Alberto is 26 years old and had never been to a demonstration. Never, until November of last year. “I’m not ashamed to admit it“, he says, proud. Alberto did not take to the streets to defend public health; nor to combat sexist violence, nor to denounce the rent rise. He did it, for the first time, to protest against the amnesty. “That was the glue. The real objective was to destabilize the Government and dehumanize Pedro Sanchez“recalls Laura Camargo, professor of discourse analysis and writer. The cause mobilized hundreds of young people, especially men, for 33 nights and 34 days. The images of Francoist flags, inflatable dolls and containers burned in front of Ferraz are now one year old. How has the ultra framework changed since then?
The extreme right wants to reignite the flame of the riots against the PSOE headquarters. National Nucleus – a group of hooded neo-Nazis for “civic-political” purposes – has called for a demonstration in Madrid this Saturday. The excuse is none other than reactivate the spiral of violence and tension that the “fascist mass” launched exactly 371 days ago. First there was the amnesty, then came the investiture, later the Begoña Gómez case and, now, the responsibility, as they say, of the Government in the DANA floods. In between, there were prayers, tractors and even some chimes on New Year’s Eve. Vox and more specifically Revuelta, its youth brandhave been behind the first calls.
The anniversary of the protests coincides with the deployment of the group in the towns affected by DANA, in Valencia. The Revuelta militants are not alone. National Nucleus, Desokupa, Workers’ Front, Facta and Spain 2000 They have also been seen on the ground. “It’s a way to reformulate your public image; a solidarity operation to present itself as something different. Revuelta does not use recognizable logos or those identifiable with the extreme right.simply communicates its work of collecting donations,” says Iago Moreno, sociologist and expert in digital strategy. Experts consider that, right now, the extreme right can “get more revenue“with a solidarity campaign on the Valencian coast that reaps the fruits of what they started in Ferraz.
A year ago in the capital, the blue lights of the police vans alternated with dozens, even hundreds, of flags. The least, constitutional. “The main objective was to bring down the Government, turning the public debate to the extreme right and attracting new members. We can say that they have achieved the latter; a part of the population has bought his storywe have seen it in the European elections – with the success of Alvise – and we are seeing it now in Paiporta”, slides Steven Fortihistorian and author of the book Democracies in extinction. Alberto, since then, has attended another dozen demonstrations, all of them – directly or indirectly – against the Government of Spain.
National November has been the motto under which all the groups that participated in the Ferraz protests have operated. The movement brought together people from the Falange, influencers as Straight White Guyagitators like Alvise Pérez and Ruben Gisbertor former politicians like Esperanza Aguirre. He momentum of the extreme right has passed; Internal disputes would make another November the same or similar “almost impossible.” The only ones who have maintained the events – with an ultra-Catholic drift – in front of the PSOE headquarters have been the neighbors – fifty, on the busiest days – who they started the night prayers. “For Valencia and its people, fuck the president“, they chanted this Monday at the intersection of Ferraz and Marqués de Urquijo. The calls for prayer have everything. Rosary, liturgy and homily.
Cracks in the extreme right (non-parliamentary)
Vox made “all possible resources” available to young people; politically legitimized them to shake the streets during the National November. Networks were at first their work tool, in fact, they continue to be: They use them to gain notoriety, visits and income. The ultra network brought together 8,000 people in Ferraza “milestone” that, according to experts, would be difficult to repeat; at least, in the same way. “The common strategy a year ago was to overthrow the Government. Now, like all families, the groups that launched the protests have internal struggles over the political space they are fighting for; we do not have a homogeneous magma“continues Laura Camargo, author of Discursive Trumpism.
Iago Moreno warns of the “bad relationship” between some of the actors involved and points out: “The scenario has changed; starting with the lack of unity. The platforms that make up this network have no will to act together, nor to take back Ferraz. What we have now is a dispute to see who treasures the symbolic inheritance of what that was”. The sociologist and expert in digital communication recognizes that “Revuelta and other groups are still weighing whether it makes sense to interrupt their solidarity campaign in Valencia” and postpone their demands, “leave them for the new cycle of protests who will come after DANA”.
This weekend’s demonstration is called by National Nucleuswhich combines semi-clandestinity with the dissemination of swastikas. The group inherited the acronym of National Novembergiving it a Nazi aesthetic, more aggressive –if possible–. The association, however, It was not part of the germ of the Ferraz protests; in fact, it didn’t even exist back then. “It is a way of appropriating the cause, taking ownership of the movement.because they think it can help them gain weight in the political space of the extreme right,” Moreno continues.
The risk of “oversizing” your strength
“The extreme right has managed to create a climate of opinion favorable to its ideashas gained diffusion. It is important to remember that the protesters [en Ferraz] they came to hit a piñata with the president’s face; They have insulted him in public. The international situation legitimizes and shields the growth of these forces, we cannot lose sight of it,” warns Steven Forti. The result, according to experts, is among us: Revolt grows like foam, “I suppose also in number of members”points out the writer.
6.7% of Spaniards would have voted for Vox in November of last year, according to the CIS. The extreme right would now obtain 11.8% of the votesaccording to the latest barometer from the same organization, published in October. The sources consulted by Public they put the focus on role of mediabut also in the narrative of leftist formations. “The ultras are becoming more and more visible and I fear that this may work in their favor in electoral terms. Oversize is free advertising; and I don’t know to what extent it is being oversized, even in the interest of the Government itself. I think the message that these groups have great organizational capacity It gives them more strength than they really have in the streets“, says Laura Camargo.
#ultras #return #Ferraz #year #protests #cracks #internal #struggles #political #social #force
