The Spanish Extreme-Right

I have just returned from a trip to Spain, where I had an opportunity to survey the political landscape and explore the role of the extreme right-wing party VOX in today’s Spanish political dynamic. 

VOX was founded in 2013 by members of the right of center Partido Popular (PP) who believe that the PP has strayed too far to the center and has become a party of political correctness. VOX’s founding statement is that the party was founded to “defend Spain, the family, and human life; to reduce the size of the state, guarantee equality among Spaniards, and remove government from daily life”.

In 2018, it elected its first parliamentarians and in 2019 became the third largest party in the Cortes (Spain’s national parliament).

The party takes its vision from that espoused by Spain’s former fascist dictator Francisco Franco who ruled Spain with an iron hand from 1939 until his death in 1975, after a three-year civil war. Spain’s national motto during his rule was “una, grande, y libre” (one, strong, and free). Franco’s was a state where no dissension was brooked, and where the Catholic Church played a major role in social policy and everyday life. 

VOX stands for a unitary state unlike the current federal system in place since the constitution of 1978. In their view, Spanish unity is paramount, yet it goes against the nationalistic sentiments present in many of Spain’s autonomies.

It also stands for expelling “illegal” immigrants (especially Arabs in particular and Muslims in general), as well as legal immigrants who engage in criminal activity. They also advocate measures to eliminate laws that protect the rights of women, sexual education, euthanasia (assisted dying is legal in Spain), and describe women as “carriers and givers of life” – reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s vision contained in The Handmaid’s Tale.

In short, VOX stands for all that opposes the values of NATO, the European Union, and a modern social democratic state in a society where these values are esteemed by large sectors of the population. 

VOX’s strategy is to promote fear. 

Fear of change, fear of immigrants, fear of crime, and a nostalgic return to the national unity enforced by the Franco regime where the Catalans, Basques, Gallegos, and others submitted to the will of Castilian Spain run from Madrid, sharing one language, one identity, and one nation.

Their goal is to break into government either on its own or in partnership with the PP. Indeed, in the autonomy of Castilla y Leon, they are part of a government led by the PP. Much like the tail wagging the dog, VOX controls the PP if the PP wishes to remain in power. 

However, all is not smooth sailing. During my visit to Spain, the VOX vice-president of the coalition government of Castilla y Leon told the media that his party planned to make abortions more difficult by forcing doctors to have candidates for abortion listen to the heartbeats and look at the ultrasound images. 

We will see how the coalition government handles this. Mainstream Spanish parties see abortion as a woman’s right to decide how to manage her own body. It remains to be seen how women voters react to VOX and how their reactions affect VOX’s electability. 

VOX seeks to “normalize” its discourse of hatred and division and legitimize the politics of misogyny, fear, anti-LGBTQ legislation, and general paranoia, dividing Spanish society and, as is the extremist’s goal everywhere, fortify divisions in society that VOX can exploit to implement its retrograde social and political programs. 

That would be a disaster for a society that successfully transitioned from an extreme right-wing dictatorship to a vibrant democracy with all of its warts but also with all of the freedoms and rights that democracy brings.

Like all extremist parties, VOX promises an end to the political chaos that is part and parcel of a vibrant democracy.

Spanish political leaders must address their own role the growth of right-wing extremism by pursuing narrow party politics without offering a positive vision of the future, and how a democratic Spain can achieve what its citizens want.

Absent this, Spain could face years of deep divisions and disillusionment with democracy by an increasingly frustrated society.

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Keep reading: Stupidity or Anger?

Edición: Laura Espejo