The Fifth Column

An article called ‘España no funciona’ at Infolibre here looks at why Spain has always been so divided (a massive weakness evident today during the current crisis).  It says in part ‘…The forty years of democracy after the Franco dictatorship have failed to dismantle the power of the negative Spain – that of the young gentlemen, the cardboard-generals and the retrograde cardinals. Rouco Varela (the fundamentalist Spanish bishop) has more media presence than that of Father Ángel (wiki) and thousands of other exemplary priests and nuns. We have failed to cultivate the value of honesty. Journalists, too…’. An example is the ‘Revolution of the Rich’ or ‘Los Cayetanos’ in the smartest barrio of Madrid. We read at eldiario.es ‘What’s happening with the revolution of the rich has nothing to do with the ravages of the pandemic, or the devastation of the economy, or the temporary lack of freedom; what is happening is a manifestation, however freaky, of the struggle of the gentlemen to hold on to power’. A more cynic version comes from Meneame here: ‘What has already been coined as the "Núñez de Balboa Movement" consists of a group of people who live in the most expensive neighbourhood in this country and who have never come out to demonstrate until they have had their vacations in Bali or Formentera cancelled and their right to a great job without having to study for it removed. Dozens of Cayetanos are demonstrating without keeping the required social distance, endangering their lives and that of their families, and inevitably that of the health workers who will soon have to care for them…’. As economist Marta Flich says in a video at El Huff Post here, ‘the virus has no ideological preference’. Then there’s the sad video-clip here of a woman rooting through a dustbin as the flag-wearing militants pass by ignoring her. These right-wing protestors have been given a ‘secret manual of disobedience’ from goodness-knows-where which tells them to film with their telephones anyone who looks like ‘a Government secret policeman within their ranks’ and advises them to not carry their DNI (ID cards). The story ‘Spain’s 1% revolt against continued coronavirus lockdown’ has been made available to American readers at The Huff Post (US) here.