By Rubén Tzanoff
The PSOE, the PP and the judges exchange crossfire. The expiration of the ’78 regime is crudely expressed. In a politically and socially tense situation, two requirements are necessary: the irruption of street mobilization and the construction of a new political alternative of the radical left.
Plunged into a dark abyss
In a vote of six to five, the Constitutional Court (TC) has decided to prevent the Senate from legislating on the renewal of the judicial body, in which two of its members have expired. The reactionary core of the unleashed conflict lies in the fact that the reforms are decided in different judicial bodies and not in the Congress. In other words, it is the judges appointed by the King and the parties of the regime who decide in place of the deputies and senators, elected by popular vote. A serious crisis has opened up which has once again submerged the institutionality of Spanish capitalism in a dark abyss of contradictions.
The next chapter
In this direction, the next instance to define the appointment of TC justices is scheduled for Tuesday 27, with the meeting of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). It is anticipated that the “conservative sector” will put two names on the table: César Tolosa and María Luisa Segoviano. Meanwhile, the “progressive sector” will put forward its own candidates. How far will the dispute go? The decomposition makes it difficult to predict. What is certain is that the crises will be repeated and that only far-reaching changes will be able to break the anti-democratic vicious circle that surrounds the Spanish State.
PSOE-PP: “they love each other, they fight, they love each other again…”
The facts are conclusive. It was the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, who allowed the strengthening of the conservative majority of the TC by agreeing with the PP the candidacies of Enrique Arnaldo and Concepción Espejel. This is the reason why both Bolaños, as well as the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet, and the president of the Senate, Ander Gil (all from the PSOE) called to respect the decision of the TC. This is how the disaster of the Spanish superstructure unfolds: between the “love and hate” that the PSOE and the PP lavish on each other at any given moment.
Crossfire from institutional trenches
Pedro Sánchez and his allies are entrenched in the Government and the Senate. The right and the far-right open fire camouflaged under the robes of the most conservative justices of the TC, who agreed to take the very precautionary measures requested by the PP and Vox. The socialist leaders, the PP and the judges are not moved by democratic intentions but by their own ambitions for power and electoral calculations.
Radical reform of the judicial system
It is a contradiction that it is the institutionality itself that chooses the judges, that the positions are untouchable and that the justice system functions as an annex of the political power. Proposals are needed that go beyond the scope of circumstantial patches. Judges should be elected by popular vote. It is necessary to establish the revocability of the positions, the authority of Popular Juries and the validity of Independent Investigating Commissions. Justices should be paid the same salary as a skilled worker and be accountable to popular oversight bodies. The adoption of transitional measures of this type can only be imposed with the realization of large mobilizations. At the same time, it is vital to attack the underlying problems.
Down with the ’78 regime and the monarchy
The democratic limitations are replicated without solution of continuity in all the powers of the State. This is due to the fact that the Franco dictatorship first and the transition later imposed reactionary institutions and postulates, at the top of which is the restoration of the monarchy. To guarantee a different future, it is indispensable to settle accounts with the past, promoting a unitary movement ordered by actions aimed at putting an end to the ’78 regime and the monarchy. That opens the way to constituent processes in which the people decide everything, among other things: the self-determination of the oppressed peoples, the dissolution of the Senate and its replacement by a Single Chamber with representatives elected by proportional vote.
Let popular mobilization break through
The population is not only fed up with the “spectacle” above, it is also fed up with the inflation that devalues wages and raises the cost of living. The crisis of the capitalist economy, the pandemic, the war of invasion of Ukraine and the corruption in the European Union are intensifying social unrest and uncertainty. The best channel to express the dissatisfaction, that is perceived even in the midst of the festive climate, is the mobilization of the workers and the people, with a program of democratic and social demands of immediate application and with the demand that CC. OO. and UGT. to call for a general strike. This is the road that the massive demonstration in Madrid in defense of public health care, the strikes in France and the United Kingdom began to walk.
It is necessary to put an end to the old politics of “the castes”.
The government of “progressive coalition” PSOE-Unidas Podemos, configures a compendium of lies and measures that have nothing to do with a true left. The PP and Vox are trying to capitalize on the discontent based on right-wing proposals. The truth is that, beyond their differences, they are variants of the regime and the capitalist system. Between them, the “lesser evil” is diluted among the sufferings of the working people. What is needed is a new anti-capitalist political alternative of the left that supports the struggles from class independence. It needs to uphold as a strategy a government of the workers and the people, with full democratic freedoms and satisfied social rights, without exploiters, oppressors and bureaucrats, that is to say, with a socialist system.
For a radical left front
There are organizations like the CUP and Anticapitalistas that present themselves as enemies of the system and proponents of profound transformations, so do groups that claim to be revolutionary socialists, such as: SOL, LI, CR, CRT, IR and others. Among all of us we have the challenge of calling to set up a radical left front to fight united for the strategic changes that are needed.