Vicenç Villatoro’s Diary

Manuela Carmena and Vox

Environmental and gender policies are to blame for Vox’s rise as much as Catalonia’s independence bid is

Vicenç Villatoro
1 min

Former Madrid mayor Manuela Carmena has stated that far-right party Vox is a by-product of Catalonia’s independence bid. She claims that Catalan nationalism has triggered the reaction of Spanish nationalism. Maybe so. But Vox’s election manifesto did not merely revolve around Catalonia. In fact, the far right’s sexist rhetoric was a central element of their electoral platform. So, you could argue —following Carmena’s reactive logic— that Vox is a consequence of feminism.

In Andalusia, where Vox stood in the regional elections as the voice of the hunting community, you could claim that their success was a response to the stiffer hunting regulations inspired by environmental interest groups. Therefore, Vox could be regarded as a consequence of environmentalism, too.

Carmena could point out that feminism and environmentalism both predate Vox’s success at the polls and that the far-right party didn’t grow as a response to them. Indeed, Vox’s election gains came at the same time as Catalonia’s independence bid. Yet Catalan nationalism also predates the party’s appearance.

Vox was borne out of the fear instilled by Catalan nationalism’s hypothetical success, just as it is fuelled by the fear of the success of feminism and environmentalism. To sum up, Carmena’s environmental and gender policies are to blame for Vox’s rise as much as Catalonia’s independence bid is. Nevertheless, Catalan nationalism, environmentalism and feminism should never renounce success, apologise for or feel ashamed by Vox’s emergence.

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