Lately, it seems like the Spanish government is using the powers of the state to impose a kind of regime change. This is not the first time that this has happened, but now it seems that this attempt is more intensified.
A few days ago, in one of the most talked about press conferences given by the Moncloa, General Santiago said as follows: «Another line of our work is to minimize the climate contrary to the management of the crisis by the Government.» According to some of our favorite ministers, it was a slip. But did anyone really expect them to appear on TVE (the network, Spanish Television) affirming “Yes, the Civil Guard works so that they all don’t criticize us too much. And? You complain too much.”? Did they really believe that they were prepared for Spanish society to accept something like this? They may very well be short on time, but they are undoubtedly trying to mold that same Spanish society to their liking, convincing it to accept its own totalitarian impulses.
The last poll from the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) gave one more clue that they indeed are trying to do this. They shamelessly asked Spaniards (or whoever they ask to get the far-fetched figures they get) if they believed that at this time, there should be a «prohibition on the dissemination of hoaxes and misleading, poorly supported information by networks and social media in favor of remitting all information concerning the pandemic to official [state] sources” or if, on the contrary, there should be “total freedom maintained in the dissemination of news or information.”
The CIS questioned citizens about whether or not they want to end the free press (and the not-free press). And of course, the yesses obtained a support from the majority. There is an enormous risk in even remotely suggesting the prohibition of information, even though they are referring to the “misleading and unsubstantiated” information (though that description is often subject to arbitrary interpretation).
But even more dangerous is that this is happening with an administration who publicly considers it a hoax that the Civil Guard was given orders to identify information that contradicts the government, even when newspapers such as El Confidencial, El Mundo and even the SER Network (in Spanish, the Cadena Ser) have already given the alert about an email from the Benemérita (another term for the Civil Guard) that ordered its own agents to identify “fake news” against the administration. And of course, the administration has vetoed questions to General Santiago in press conferences at the Moncloa. There is no doubt that Orwell’s Big Brother would be proud.
In addition to all of this, many jurists are already denouncing a «hidden state of emergency», and Second Deputy Prime Minister (for all intents and purposes, a member of the Vice Presidency) Pablo Iglesias (Podemos, in the end, was not dead, as some had said) had proposed, as expected, the nationalization of companies amongst a laundry list of “wonderful” policies to stop the economic crisis derived from those that have been taken to stop the expansion of COVID-19.
Our brand-new Vice President is not facing a rosy path, since it seems to have created a divide in the Council of Ministers, mainly led by Calviño and Escrivá (it is predictable and admirable that economists with such brilliant careers would oppose these economic lunacies). However, they are not dealing too damage towards him, and he is ultimately winning the war. And this is all what politics is largely about: the merciless battle for power (our Vice President will surely agree with this statement).
In the end, if this adverse trend continues, there will no longer be socialists, liberal-conservatives, progressives (whatever that means), or skeptics. There will be exemplary citizens and enemies of the people. And the latter tend to not do well in the kind of system we are allowing ourselves to become.
The Government is willing to put its cards on the table, using all of its force in a regime change where it now controls the press and economy with its monopoly on violence with no regard for the citizenry. Those who warned when the state of alarm began said the following: Totalitarians often use moments of genuine fear and confusion to impose their Machiavellian projects, taking advantage of the fact that the most effective communication strategy is that of panic. And the chaos will not end with the end of the confinement, I promise you that. According to forecasts, Spain will be the most economically affected country by the crisis in the Eurozone, and our GDP could drop by 15.5%.
It finally seems that the Spanish people will be vaccinated against the tyranny that many have so desired and that we will understand the importance of the freedom that we have so little appreciated. For now, we have no choice but to use all the means at our disposal to directly oppose the liberticide that this Government is not only willing, but has already begun, to commit. Good luck to all of those Spaniards out there. And of course, giving up is never an option.
