“To Be is to Defend”: Hispanidad and Spanish politics

Nov 7

Nov 7 “To Be is to Defend”: Hispanidad and Spanish politics

“Hispanidad” is something difficult to translate literally, it could be defined as Spanishness or even Hispanic Heritage, but in the eyes of Spain’s right-wing it is under threat. Calls for statues of Columbus to be torn down, for Spain to apologise for its colonial past, or even to examine it more carefully, are seen as not only attacks on long-dead Spaniards but on Spain’s very essence. Vox, Spain’s ultra-right-wing party, not only attempts to use ‘Hispanidad’ to attack left-wing governments in South America but pulls Spain’s right-wing along behind its radical wake.

Proud defence of ‘Hispanidad’ is based upon the notion that the Spanish discovering, and colonisation, was a ground-breaking moment of humanity, charity, and the inception of multiculturalism and acceptance in the New World. This is crystallised by Vox’s leader Santiago Abascal’s tweet on the 12th of October commemorating Columbus’ discovery of the Americas as “the greatest moment of universal brotherhood, which put to an end the genocide between indigenous peoples.” Although this tweet might stretch credulity, it is reacting to the recent ferocious pushback against the perceived evils of Spanish Conquistadors. By defending Spain’s history to an almost farcical extent, not only does Abascal fire up his far-right base in Spain, but he also promotes right-wing rhetoric in Spain’s former colonies.

This ideology promoted by Vox of a proud Catholic Hispanidad has its own journal, la Gaceta de la Iberosfera, or the “Gazette of the Iberosphere” in English. Its motto is “To be is to defend” and this symbolises the unique anxiety and insecurity the Spanish and Latin-American right feels when any of Spain’s colonial is criticised. Although supposedly a journal for the Iberosphere, the scope of this is effectively Vox’s political allies both in Europe and South America. This includes the decidedly not Iberian, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, suggesting that political ideology may mean more to Vox and its allies than cultural identity.

An example of this concoction of the politics of South America and Vox’s own political agenda is the vociferous reaction to an announcement of EU aid to Peru - a nation with a left-wing government. This was described by the Gaceta de la Iberosphera as aid from Borrel to the “communists” of Peru. Borrel is the EU vice-president of foreign policy and a former socialist politician in Spain, so a keen target for right wing ire. Vox wants to portray their political battles against the Spanish government as part of a wider war against a leftist threat across the Spanish world.

Although Spain’s right-wing unanimously sets out to defend Spain’s colonial past, the more mainstream Partido Popular and Ciudadanos parties crudely imitate Vox’s rhetoric. The truly radical nature of Vox’s criticism was highlighted, for example, by a recent Abascal tweet highlighting a supposed nexus between left-wing leaders of the Iberosphere, including now-deceased Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, and others such as former Bolivian president Evo Morales, Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega. He described them as narco-communists and enemies of freedom - an idea he thinks is synonymous with Spain’s legacy. It is also worth mentioning Vox’s very lukewarm rhetoric on Franco’s Dictatorship in Spain. Vox only refer to Franco as “the general” - not the dictator. Although Vox are most aggressive in their attacks on left-wing politicians in South America, the rhetoric of pride in Hispanidad has found widespread support on the Spanish right.

This alliance of Hispanidad was in full display on the 12th of October where, at a mass rally involving Abascal, an audience was addressed by a host of right-wing figures from across the Americas. The most high profile of these was US Senator Ted Cruz. They railed against attacks on what they saw as not only Spain’s past, but its very identity. Beyond Vox this cause unites the entire Spanish right-wing who are all in effective competition to try and be Spain’s strongest defenders. When Mexican President AMLO demanded Spain apologise for historical actions in the past, the high-profile Mayor of Madrid Isabel responded saying “Man if certain things hadn’t happened you wouldn’t exist”. This new bold ownership of Spain’s history has seen renewed conflict over the catholic church. However, the Argentine Pope Francisco would respond positively to Obrador. This was met with disgust in right-wing Spain with Ayuso responding to the Vatican saying, “It surprises me that a Catholic who speaks Spanish speaks like this in turn of a legacy like ours, which brought Spanish … and through that Catholicism and furthermore civilisation to the American continent.”

As the military marched in front of the leaders of Spain’s political parties to celebrate the 12th of October Spain’s National Day (Día de Hispanidad in Spanish) the tone and debate had been entirely shaped by Santiago Abascal and Vox. The Spanish Socialist Government is losing popularity because it must compromise with separatist parties to pass key votes, such as the budget, and is thus seen as weak. If Spain’s right-wing wins the next election, Vox will have to be a major part of the government and its rhetoric on “Hispanidad” shows that Vox’s muscular nationalism is only increasing in its power and reach.