Trouble In Paradise

It's a risky business, passing critical comment on one's adoptive country, and it is not something that I do lightly.

However, as families across Spain prepare for the traditional Noche Buena dinner my thoughts turn to rather more disquieting matters. Yet as I do so I can be certain that, while not breaking any confidences, I am simply reflecting the worries and opinions expressed to me by my Spanish friends - but with which I happen to agree wholeheartedly.

Spain is a nation wearied by the constant bludgeoning it receives from high profile corruption scandal after high profile corruption scandal. Misuse of public position and funds is not unique to whatever party is in power, or course, and it is certainly not exclusive to Spain. Consider the scandal over politicians claiming public resources to maintain their luxury second homes and ornamental duck ponds that rocked Westminster some years back. But in Spain it is the ruling right-wing Popular Party that has in particular been actively bent on rubbishing its own reputation, or so it seems.

Couple this with the perception here that politicians are not in any way answerable to the public for their actions and add to this a widespread loathing of the Spanish banking system and the painfully drawn out complexities of a legal system that often does not seem to serve the victims of wrongdoers, and this all begins to make for a toxic brew indeed.

Let's throw another ingredient into the witches' cauldron. Claiming that it is in the public interest, the PP Government of Mariano Rajoy is currently in the final stages of bringing in legislation that will seriously curb the right to peacefully protest, a move that is raising worried eyebrows here and around the world due to its far-reaching nature. Now if there is something that the Spanish love to do, it is to protest; whether many of these street demonstrations actually achieve anything is debatable, but the fact remains that protest here is a way of life.

Ocassionally, however, something more coherent grows out of these protests, and the new kid on the Spanish block is the recently formed political party, Podemos ("We Can"). Podemos was surprisingly successful in the last European elections and has both brought hope and raised concerns, depending on which side of the political fence you sit on. Big business and the banking powers are, of course, predicting doom if this infant party should ever win a general election. And with just such a test of the nation's mood coming up next May, they are set to increase their mud flinging bombardment tenfold.

My personal jury is still out with regards to Podemos. Perhaps they will flare briefly like an exploding rocket before going out, just as the "15th of May Movement" here several years ago. Maybe they will build on their early success and adopt all the trappings of the traditional parties - beaurocracy, greed, corruption and all. Or maybe, things will be different this time.

Whatever, I am quietly satisfied at the level of concern and negativity heading in the direction of Podemos from the bastions of traditional politics and business. If they weren't worried, they would just ignore this young upstart that has so blatantly strutted into their midst. Indeed, Podemos could use this to their advantage.

We will see... I'll finish for now with a saddening example of how politicians can so easily loose the human touch. Not that many months ago, a Granada fireman wrote to the local newspaper to describe an incident that had quite rightly concerned him deeply. On being called to tackle a fire at a well-known building in the city, the passage of the firefighters had been impeded by the bollards surrounding the entrance.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt. At this point, in stepped the right-wing Mayor of Granada with a letter to the same newspaper in which, incredibly, he stated that if this firefighter was unable to do his job then he should go and sell ice-cream instead.

Arrogant, offensive and completely out of touch with reality - this astonishing response was all of these things. But all too often, such is the way of those who are entrusted with the public good but get things so dismally and embarrassingly wrong.