Spain’s politics is fraying

‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ Philosopher George Santayana’s dictum is starting to look more relevant than ever in Spain, the country of his birth.

The political temperature in Madrid has risen sharply in recent weeks and the language politicians are using has become unmistakably bellicose. The casual observer might almost be forgiven for wondering momentarily if we’re back in 1936, with politicians limbering up for a re-run of Spain’s civil war. 

The opposition has accused the left-wing government of using Covid restrictions as ‘a political weapon’ and of enforcing the Madrid lockdown ‘at gunpoint’. Political parties criticise each other for retreating to their respective ‘bunkers’ and launching attacks from ‘their trenches’. One observer regretted that now ‘pistols rather than arguments’ are being used to make points. Fortunately, he was referring only to a single make-believe gun: a politician had used her thumb and index finger in the shape of a pistol, punctuating her speech to parliament by making shooting gestures at her opponents.