Spain Turning Hard Right?

Greece saw the rise of Golden Dawn and the ruling parties had to use anti-democratic methods to shut it down, in part because Golden Dawn draws a lot of support from the police and the military.

Opinion polls show Golden Dawn’s popularity has plunged since the stabbing from 11-13 per cent to around 7 per cent, the percentage of the vote it won at last year’s general election when it entered parliament for the first time. Nevertheless, it is still the third most popular party behind the governing New Democracy and Panhellenic Socialist Movement.

Yet the government has not gained from the crackdown. It is still polling at the previous 20-22 per cent level, neck-and-neck with Syriza, the radical left opposition. And some commentators have questioned whether the move against Golden Dawn might backfire if it is seen to be a politically motivated vendetta by the government.

Analysts say Golden Dawn’s voter base is mainly among people hit hard by the country’s economic crisis, both young Greeks trying to join the labour market and the over-40s, who feel angry and frustrated at losing their jobs.

After Greece, Spain can credible claim to have the worst fiscal situation. Spain already has a full blown secessionist movement in Catalonia. Spain has high rates of youth unemployment, just like Greece. In the 1970s, Spain had a military government, as did Greece. And now, reports say Spain is also seeing a rise of the right.

Franco-fascism on the march in Spain: Is the government doing enough?

But experts worry that the real fascist concern in Spain is not from small extremist groups, but rather from growing public displays of fascist sympathies by a small part of the conservative government's constituency – and even among elected officials.

“Spain has not been ‘de-Francoized,’ as Germany has been de-Hitlerized,” explains Félix Ortega, a sociology professor and expert in public opinion in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. “There are still Franco symbols even in my university!”

An alliance of radical right groups – including violent neo-Nazi ones – have mobilized to travel from around the country to Barcelona to protest Catalonian nationalism on the October 12 "Día de la Hispanidad," or "Hispanic Day," holiday. Authorities said Thursday they plan to prevent violent groups from entering Catalonia.

Taking the latter first: interesting that the right opposes the separatists? This is a road map for Spanish politics. There is a well developed secession movement, and the far right is stepping up to oppose it. Where is the left? They are falling from power, and as in Greece, they are using undemocratic methods to fight the right, which may only end up helping the right achieve a victory down the road:

Five groups – including violent neo-Nazi cells and a political party that the Supreme Court is considering banning – in July formed a common platform called "Spain on the March." Its leaders have warned they will resort to violent acts if required to preserve Spain’s territorial unity, which they feel threatened especially by regional independence aspirations.

And here's something you will increasingly see across Europe and eventually in America:

Catalonian secessionist plans have united the traditionally fragmented nationalist forces and radical fascist groups. And the extreme right is part of the constituency of the conservative PP, with some experts estimating as much as 10 percent of the party sympathizes with radical ideology, although it’s impossible to contrast.

The political heirs of Franco merged with the PP, which is ideologically a center-right party. And amid the eurocrisis, they could gain more political clout that could be significantly more dangerous than the violent groups, experts warn.

The far right is so ostracized from mainstream politics, particularly in the United States, that they represent the only alternative to the existing political structure. By forcing them into the wilderness, the mainstream has not defeated the traditional right, but given in the opportunity to reemerge as something new, even though most of their ideas are quite old, even ancient.

However, pause on that bolded statement. The non-violent far right is more dangerous than the violent extremists, expert warn. Who are these experts? They are the left. Of course, the left does not fear a rightist movement with no chance at winning elections; they fear a rightist movement that stands a good shot at winning.

The crisis has brought an unprecedented public display of Franco nostalgia, with some public officials and members of the PP openly making the Nazi salute, displaying the former regime’s flag and other memorabilia, and posting pro-Franco messages on social media sites.

Municipal, regional, and even country legislators have reminisced about Franco’s era, mostly subtly, though some have openly said those killed by Franco’s forces deserved it.

What is crucial to understanding the coverage of politics is that the left won. Franco is a historical anachronism, one of the last remaining right-wing governments that lasted late into the grand supercycle. The U.S. has been a revolutionary power from the beginning, opposing monarchies and then giving soft support to left-wing movements.

Similarly, American historians overlook the obvious fact that Alger Hiss could have done nothing without FDR's personal permission, and mistake the Hiss-Hopkins backchannel to the KGB for a case of "espionage" - not even considering the idea that FDR, the New Deal, or America as a whole could be seen as generally guilty for our collaboration, concealment, and general complicity with Stalin's enormous crimes.

This is now 70 years ago. Today, the left has consolidated power and leftist ideas are mainstream ideas. Old right ideas are lumped together with the Nazis, even if the ties are loose.

So where did Franco and Spain's right-wing government come from?

The Red Terror in Spain is the name given by historians to various acts committed "by sections of nearly all the leftist groups"[4][5] such as the killing of tens of thousands of people (including 6,832[6] members of the Catholic clergy, the vast majority in the summer of 1936 in the wake of the military rising), as well as attacks on landowners, industrialists, and politicians, and the desecration and burning of monasteries and churches.[6] News of the military coup unleashed a social revolutionary response and no republican region escaped revolutionary and anticlerical violence - though in the Basque Country this was minimal.[7]

...Some estimates of the Red Terror range from 38,000[11] to 72,344 lives.[12] Paul Preston, speaking in 2012 at the time of the publication of his book The Spanish Holocaust, put the figure at a little under 50,000.

The role of the Catholic Church in this story cannot be ignored:

Franco's tactics received important support from Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during the civil war. He remained emphatically neutral in the Second World War, but nonetheless offered various kinds of support to Italy and Germany. He allowed Spanish soldiers to volunteer to fight in the German Army against the USSR (the Blue Division), but forbade Spaniards to fight in the West against the democracies. Franco's common ground with Hitler was particularly weakened by Hitler's propagation of Nazi mysticism and his attempts to manipulate Christianity, which went against Franco's fervent commitment to defending Christianity and Catholicism.

There's the real threat to the left. The Spanish right is not pro-Nazi, but pro-Catholic and pro-tradition. Nearly all right-wing movements are labeled as Nazi or fascist because these terms essentially mean bad or evil, they are not accurate representations of political ideology. Since the left controls the microphone, it is easy for them to paint their enemies as evil, whether or not it is justified.

If you doubt the argument that the left won, consider Russia today. Putin is raising the Russian Orthodox Church and pushing a pro-Christian cultural agenda because as a former KGB agent, he knows exactly the strategy of the left: destroy the Church and traditional culture to pave the way for revolution. Only now, ironically, since the socialist West defeated the communist East, the East is now redeploying its forces to the right in order to fight Western domination.

I have been following the Pussy riot story for some time and have done some digging. Its is pretty clear that America is sponsoring a myriad of organizations via NGO’s to try to undermine and destabilise Russia.

Specifically GOLOS, which in turn funds numerous organisations within Russia including Pussy Riot. In my article Russian Spring cancelled NYET to NGO’s I examined new legislation that Russia has just introduced to curb the influence of foreign NGO’s in Russia.

My observations seem to indicate to me that by using LGBT and Feminist groups they (USA & co) are seeking to sow dissent internally and externally against Russia. Already this week we have seen Madonna take up the “Pussy Riot case” and try to imply that it is somehow a human rights issue….

Even if you are completely cynical about Putin's religious beliefs, having lost a left-left battle to the West, it makes sense for Russia to turn to the right and use tradition to fight the encroachment of the West. The anti-gay propaganda law and other issues are hitting Western efforts head on. While Russia is a different case altogether from Spain, the same political forces are at work.

Compared to Greece, in Spain there is an even greater chance of a right-wing victory. The debt problems and high unemployment rates create the same fertile environment for political radicalism. The secessionist movement in Catalonia favors the far right because they are the strongest opponents. Since secession is also destined to become a larger issue, it will work to elevate the political right as the voice of opposition, whether the secession succeeds or fails. Unlike in Greece, the more centrist political parties show some affinity for the far right, which will likely moderate it and increase the odds of political victory. Finally, Spain appears a case where the left may be exposed for crying wolf, if this movement remains a non-violent one. The key point, I believe, is that the left does not oppose any ideas of the far right head on, they dismiss them as Nazis, threats, etc. Thus, if the non-violent far right breaks through anywhere in a major European power, they face almost no credible opposition. Once people see a far right regime in power failing to meet leftist stereotypes, their ideas will move into the mainstream of debate. And since they have been shut out of debate for so long, many people will find their ideas new. If the right comes to power, this is the path they will take.