Spain, a country for or against change?
A few days ago we the Spanish citizens were called to the polls to vote in the Government’s elections for a second time in 6 months. The reason why we had to repeat the whole process again was because the main political Spanish parties weren’t able to agree, make pacts and take decisions in order to do what it is supposed to be their job: work for people’s wellness and the right development of the country. None of them got the absolute majority last December and neither has happened now. However, the one with most votes is likely to be the most affected by corruption and the one which is totally opposed to change, does not understand the new generations’ needs and does not care for people in low and medium social classes.
This is how the Spanish political map looks like now.
The Popular Party (in blue) is the conservative one and according to last week’s political elections, it seems to be the party that Spanish people still prefer. However, I see complaints and incensed angry comments regarding this party and its leaders in social networks, conversations and media practically every day. Furthermore, I find hard to find anyone that admits voting to them. Is this a coincidence that I don’t know anyone that supports them? Are people embarrassed and hide their real mentality? What’s really happening?
The second most-voted political party is the Socialist Party (in red), their opposite, another party affected by corruption whose politicians only desire is to have enough power to arrive in the Government, no matter how. They change their minds all the time regarding who the best ally would be for them. With this scenario, the situation gets complicated: now all the parties must decide again how to rule the country because they are not opened to collaborate.
Let’s go back again to the map above: the only two communities that are willing to change are the ones that are fighting for the independence to leave Spain. And yet people complains about them because they don’t understand why they want to do it. I think reasons are very clear.
Politics in Spain is like a joke. You can’t trust any political party because sooner or later you will find out about corruption cases, how they steal from you in any possible way and the promises they keep repeating over and over again but are not able to accomplish. The voting system doesn’t help us neither: depending on where you live your vote counts differently; and the proceedings with the results can be easily modified (and so the envelopes with the votes). Recently I read a post in Facebook about a man that was chosen to manage the votes for a small country and he could see that people “agreed” to change results and deliver a completely different record. Honestly I don’t know if this is really true or not, but the doubt remains here.
We are always complaining about the economic crisis, the rise of unemployment, the injustice and cuts in education and sanitary public services. We keep saying that we need a change, but we are not fighting for this change. We are doing exactly the opposite. We are bound to tradition and are not giving the chance to small groups to rule because we are afraid of change. Not only this, media is completely politicized: TV channels, newspapers and Internet websites interpret and adapt news for their own good even if it implies to modify the real facts or make them more confusing. And what’s worse: people believe every word they say without hesitating.
“Don’t trust them, don’t believe in them, they don’t do nothing but lying, you don’t know what this person has done or what he’s capable of”. That’s what we are accustomed to hear. We live in a society that fears the unknown, assume the things without comparing or spending some time to investigate if they are really true. Maybe we are just lazy, maybe we are overflown of information and we think that we already know everything. I don’t know.
But what I know is that changing is not a matter of words but a matter of actions.
I may not be an expert in politics but I have to suffer the consequences of this political crisis and also see how the rest of people in my country deal with them too (or are fed up already and have left the country as well). People without resources, people who seek for new opportunities, people who seek for justice and equality, people who are tired of living in a country where their needs and words are not attended and taken into consideration. A beautiful and strong country spoiled by crisis and corruption. A democratic country where democracy does not exist.
To be honest, I don’t know which the solutions to all these problems are, but what I understand is that we can’t conform with what we have because it is the easy way. We still have options to change this situation and even if it doesn’t look like this, we have already won a lot during the past few years. We just have to be patient, make people understand what is really happening and encourage them to think both personally and globally, and take decisions and actions according to this. As it is commonly said: we may fall the first time, but we will stand up and reach higher!
