Spain After the Indignados/15M Movement Óscar Pereira-Zazo • Steven L
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Spain After the Indignados/15M Movement Óscar Pereira-Zazo • Steven L. Torres Editors Spain After the Indignados/15M Movement The 99% Speaks Out Editors Óscar Pereira-Zazo Steven L. Torres Department of Modern Languages Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures & Literature University of Nebraska–Lincoln University of Nebraska Omaha Lincoln, NE, USA Omaha, NE, USA ISBN 978-3-030-19434-5 ISBN 978-3-030-19435-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19435-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Nicolas Aguilera / EyeEm / Getty Images This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland PREFACE After 2007, when the Great Recession began, it was clear to the editors of this volume that it was imperative to recover and develop the practice of a reflexive and interdisciplinary cultural analysis and critique. We were aware that the humanities were becoming an ornamental component of the uni- versity system. Moreover, it was clear to us that the public relations poli- cies of universities were often engendering disciplinary bubbles within literary and cultural studies, bubbles that were fragmenting the analysis of human culture. Formal and informal conversations with other colleagues led us to col- laborate in the creation of a space for dialogue that finally became ALCESXXI. After a year of planning, we held our first gathering in Spain in 2011, during the same months when the 15M or Indignados Movement was taking place. Our goal was to transcend the academic field and its disciplinary ghettos, and to bring together a variety of cultural agents, such as artists, writers, filmmakers, editors, cultural distributors, activists and, in general, people concerned with the role of culture in social and political transformation. After several years and several conferences, we thought that the time had come to recapitulate our experiences in a book that would combine the voices of a representative sample of people who have been challenging the notion of culture as a closed sphere. This is the story of this book and, obviously, we want to thank all the contributors for their patience and dedication to this project, and for giv- ing us the chance to share their knowledge with an international readership. v vi Preface We would also like to thank every person that has been a part of ALCESXXI, especially those who have inspired others with their altruistic and solidary participation over the years, including Ellen Mayock, Susana Álvarez, Teresa Herrera, Ana Luengo, Nuria García Atienza, Jorge Gaupp, Berta del Río, Edurne Portela, Javier Torre, Constantino Bértolo, José Ovejero, Luis I. Prádanos, Roberto Robles-Valencia, Susan Larson, Óscar Clemente, Miguel Brieva, Ofelia Ferrán, Kata Beilin, Miguel Ángel Nieto, Jorge Marí, Txetxu Aguado, Annabel Martín, H. Rosi Song, David Vila, Vicente Rubio-Pueyo, Cecilia Barriga, Isabelle Touton, José García Rodríguez, Malcolm Compitello, Ana Rueda, Carmen Moreno-Nuño, Steven Marsh, Mónica Lizarte, David Delgado, Silvia Nanclares, Carolina León, Toni Serra, Laura and Javier Corcuera, Gema Pérez-Sánchez, Roberto Forns-Broggi, Jennifer Brady, Luis Martín-Cabrera, Santiago Morales, Jorge Riechmann, Samuel Amago, Paloma González, Antonio Gómez L. Quiñones, J. A. González-Sainz, Graziella Fantini, Esther Bendahan, Antonio Orejudo, Cristina Moreiras, Gonzalo Navajas, Teresa Vilarós, ZEMOS98, Ecologistas en Acción, Teatro del Barrio and so many others. A very special thanks to Palmar Álvarez-Blanco, not only for her impetus to build the ALCESXXI collective but also for being a wonderful friend. Our gratitude to Glenn Ramirez and Shaun Vigil at Palgrave for all their help with this volume. Special thanks to the University of Nebraska at Omaha for Steven Torres’ Faculty Development Fellowship, as well as to the wonderful members of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature and of the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) for their encouragement. Finally, we would like to thank our friends and family (José Luis Torres Ruiz, Linda Hood, Gwen McNeel). Above all, we owe a very special thank you to our spouses, Lola Lorenzo and Julie Torres, for their love, patience and support. Note on translations: Chap. 18 was translated by Miguel Magdaleno Santamaría; Chaps. 5 and 11 by Joseph Cox; and Chaps. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 19 by Steven L. Torres and Óscar Pereira-Zazo. Lincoln, NE Óscar Pereira-Zazo Omaha, NE Steven L. Torres CONTENTS 1 Introduction: After the 15M 1 Óscar Pereira-Zazo and Steven L. Torres Part I Political Crisis 19 2 15M and Indignant Democracy: Legitimation Problems Within Neoliberal Capitalism 21 Juan Carlos Monedero 3 “Populism” as the Task of Constructing a People for Change 65 Luis Alegre Zahonero 4 Podemos in Spain: Limits and Possibilities for Change 75 Santiago Alba Rico Part II Economic Failure 89 5 The 15M and the Financialization of Spanish Society 91 Armando Fernández-Steinko vii viii Contents 6 Basic Income: A Rational Proposal Guaranteeing the Material Existence of the Population 109 Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark Part III Environmental Crossroads 125 7 Feminism and Environmentalism in Dialogue with the 15M and the New Political Cycle in Spain 127 Yayo Herrero 8 The Podemos Phenomenon and the Crisis of Civilization 139 Emilio Santiago Muíño 9 Toward a Postindustrial Left in Spain: Political Parties and Social Movements Facing the Collapse of Civilization 153 Manuel Casal-Lodeiro Part IV Media Control 169 10 Media Control and Emancipation: The Public Sphere in Post-15M Spain 171 Sebastiaan Faber and Bécquer Seguín 11 Breaking the Walls of the Palace: The 15M Facing the Mass Media and the Culture Industry 189 César Rendueles and Jorge Sola Part V Social Mobilization 201 12 From the Politicization of Life to the New Politics 203 Marina Garcés 13 Post-15M Grassroots Interventions in and for Public Space: Resurgence in Everyday Forms of Control and Resistance 219 Megan Saltzman Contents ix 14 PAH, the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages: A Transformative and Poliethical Mobilization 239 Jordi Mir Garcia Part VI Culture in Transition 253 15 Culture a la contra: A Cultural Paradigm Toward Alternatives to the Civilizatory and Ecological Crisis 255 Palmar Álvarez-Blanco 16 Reasons to Celebrate 273 Alberto San Juan 17 Ending the Culture of Fear Once and for All: Notes on NegraBlanca and Other Forms of Post-15M Empowerment 279 Luis Moreno-Caballud and Helena de Llanos 18 Broken Authorities 291 Belén Gopegui 19 A Specter Is Haunting the Recent Spanish Novel 303 David Becerra-Mayor 20 Conclusion: Toward a New Cultural Politics for Spain 321 Óscar Pereira-Zazo and Steven L. Torres Index 331 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Santiago Alba Rico is a writer and essayist. He studied philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. He was a screenwriter in the 1980s for the legendary television program La bola de cristal and has authored more than 20 books on politics, philosophy and literature, as well as three stories for children and a play. Since 1988 he has lived in the Arab world, having translated the Egyptian poet Naguib Surur and the Iraqi novelist Mohammed Jydair into Spanish. For years, he has taught literature at the Cervantes Institute. His latest books are Ser o no ser (un cuerpo) (2017), Todo el pasado por delante (2017) and Nadie está seguro con un libro en las manos (2018). He regularly collaborates with various news media (including Público, Cuarto Poder, CTXT and Atlántica XXII). Luis Alegre Zahonero is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Society at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and author of books such as El orden de ‘El capital’ (2010), El lugar de los poetas (2017) and Elogio de la homosexualidad (2017). He was responsible for communication during the launch of the Podemos party; he was Coordinator of the Citizen Assembly of Vistalegre I and a presenter of the founding documents of the party (along with Pablo Iglesias, Íñigo Errejón, Carolina Bescansa and Juan Carlos Monedero). Later, he was General Secretary of the Community of Madrid and a member of the State Executive until his retirement from political life at the Vistalegre II congress. xi xii Notes on Contributors Palmar Álvarez-Blanco is Associate Professor of Spanish at Carleton College, USA. She is a co-founder and a leader of the international Association ALCESXXI. She is also a co-founder and member of the edi- torial board of Revista de ALCESXXI: Journal of Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film. Her activist research focuses on the transforma- tion of cultural paradigms in the frame of capitalism and its crisis.