đș This week in Spain: 8MâThings Fall Apart
Also: SĂłlo v Solo, an American who LOVES Spain, and that Vox wanna-be PM
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono
March 9, Madrid
đ Welcome to the fourth (beta) issue of Tapa, an English-language, weekly newsletter about all things Spain! Should we change the name? Weâd love to hear from you either wayâor on anything else. You can reach us at tapa@substack.com.
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A before-and-after moment for the coalition government
đ A Divided Feminism Takes to the Streets of Spain
For the second year in a row, Spanish politics got ugly on International Womenâs Day, with two opposing feminist marches taking place in Madrid and progressive leaders pointing fingers at each other. Debate interruptions, parliamentary insults, and street violence exposed a deepening rift in the leftist coalition government between the center-left PSOE and the far-left Unidas Podemos.
The controversy surrounding the amendment of the âOnly yes means yesâ sexual consent law, and the passing of the so-called âtransâ (transgender) law has caused a deep fracture in Spainâs feminist movement. These differences peaked Wednesday.
Parliament voted in favor of amending the âOnly yes means yesâ law on Tuesday, the eve of International Womenâs Day, in an effort to close loopholes in the recently passed legislation that inadvertently allowed over 700 convicted sex offenders to successfully petition to have their sentences reduced (and in more than 70 cases, let them be released).
The PSOEâs proposal keeps the definition of sex without consent as âsexual aggressionâ. However, their proposal differentiates between violent and non-violent sexual aggression and penalizes those committed with violence more heavilyâsomething that Unidas Podemos opposes.
Why? Podemos says that rape is rape, periodâand penalizing women who donât experience violence or âfight backâ puts the blame on them. Consent is the issue.
The âfast-trackedâ amendment was passed with 231 votes, as expected. The motion by PSOE was joined by the center-right PP and liberal Ciudadanos, while Vox abstained. However, Unidas Podemos, which spearheaded the original bill, voted against it.
During each partyâs speeches in parliament, things heated up pretty quickly:
PSOE leaders accused their allies in Unidas Podemos of not âintroducing a single proposalâ and of being âimmatureâ for refusing to vote in favor of the amendment, while Vox accused both Prime Minister SĂĄnchez and Equality Minister Irene Montero of being responsible for women in Spain being âafraid of rapists who are now walking the streets thanks to an unconstitutional lawâ.
Meanwhile, Unidas Podemos warned about the optics of âvoting with the PP and Voxâ and returning to âfascism and fearââand praised their own âpioneeringâ law that was âcelebrated by the international communityâ.
No matter the friction, itâs unlikely that Spainâs government will colapse before new elections in late 2023. âIf Podemos leaves the coalition before the legislative elections, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would likely remain in power until Election Day,â says Antonio Barroso of political risk consultancy Teneo. âSince Spain will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of the year, Sanchez will enjoy an additional lever to drive the agenda.â
đ„ Scenes from 8M
Irene Montero was interrupted by a protester who repeatedly asked her what the definition of a woman is and accused her of prioritizing the rights of the trans community over those of people who were born women. The political split inherent in this incident was a symbol of why thousands of people attended competing Womenâs Day marches throughout Spain because of ideological differences.
The new âtransâ law spearheaded by Unidas Podemos allows people to legally self-identify their sex starting at age 16.
The 8M Commission, which marched from the Atocha railway station to Plaza ColĂłn, calls for the acceptance of trans-women as women, while the Movimiento Feminista de Madrid (MFM) rejects that notion. The MFM also calls for the resignation of Equality Minister Montero and for the abolition of prostitution, something that the 8-M Commission doesnât include in their list of demands.
SĂĄnchez skipped Monteroâs event this yearâeven though he has attended them in the past. Instead, he was seen smiling that morning in a selfie tweeted by Science and Innovation Minister Diana Morant, along with other PSOE leaders.
Spainâs right-wing parties have been having a field day with the leftâs feud.
In the midst of the inter-coalition battle, PSOE PM SĂĄnchez announced a new gender balance and parity law that would legislate a minimum of 40% of each gender in government cabinets and corporate boards, making it one of the first in Europe to define a legally binding quota.
This would be a big PR win in most circumstances, but the fight eclipsed any benefit.
Madrid regional governor Isabel DĂaz Ayuso, of the PP, fused the gender parity and trans laws in a recent appearance, joking that because people can now self-identify their sex, if two ministers in her cabinet named Enrique identified as Enriqueta, her government would fulfill the new requirements.
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đŹ Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week:
1. (Radioactive) Clean up on Aisle 5
In 1966 a U.S. bomber and a tanker collided during mid-air refueling above the small farming village of Palomares, in AlmerĂa. To make matter worse, the bomber was carrying four hydrogen bombs (âąïž) that after the crash fell to the surface. Three of them were found on land and the fourth was found a few months later at the bottom of the Mediterranean.
Two of the bombs were found intact, but the other two released plutonium upon impact (!!), becoming one of the biggest nuclear accidents in history.
Hundreds of US soldiers and some Spanish operatives helped clean up the area, but an estimated 50,000 square meters of contaminated soil remain in the Cuevas de Almanzora municipality.
Now, 57 years later, the Spanish government wants the US to remove the remaining contaminated soil and send it to a safe site in Nevada. Washington hasnât responded to the request yet. Â
2. Weâre friends, but not good friends
Economics processor RamĂłn Tamamesâthat guy the hard-right Vox party is putting up to be Prime Minister in its no-confidence vote against Pedro SĂĄnchezâgave a long interview to El PaĂs this week, and it was a doozy. Heâs not exactly planning to die on Voxâs hill.
Why did he take Vox up on their offerâsame ideology, right? Wrong. âIt is a unique opportunity to speak to the 47.5 million Spaniards that wouldnât happen in any other circumstance.â
Do you want to outlaw separatist parties [like Vox wants]? âI am not in favor of outlawing anything.â
But why is he running to be Voxâs prime minister, then? âI insist: I do not have to defend Vox, nobody has asked me to. They have asked me to explain from my point of view how Spain is doing, to speak freely. And that's what Iâll stick to.â
3. Your 15 minutes of fame may stink
Carlos Moreno had a big idea. The Colombian urban planning advisor to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo imagined that cities could be improved if they were designed so that every resident had all daily necessities and servicesâschool, clinic, supermarket, work, and so onâwithin 15 minutes of their home. VoilĂ ! The 15-Minute City.
Morenoâs concept launched a bookâand a movement after Hidalgo included plans to implement the 15-minute city idea in her 2020 re-election campaign.Â
Sounds great, no? Sure. But no good deed goes unpunished. Pretty soon people online turned the idea around. Plans to keep out traffic in town centers to make them more walkable? To put all needs within 15 minutes? It was all part of a government scheme, they said, to lock down people and prohibit them from leaving their neighborhoods.
Here Spain makes its embarrassing cameo. Rumors of the imminent implementation of a 15-minute city lockdown hellscape became so prominent in the Madrid suburb of Las Rozas that the mayor, José de la Uz of the PP, felt the need to record a calming video to assure local resident that a 15-minute city would not be implemented in their city.
Moreno, for his labors, said that on a recent book promotion tour in Spain he received messages calling him, âPodemita de mierda, narco de mierda, escoria sudaca, muĂ©rete, hay que ser malnacido para condenar a toda la humanidad a vivir en guetosâ.
4. Next weâll solve the tortilla-with-onion-or-not debate
13 years after dropping it, the RAE has returned the tilde to sĂłlo. The move may seem smallâbecause it doesnât affect pronunciationâbut in literary society, the Spanish grammar policeâs reintroduction of the accent had seismic repercussions. Think of the drama Coca Cola caused when it switched to New CokeâŠand back.
The Real Academia Española rushed to claim this wasnât a climbdown. In fact, it wasnât a change at all, but rather a âclarificationâ of the rule. That is, in situations when the adverbial (âonlyâ) and the adjectival (âaloneâ) forms of the word could be confused, the tilde would be employed to show it was an adverb. Trabaja sĂłlo los domingos (âHe only works Sundaysâ), vs Trabaja solo los domingos (âHe works alone on Sundaysâ).
The literary set wasnât buying the ânothing to see hereâ. Pro-tilde author Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverte, who is also one of the members of the RAE standing committee (he holds the letter T chair), came out swinging. The new tilde stand was an âimportant modificationâ, he said, being incorrectly covered up by an âanti-tildistaâ academic at the RAE.
Now the real fighting beginsâbetween writers and academics who believe the accent never should have been banished and those who believe its return is elitism in its worst form.
5. Weâll always have El Corte InglĂ©s
Spanish woman travels to the U.S., meets American man, love blooms. Such is the tale of Merce Escobar of Murcia, who was on an exchange in the U.S. when a guy in a store overheard her speaking Spanish with a friend and asked her if she was from Spain. She answered yes, and he dropped a love bomb.
Not on her, thoughâon Spain. Turns out that Larry Shy loves Spainâa lot. In fact, he loves Spain with an intensity that might even make Santiago Abascal blush. On his arm he has a tattoo of a bull, of the words âMadridâ and âtapasâ, of Hemingway in a txapela (Basque beret)âand of an El Corte InglĂ©s logo đł.
But itâs not just funny tattoos. Shyâs love is more serious: He thinks Spaniards just donât realize how good they have it. Shy loves the jamĂłn, the beer, the football rivalries, the free tapa with each drink at a bar, Segovia, Barcelonaâthe list goes on. âThe point Iâm making is so many Spaniards are missing what they already have. Arguably, the best country in the world.â
This hits a big Spanish nerve. Spaniards running down their country until a bright-eyed foreigner reminds them of its greatness is a long-standing trope. Escobarâs tweet has been viewed 5.3 million times and received over 79k likes. ABC wrote an article. But the trend is not limited to the political right of ABC and Abascal; left-leaning English pianist James Rhodes caused a similar uproar when he emigrated from the U.K. to Madrid, wrote an op-ed titled âI have no reason to lie when I tell you that everything is better in Spainââand trolled Abascal to boot.
đHeadlines of the week (if we wrote them)
đ It's a bird, it's a plane, itâsâŠa traffic chopper pilot up to his eyeballs on coke and speed? (El PeriĂłdico, ABC)
đ·That must be Alcatraz vintage 2023: The Mexican beauty queen, her friend Constantin, and the $1.7 million Extremadura wine heist that won them 4 years of hard time (Reuters)
đŁ Madrid Mayor MartĂnez Almeida sings âI believe I can flyâ. Gravity begs to differ (El Mundo)
đ„ Bonus Round: 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
The Mercado de Motores is back. The second weekend of every month, the Mercado de Motores market takes over the Madrid Railway Museum (which used to be a train station) to bring you live music, food trucks, vintage clothing, used vinyls and more. Over 200 designers and entrepreneurs showcase their productsâkind of like a flea market but a whole lot better. Free admission. Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Museo del Ferrocarril. Paseo de las Delicias 61, Madrid.
Before the Oscars, catch a screening of Everything Everywhere All at Once. If you still havenât seen this mind-blowing masterpiece starring Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis, head over to Sala Equis (one of the coolest cultural spaces in the city) on Saturday or Sunday for a special pre-Oscar session. Located in a historic building in downtown Madrid, Sala Equis is well known by locals as it the cityâs last adult movie theater. Since reopening its doors, it regularly holds special events, exhibits and film screenings. Saturday, March 11, 10 p.m.. Sunday, March 12, 5 p.m. Duque de Alba 4, Madrid. âŹ6.90.
A night with Lewis Capaldi. The British pop/rock singer and composer is performing live this Saturday at 9 p.m. at the Wizink center in Madrid as part of his European 2023 tour. Capaldi is promoting his second album 'Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent'. Tickets start at âŹ56.
The force can be with you this weekend. The epic battle between the Jedi and the evil Empire takes over the town of Fuenlabrada this weekend as the Universo Star Wars exhibit opens its doors. Not only this is a great opportunity for you to get out of your Malasaña bubble, itâs also a chance to see over 150 collectorâs items and real life-size figures from classic characters like C-3PO and Boba Fett. Centro de Arte TomĂĄs y Valiente. Calle de LeganĂ©s 51, Fuenlabrada. Free admission.
Fight the Sunday blues by riding a train from 1886. On Sunday (March 12), head over to Arganda del Rey (the town right outside Madrid, not the Metro station) and hop on a vintage 19th century locomotive to experience travel the old fashioned way. The ride covers 4 km between Arganda del Rey and the nearby town of Rivas-Vaciamadrid. Get ready to ride along a âspectacular 175-meter wrought-iron bridge across the river Jaramaâthe epic setting of the Battle of Jarama during the Spanish Civil Warâ. Tickets are âŹ7 and include a visit to the train museum in La Poveda. For schedule and tickets, click here.
đŒ Coming Up
Tickets for the annual Noches del BotanĂco music fest at Madridâs Complutense University went on sale on March 8. RubĂ©n Blades, Avishai Cohe, the Wailers, SiouxsieâŠget âem while theyâre hot, because they often donât last long.
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