The closing of the ‘Uni de Autumn’ of Podemos was, first of all, a closing of the party’s ranks. Leaders such as Irene Montero and former leaders such as Pablo Iglesias or Juan Carlos Monedero claimed the purple formation as the “mother ship” of the left before the imminent process of refounding that space. And they issued harsh warnings to Yolanda Díaz for the launch of Sumar as a platform away from political parties: “Podemos must be respected,” Iglesias warned.
Victoria Rosell and Pablo Iglesias, against lawfare at the Podemos school
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Before some 1,250 attendees (according to Podemos) who did not nearly fill the capacity of the Teatro Coliseum in Madrid, an act packed with interventions by representatives of the international left became, in reality, a clear message to those who think that Ione’s party Belarra is willing to dilute himself in a project that does not give him the preponderant role he has played until now. A complete declaration of intent regarding the road map drawn up by the second vice president, whom Pablo Iglesias himself pointed to as a candidate after her resignation.
The least explicit during her speech to the already undisguised political conflict that threatens to open the channel again to the left was Irene Montero. Even so, the leader of the formation and Minister of Equality claimed the role of her party as “the only force capable of transforming our country”. And she recalled that if it were not for Podemos there would be no coalition government. “We are here today governing this country thanks to the audacity and firmness of Podemos. Of Podemos”, she remarked.
Montero described his formation as the only transformer on the left “because we are convinced of making possible what everyone tells us is impossible. And also because we are the force that tells the truth, however uncomfortable it may be, ”she raised, referring to the position with the war in Ukraine, the tax increases for the rich or the feminist laws. The minister also stated that, in her opinion, the 2023 electoral cycle will once again “destroy Podemos” because it is the only force that “makes it impossible for the 1978 regime to recompose the social consensus that recomposes its privileges.”
With the general secretary of the purple formation, Ione Belarra, among the public appearing for the first time after her recent maternity but without intervening, the rundown of the meeting reserved for Pablo Iglesias the same leading role that he played for so long. He was in charge of closing the act and the longest intervention, in a particularly harsh tone towards the plans of Yolanda Díaz, the woman who one day was also his greatest trust, whom he chose as his successor and for whom he did not skimp, without naming it, even thick words.
“Podemos is a political force that is in the government but is not in consensus (referring to the position on Ukraine and the rejection of NATO). That is what they intend to destroy with the stupid ingenuity of many sectors of the left who were afraid to say that arms should not be sent to Ukraine, that it was hypocrisy to compare Ukraine with Gernika, or that they should say no to NATO”, he said in reference to the disagreement between Podemos and the second vice president for sending weapons to the Zelenski government.
But there was more. Iglesias said that the recipe to avoid a government of PP and VOX cannot go through the BOE alone. “It is not enough with the BOE and having the sympathy of corrupt left-wing journalists. We need a left that tells the truth, that is committed to social and ideological mobilization.” And he added in direct allusion to the approach defended by the Minister of Labor to promote Sumar outside the political parties: “There is no more reactionary speech than the one that says that the problem is the parties.”
The former vice president slipped that in the plans of Yolanda Díaz and Sumar there is the bump of Podemos in the municipal and regional ones. “Some think that it is a magnificent opportunity for Podemos to have a bad result and for the United Left to disappear because that will leave the whole field for a new left that will not be persecuted by the sewers and that will not be treated negatively by progressive media . The level of naivety of such an approach is blushing. You have to be stupid to believe that the left can do well in the general elections if Podemos does poorly in the municipal ones.”
Iglesias highlighted that his party “has been a generous political force like no other in this country”, giving as examples the commitment “for a candidate who was not from this party” or that Podemos would lead the Government to “political formations that did not even they shared the strategy of entering the Government”, in a clear allusion to IU. That is why, said the former secretary general, “we must reach out again.” Although he warned: “We must bet on converging with Sumar in the general elections, but Podemos must be respected.” A warning that he verbalized again in his final sentence: “Woe to him or her who dares to disrespect the militants of Podemos!”
