No one could live here
This is the title of one of the most watched series on Spanish television of all time; it started in September 2003 and ended in July 2006 after five seasons and 91 episodes. The series featured a cast of characters who lived in the same building and represented the most characteristic stereotypes of the real, picaresque, schizophrenic - due to the vicissitudes of their own lives and interests - and tremendously vivid Spanish society; these characters were dominated or moved, without their knowledge, by apparently harmless beings who, nevertheless, exercised a strong and nefarious influence and control over the majority and over their actions and decisions, through the creation of complicated and incomprehensible situations which, in reality, tend to occur throughout life, however absurd they may seem, even if we take them and treat them differently, as the series itself intended to do.
A series and set of situations that soon became the second home of all Spaniards because the vast majority felt identified with it in one way or another, either in the characters themselves or in the situations created or experienced by the scriptwriters and actors, and by the generally bizarre final outcome of each episode, which created a kind of interest in waiting for new and absurd experiences to come.
Like the picaresque novel, it was taken as a joke by an immense majority of Spaniards, when in fact it was a real drama that depicted, with a high degree of reliability, the intellectual depth and quality of our society, its interests, deviations, tendencies to deceit or the pattern of seeking how to live in the best possible way, at the expense of others or with as little effort as possible.
For years now in Spain, and especially since Sánchez and Iglesias entered the political scene with a high degree of responsibility and representation, the situation and evolution of the facts and events are very much reminiscent of the messes and tricks of the series. It seems that everything can be taken seriously, nothing is serious; nobody respects the Law or the decisions of the courts without incurring serious consequences; the Constitution, the Head of State or the Judiciary are attacked without disguise; more than 100,000 deaths are caused by a disastrous and poorly managed pandemic and nobody takes or accepts responsibility. Most judicial decisions are questioned, not accepted and, even if they are reiterated, not implemented. The government lies constantly, does not keep its promises, changes course without interruption and the mess is so big that Europe is very worried about our future and about what we are really up to.
The once great and serious enemies of Spain for their stubborn and rancid separatist spirit or their sick and despicable tendency to base their demands on the treacherous use of threats, acts of terrorism and the authorship of some 1. 000 murders in Spain by means of the shot in the back of the head, the ambush, the treacherous bomb and the kidnapping with subsequent death by murder, are now the ones who hold our future in their hands, having become the indispensable partners of a government which, because of their favours and support, is totally indebted to them and their whims.
Our imperfect and so often manipulated democracy, allows without qualms, shame or even the slightest blush that the continuity in command and direction of the country by our heroes of today depends on the votes of these social and political scum who more than pay for their favours in the face of the total passivity of the political classes, the leadership of the armed forces, the high courts, and the unforgivable abhorrence of a society that is sold out, bought off, or accommodated, that wants nothing to do with it, that prefers to look the other way rather than be involved in demonstrations and acts to say loud and clear, gentlemen, this is as far as we have come.
The Head of State, represented in HM the King, is vilified, belittled, attacked and humiliated almost daily from all levels, certain autonomous regions and even totally or partially by the government itself by action or omission of its members; the top officials who have mortgaged the future of their careers on not offending or bothering so many evil people who support and even form part of the government itself, despite having almost sworn that such a situation would not culminate in any way because it is insufferable and has far-reaching consequences for Spain.
The State Security Forces and Corps and even the Armed Forces themselves, in many cases, are under the command of people who are "accommodating or agreeable" to the politicians in government, unpleasant and tremendously grateful to have been appointed to these posts, even though their own conscience and professional training, acquired over many years, indicate to them that these posts are not for them and that others, with more merits and rights, have been snatched away from them.
We see the president of the government, a large part of the executive and the one who until a few days ago was second vice-president, stubbornly attacking the most politically, socially and economically fruitful and healthy area of Spain. Madrid, a region where no one is a stranger, where everyone has a place and which provides more income than any other, on which those who attack it, offend it and close its access doors out of filthy envy, sectarianism and little shame in the face of the reality of the success of the policies that have been implemented in this region for many years now, make their living.
A region that in a few days will test whether or not the national trend can be broken and thus correct the social, health, political and economic catastrophe to which the socialists and communists are leading a sad Spain and where, even worse, they want to take us. A situation of expectation, uncertainty and even doubt that distresses those of us who observe with despair and unease the evolution of events in a country to which many Spaniards have been giving so much effort, so much love and absolute generosity for so long, without asking for anything special in return.
We have witnessed the birth, rise and fall of certain political parties which, after a very short time in active service, confused their precepts and principles to get involved in the lowest echelons of politics and try to find a place for their leaders and too many close associates. We can also say loud and clear that other parties have arisen or re-founded which, promising to look after the poor unfortunate, only seek their own personal profit or enrichment and do not hesitate to avail themselves of any gift, allowance or compensation to which they are entitled for "exercising" their office, while the working and ordinary people suffer the hardships of the ERTEs, the EREs, social segregation and the harsh, blind and prolonged unemployment.
A Spain submerged in the queues of hunger, desperation for lack of a clear future, lies and deceit; a Spain subjected to constant propaganda as poorly masked as the make-up with which our illustrious president tries to hide his shame and the pressures he receives from Europe to be able to do or propose something, without having to suspend, cancel or modify it in a matter of hours or days because it is badly done or out of tune, useless or hasty.
We have the worst data in the civilised world as far as the management and containment of the global pandemic is concerned; we were unable to see it coming, despite the many external warnings and hidden internal reports, due to a malicious propaganda effort on the part of a government sold out to the demands of its communist and more feminist side. Hundreds of millions of euros were mismanaged, invested in phantom purchases and embezzled, or at least disappeared without trace, in non-existent purchases, without a serious contract, assigned to friends or tradesmen, who appeared overnight, with no curriculum or experience in the health sector and, by the way, many of them, quite close friends of other friends of the staff in the government.
The deaths of elderly people in old people's homes, in solitude and with little palliative care, is a national disgrace for which nobody wants to take responsibility; it is even paradoxical that the main responsible by law and because he himself has publicly assumed responsibility for the maintenance, good practices and care in these homes; the then second vice-president of the government, is now using them as a weapon against the main opponent he is facing for the next regional elections in early May.
Spain ranks second among European countries in need of external economic aid in order to get out of the rut this government has got us into with its bad head, lack of foresight and for having thrown millions of euros down the drain with all kinds of handouts, useless plans, small salaries and other aid dedicated to buying people's will and securing favours. Here we are trying to deceive a Europe - which is already fed up with us - with false promises of reforms that are far from clear, structural changes that never come and a long list of taxation that, as we will see, after the elections on May 4, will make both large and small businesses tremble and will undoubtedly be the final straw for many small companies, businesses and the self-employed, who are shivering after more than a year of pandemic and who no longer have confidence because, according to the government, we had long since won the pandemic and emerged stronger, but nevertheless, here we are, with businesses closed, hand over fist and without seeing a positive euro in the starving profit and loss accounts.
We have become a country that is ignored by all countries, far and near, that counts for no one and that is still waiting for Uncle Sam to call it, even though Biden is a leftist and in Moncloa, despite the rudeness of Sánchez and Zapatero, they thought that with this character, the whole previous mess was going to be sorted out in the blink of an eye.
Nobody thought about the real importance of the Madrid elections, except those in Moncloa who see that their seats could be in danger; therefore, they did everything they could to prevent them from being held. An election in which the majority of the parties have become mired in a dirty, low-life campaign in which insults, threats, disrespect, abandonment of lecterns, old slogans and lies are magnified and exalted to incredible levels, such as trying to prevent a small meeting in a corner of the capital by throwing stones at them or sending threats with munitions of war in several letters.
I would like to end this overview of what is happening in our homeland without mentioning and highlighting an execrable act that we Spaniards were astonished to witness last Friday; Nothing more, nothing less, than using the Official State Gazette to enact a modification, certainly very questionable - because it implies the submission of all to the will of a few regarding the right to work and strike and the attitude of the activists of the so-called "information pickets" - by means of an Organic Law (5/2021) repealing paragraph 3 of article 315 of the Penal Code. In the preamble of this Organic Law, the party that included it is treated in a shabby and deceitful way, and what is more execrable and still not understood by anyone, the signature of His Majesty the King was used as required, and it seems that no one noticed, resisted or subsequently rectified such a vulgar and shabby deed, more typical of dictatorial countries with little or no democracy.
From reading this work, I dare to think that it is easy to see that in Spain we are experiencing peculiar, bizarre or truly nightmarish situations, just like those neighbours in the series I referred to at the beginning, who no sooner had they emerged from one bizarre situation than they found themselves immersed in another or others of greater depth, each time more absurd and irrational at the hands of some peculiar elements who, in their own way, dominated the rest of their neighbours. The title of the series was the best thing about it; and in this case, I would replace it with this government, no one could live in Spain.