything, but do not want to mean anything concrete, seems a regular thing in the parties of the so-called “new politics”. Quite often that is nothing more than the same as always, with a new marketing package.
But in a democratic environment, everyone’s party does not exist. Everyone’s party is the system itself. And within this system, voters can choose one or other option. Everyone’s party, paradoxically, becomes a dangerous shortcut to Pensée Unique (single thought)
But in the case of Ciudadanos, this danger did not seem to exist. At first, the movement avoided defining itself politically. Later, they decided that, not only were they social-democrats, but at the same time, they were liberals! The last chapter of this delirious evolution is the one that definitively discards social-democracy from its kernel. To be continued. And on top of it, its leader was member of the young faction of the Partido Popular. And on more than one occasion, the party was forced to expel militants who appeared in their lists, because obvious connections with the far-right. And not forgetting its ambiguity concerning Franco’s fascist regime. All rather suspicious.
But when an individual or a political organization has more than one ideology and they contradict each other, what happens, in fact, is that they have none at all. Citizens would be, in this sense, an enormous empty media shell, which is filled with one or other content depending on the polls. Could we talk about the new ideology of “polling”? Wait and see. But, for now, the concept of populism serves us perfectly to define the phenomenon.
It is clear, therefore, that the party does not move according to an ideal. Its engine are strictly the results. It is a radically pragmatic and cynical approach to the world of politics. That does not mean that, behind the courtins, there is no political ideology. And it is probably an ideology that does not have much respect for democracy, since it considers it a mere instrument to achieve its goals.
Ciudadanos went from being an association to entering the political arena in 2006. From then on it began to defend its ideas in the Parliament of Catalonia. But it was after the irruption and vertiginous growth of Podemos that Citizens began to be an important party. The words of an outstanding businessman, speaking about the need for a “right-wing version of Podemos ” are well known.
From then on, Ciudadanos and Podemos agglutinated the unsatisfied voters and received the pompous name of “new politics”.
Although its ideological line was rather erratic, a constant has always been its frontal opposition to catalanism and the questioning of the autonomic system (local governments). This position was received by the conservative elites of Madrid with arms wide. The media in the Spanish capital gave them visibility, showing them as a young and dynamic center-right party. This image was favored by the dialectical mastery of their visible faces, their youth and their good presence. Some of them seemed to come out of a casting for a Wall Street movie or from the personnel selection of any multinational corporation.
With this support, the party grew like foam, to the extend that its leaders decided to make the jump to Spanish state politics. But while in Catalonia the Spanish right-wing was practically residual, in Madrid it was a different story. The oranges began to become an uncomfortable element, a dangerous competitor. And it is already known that it’s not good to play with food. This fact, together with his definitive renunciation of social democracy, provoked a spectacular diaspora of militants. And since then their polls have not ceased to fall.
It is a pity, because both in Spain and Catalonia there is a Spanish tolerant, willing to dialogue center-right electorate. They would have been faithful to Ciudadanos with pleasure, if they had not used confrontation and tension as advertising means and if they would have been more coherent. Who knows, maybe the downfall makes them think twice. For now, their votes go to PSOE, PP and Vox.
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