Coordinating Podemos

Podemos is at least true to its ambitions for job creation. Jobs for its own, that is. Periodically, a Podemos type emerges that no one has heard of and would not have been heard of had it not been for the job opportunities that Podemos empowered simply by being Podemos. When all else fails, and everyone's out of work, form a political party and there'll be jobs for the boys but especially - because Podemos is a feminist organisation - the girls.

The latest among the ranks of the Unheard-Ofs is Cristina Gómez. And she is? Well, she actually has a pretty important gig - in Menorca terms at any rate. She's vice-president of the Council of Menorca. In line with all things that are citizenly correct, Cristina heads something known as Som Bases IB. We are the bases (Balearic Islands). These bases are the Podemos rank and file, of which even its leaders are theoretically members. Egalitarianism walks hand in hand with feminism as Podemos heads towards the Promised Land. Which is not, however, being part of the Balearic government. Or is it?

Were there bookies taking bets, they would probably have installed Oberkommandant Laura Camargo as the front-runner to become the new gen sec of Podemos in succession to the obsequious Jarabo. This would be on the grounds that she has actually been heard of. Indeed a great deal has been heard of her. Not, it should be pointed out, that The Boot Girl wishes to be general secretary. Yes, she craves leadership in an egalitarian, citizens' democracy fashion, but not with that title. It's far too sexist: no secretary girl for Laura. She would prefer to be the The Coordinator, which sounds a somewhat ominous position in a scary film-noir/sci-fi/Bond-movie style. When she eventually abandons politics, Laura could do worse than contact David Lynch.

Ambitions being as they are, Laura has been having a word with Cristina. That's because Cristina has also been eyeing up the Jarabo role. It's not known how she would like to be referred to were she to be the new Jarabo, but the chances are that she won't be given the opportunity. Laura and Cristina are said to be 90% aligned in terms of policy for the citizens, though Cristina has pointed out that "no agreement of any type exists". Whatever. Which of the two will go forward for the citizens to select, if there is agreement? Well, this will require the "bases" to first decide, but 90% alignment suggests a 90% probability that it will be Laura.

The unification of the two campaigns would be important in thwarting the ambitions of the third candidate - María Asunción Jacoba Pía de la Concha García-Mauriño (to name but one). Mae for short, or Granny Mae where some are concerned, is also from Menorca. Or rather she isn't. As with many of the Podemos political intellectualati in the Balearics, she's a mainlander. Just like Alberto Jarabo or Laura. Mae represents Menorca, which is different to actually being Menorcan.

So, there is something of a battle for the hearts and minds of the Menorcan citizens, and it is one between Granny and Cristina, all designed - she will hope - to bolster Laura's wish to be The Coordinator. Granny can count on the support of Jarabo, which mae (sic) or may not be an advantage. When the grand citizens' assembly in October convenes in order to anoint Jarabo's successor, it will be a clash between the anti-capitalist Camargo faction and the less anti-captialist wing represented by Alberto and Mae.

Francina Armengol can probably rest easy in the knowledge that Laura (and Cristina) don't want to enter the government. They would prefer to remain on the outside, not actually taking any responsibility for their actions, such as holding the gun to the government's head and threatening to shoot if the tourist tax hadn't been doubled. The Alberto-Mae wing, on the other hand, fancies a spot of ministerial function. Under this circumstance, who knows, perhaps Mae might oust Biel as tourism minister. That would be fun.

Who will succeed Alberto? Well, don't discount the influence of the Madrid Supreme Intellectualati. Pablo Iglesias isn't, you may be surprised, among the anti-capitalists. They were in fact trounced when they were in the mix to challenge him to lead the party. Granny will have been hob-nobbing with Pablo. She is, after all, a deputy in Congress. Madrid may determine the outcome, just as Madrid and the mainland have guided the fate of the citizens of the Balearics until now, courtesy of the likes of Alberto who aren't native but have gone so. And in fact, last weekend one of Pablo's right-hand (left-hand?) women, Carolina Bescansa, was in Palma for a show of strength with Mae. Laura was no doubt seething.

Who Holds The Conch?

In Lord of the Flies, what order there was resided with the holder of the conch. Ralph struggled to maintain order, and it was ultimately wrenched away, along with the conch, by Jack. But the conch was only so powerful. Piggy's specs represented the real power. They were needed for making fire. Jack really was an utter bastard.

What order there is in Podemos in the Balearics at present is being wrested away. Alberto Jarabo is to lose his hold on the conch. The faction within the party which isn't behind The Boot Girl, Laura Camargo, wants anyone but Laura in charge. It has come up with someone who might fit the bill: Mae de la Concha. And who is she? A Podemos deputy in Congress. The non-Laura wing would rather like Concha to have the conch and lead them into what they hope will be a glorious victory at the 2019 election. Moreover, it would seem as though they are conspiring to try and get Laura farmed out to Palma town hall. Lucky old Palma, and you think two years to come of Noggin as mayor couldn't be any worse.

But as with Lord of the Flies, it's the specs which have it. And Laura has the specs. Feminist, anti-capitalist Jack that she is, the war paint would be donned, the hunters would roam the land and fire would be made. This, at any rate, is the fear of the non-Laura lot. Were she imposed on Palma, things would be tricky enough, such as her imposing a five-kilometre exclusion zone for all cruise ships. But as holder of the conch as well as the glasses and presidency of the Balearics, to boot, The Boot Girl would commence the process of re-order. Magalluf would be nationalised and become part of the Gulag. Hoteliers would be sent there for their re-education, closely followed by dissenters within the Podemos ranks. The conch wouldn't count for anything for La Concha, as she wouldn't have it.

Of course, and you can rest easy, none of this will happen. Yes, Laura might get to hold the Podemos conch, but the lovely and reassuring Partido Popular are coming to everyone's rescue. So certain are they of victory in 2019 that they have already started drafting legislation. Or repealing legislation. Some which hasn't actually been passed yet, namely the holiday rentals' bill.

The PP will thus contribute to the constant state of disorder. A fire will be lit under Biel Barceló's rentals' law (and possibly Biel as well), with the tourist tax to add extra fuel. Or will it? Who wears the specs in the PP? Biel Company? Marga Prohens? Not as such. Come here, Laura, we need your glasses.

Podemos: The Experiment That Went Wrong?

So, as predicted, Alberto Jarabo will cease to be the general secretary of Podemos in the Balearics. With all Podemos parliamentary deputies plus dozens of others lined up against him and in favour of Laura Camargo, his position had become untenable. He sought to cling to the life raft - rescue from the Madrid leadership and Pablo Iglesias - but that was never going to work. He was destined to sink.

For those of us who are not part of the Podemos apparatus, the party's divisions can seem distinctly arcane. The local difficulty in the Balearics mirrors the much greater one that was played out in March. From the outside, the triumph of Iglesias appeared as though it was the culmination of fighting over the remains of Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky, with no one entirely sure what the fight was. How many inside the party really understood either?

The divisions have been styled by some commentators as evidence of a party attaining maturity. After the euphoria of election triumphs that emerged from out of nowhere, the challenge was for Podemos to make sense of those triumphs. The essentially non-political party had to learn to behave like one. In the process, and as is the case with any other party, there were bound to be arguments as to policy and strategy. And if we need reminding of how other Spanish political parties are engrossed by such a dynamic, we need look no further than PSOE and the Lazarus-like rebirth of Pedro Sánchez in the face of the all too PP-compliant (supposedly) Susana Díaz.

There shouldn't, therefore, be any real surprise that Podemos find themselves attempting to reconcile factions. This is the very nature of political parties. But with Podemos there was also the sense that they were somehow different. An aversion to the established order of the political system and indeed to established practices had lulled many into the belief that here was a mould-breaker. They may have shattered the old mould - at least partially - but are now devoting energies in piecing it back together.

The struggles they are having reflect the very essence of the party and those who inhabit it and its support base. This is an amalgam of an egghead university professorial class, of hardline communists, of disgruntled PSOE (and even PP) supporters, of Republicans, of the previously politically frustrated, of the outright opportunist. There is a sense in which Podemos are a current-day manifestation of elements that contributed to and conspired to force the Second Republic into implosion. All the party lacks is a definable bourgeoisie, and Laura Camargo - a defender of the party's anti-capitalist faction - stands as a symbol against such self-interest.

Jarabo, now that he has decided to walk, is urging the party to find a unifying leader. Camargo, where he is concerned, isn't that figure. But who could he have in mind? Jarabo himself is indicative of a Podemos weakness, the inherent inexperience that the party brings to the table. Who, after all, was he when he became general secretary? Who had ever heard of him? The "new politics", the breaking of the mould, conjured up new faces but ones who were unaware of how to proceed.

Camargo has accused Jarabo of "improvisation". But what else could he have engaged in? Podemos are improvisational. They are, as Mariano Rajoy was at pains to point out, an "experiment". This is a party founded in the cloisters of academe, a laboratory exercise of competing compounds exploding in the test tube.

There may not have been a blank sheet of paper - quite the contrary given the hundreds of items that were to find their way on to the Podemos manifesto - but there was a blankness of procedure. Hard though they try to adhere to a new democratisation via citizens' councils, there is always the potential for a leadership to plough its own furrow. Essentially, this has been one of the criticisms of Jarabo. His proximity to PSOE and Més has supposedly been greater than his proximity to the "bases".

Might, therefore, Jarabo have been undone because of pragmatism? Podemos have refused to kowtow to the established order - witness, for instance, their non-support for Sánchez and his pact with the reviled (by Podemos) Ciudadanos - but in certain instances they have. The Council of Mallorca is an example. It may not be a complete bed of roses, but the combination of PSOE, Més and Podemos has worked with comparative harmony. If Camargo takes over, and perhaps this is Jarabo's fear, the semblance of pragmatism would evaporate.

Ultimately, there is a question of what they really are as a party. Yes, there is a certain maturity, and the electorate will now want a firmer indication. Podemos have passed from being new. They are still an experiment, a work in progress, but their divisions could bring progress to a grinding halt and eventual failure.

The Spice Girls Take Over Podemos

The sisterhood is rising up within Podemos. I'd like to be able to truly align them with The Spice Girls, but once one gets beyond Scary Spice (Palma's Aurora Jhardi), the comparisons do rather dry up. Not that there isn't Girl Power, just that, in all honesty, who could be Baby? Posh? Most definitely not. Likewise, the leader wouldn't qualify as Ginger. Laura Camargo, the Boot Girl (or Boot Spice, if you prefer), is someone David Lynch could have imagined for Twin Peaks: a Nadine Hurley with specs rather than a patch, possessed of superhuman strength and some disturbing secrets hidden beneath the patio.

Laura, it would seem, is about to strike a blow against the brotherhood. And there is no brother more eminent in the Balearics Podemos than Alberto Jarabo. The current general secretary, Alberto is about to feel the full force of the unleashed sisterhood combined with the support of brothers as well. Basically, he's on his way out, and Laura will ascend to the Podemos throne (metaphorically speaking, because there are no thrones in Podemos-land).

This in part is all the fault of His Royal (sic) Podemos-ness, Pablo Iglesias. He apparently took all good Balearic Podemosites by surprise when he said on telly that there would be primaries for the Balearic leadership next month. This had been planned for later in the year under the terms of whatever citizens' council had determined it thus (and there are any number of such councils inhabiting the Podemos sphere).

It was then thought that this wasn't such a surprise after all, as an early vote would leave the way open for Alberto to be re-elected. Laura wouldn't have time to gather her troops and would in any event prefer to show unified solidarity with Alberto. In other words, it had been a manipulation by Pablo to ensure Alberto could continue rather than allowing Laura to take over. And why would he want this? Well, that's because Laura represents the loony anti-capitalist faction, which received something of a trouncing when Podemos Central were having their run-off to decide the leadership, which Iglesias won convincingly.

Initially, it looked as if Alberto and Pablo would get their wish. Then Laura (or someone on behalf of Laura) dropped hints that she would have a crack at becoming gen-sec. Alberto intimated that, in the cause of unity and solidarity (etc.), he might step aside, before making it clear that he wouldn't be. Meanwhile, the Spice Girls had rallied round Laura.

Their number has dwindled markedly in parliament ever since Xelo and Montse were exiled to the Valley of the Fallen behind the PP and forced to become part of the shapeless Mixed Group. Not, it has to be said, that Xelo and Montse would qualify Spice-wise; they're more on the Susan Boyle popular spectrum. But they are out in force elsewhere, such as in Palma with Scary Spice and the endearingly bonkers Eva Frade. Scary said that it would be very positive to have a feminist activist as gen-sec. Eva declared that Laura has thus far provided a "master class on how to conduct new politics", while Sandra Espeja (who conserves the environment on behalf of the Council of Mallorca) believed that Laura's elevation would "feminise" the party. (She, Sandra, might just pass as Sporty, by the way.)

Feminists among the brotherhood then also pitched in on Laura's side. The latest is that there is a "manifesto" under the hashtag of "unity has the name of woman" which has been signed by some one hundred Podemos sorts, numbered among them being Balti, who hadn't previously seemed to wish to take sides. Now faced with all this demand for unity in the name of Laura, Alberto really hasn't gone anywhere to go. Other than out. If he doesn't go, it's impossible to see how he could command the Podemos ranks in parliament, given that all Podemos deputies are backing Laura.

It isn't simply a desire for a woman to be in charge that is behind all this. Laura, it is generally accepted, is more adept than Alberto. Moreover, Alberto, it has been said, hasn't fully got it with the consultative style of Podemos, while there is a perception that he is too easily persuaded to fall in line with PSOE and Més. Laura is less likely to be, which could make life uncomfortable for the matronly Francina Armengol.

Anyway, while all this was going on, the news emerged of a gaff in Son Serra de Marina that Alberto had sublet. More than just sublet, he had apparently been offering it via websites specialising in holiday rentals. He was doing what!? Adding to tourist saturation? A statement subsequently explained that this was all above board, the owner had given permission and Alberto had declared it.

Was news of this subletting just a coincidence? Who can say, other than "I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want ...".

Working Eight Months A Year

Carlos Herrera is a journalist. He has a large following on a radio show that goes out on COPE, one of the most listened to broadcasters in the country. By way of background, it is of interest to note that COPE started out life as an essentially religious broadcaster. It has become very much more general in its output, though it would appear that it is owned by the church in that the Spanish Episcopal Conference has 50% of the shares of the company to which COPE belongs. Dioceses and religious orders are other shareholders.

This does perhaps need bearing in mind, as it suggests that COPE might not be rabidly left-wing. Its politics and its ownership are, however, of only passing relevance to today's theme, which is one that Carlos has offered. On his show there is a slot, the title of which lends itself to alternative translations but which I shall call "fools' defibrillator". Carlos and co-host pick up on particular stories and offer to defibrillate those who have uttered foolishness or nonsense. And so it was that he held up to ridicule Laura Camargo of Podemos.

The travel magazine and website Preferente highlighted her inclusion on the show last week, noting - and this may or may not have been ironic - that Camargo is the only person in Podemos in the Balearics who has the capacity to think. She may be, but then what she thinks and says ended up being the target for Carlos.

This was specifically to do with her views on workers in the tourism industry who, after eight months' work, are knackered and shouldn't be expected to have to work through winter and therefore all year. In fact, she said this before Christmas, so the story is an old one. On 23 December I drew attention to her remarks, wondering why it should be deemed acceptable for workers to do no more than eight months.

Still, better than late never the Camargo eight-month opinion surfaced on Carlos's show last week and also became the focus of a set-to between Podemos and Ciudadanos (C's). Carlos found it hard to understand, given, for instance, that radio journalists work all year. They are not the only ones. If anyone is interested, I work twelve months a year, usually seven days a week and not untypically up to eleven or twelve hours a day. Am I knackered? All the time.

Ah but, this is just sitting down and typing, is it not? Generally, yes. But there is being physically knackered and there is being mentally knackered. Neither state is particularly ideal, but suffice it to say that I tended to agree with Carlos's observation.

Camargo came out with this eight-month business in the broader context of tourism policy. We don't want more tourists in the winter, she said, and used the knackered workers as a reason why not. What of course she was really getting at was that we (Podemos) don't want more tourists, full stop. In fact, we'd prefer that there were fewer of them. Camargo and Podemos are highly suspicious of government attempts to erode seasonality and therefore make the tourism season ever longer. The workers, it can seem (and probably are), something of a smokescreen.

Which is not to deny that there are workers in the tourism industry who put in long hours, day after day over a several-month period with few breaks (if at all) and don't get particularly well paid. Camargo has a point, especially when it comes to exploitation, but only up to a point. Politically, she is very much on the side of the workers and has made her feelings about hoteliers well enough known, and the politics were partly where Carlos Herrera was coming from, as most certainly also was the leader of the C's, Albert Rivera. He tweeted the other day that Camargo is a deputy with a party which proposes gifts of income paid for by the state.

Rivera's tweet brought differing responses. Some accused him of demagoguery. Others took issue with the Podemos view of work and supported him. In the latter camp was a tweet which read: "Some consider work to be a punishment and being on the dole a fiesta."

In addition to stirring up the political ill-feeling between Podemos and the C's (not that it needs much stirring), the Camargo remarks served not only as a statement about her party's views on tourism but also to reignite the whole issue of the unbalanced nature of work and employment.

She was essentially saying that the situation which has been created because of seasonality is as it should be. Tourism is not the only industry affected by seasonality, but there are others which are not. Would she advocate everyone working no more than eight months a year? Police, nurses, firemen just to take three examples. Defibrillate away, Carlos.

Francina And Miss Bossy Boots

At the end of a hard day in parliament, does President Armengol take to the family terrace, pour a refreshing and long G&T and think to herself - what a bunch of Charlies I've been landed with?

Sweet and friendly Frankie wouldn't of course contemplate such unkind thoughts. She's too sweet and friendly to do so. But at some point she may have to turn sour and add a dash of Angostura bitters to the cocktail. Yes, she can rail against Rajoy from afar, though come over all sweetness and light in his presence - it's called diplomacy - but it's the ones nearer to home who will be bothering her. And none more so than the fire-breather of Podemos, Laura Camargo, the wearer of the trousers among the Podemistas. Alberto Spart Jarabo may be the principal agitprop face of Podemos, but behind the grey shirts of the Jarabo wardrobe (apart from a teachers' defending green t-shirt) there is the power dressing of Laura, the Mallorcan mother superior in the Church of Pablo Iglesias.

The schools have gone back with "normality" (insofar as Mallorca's schooling can ever be described as normal), but the "vuelta al parlament" was anything but normal. Frankie had returned, with her name tags neatly sown into the necks of her autumn collection, and then in stormed Miss Bossy Boots, insisting on having the peg nearest the door. You could see it just by the photos. Oh the body language. Party spokespeople trooped in one by one to speak with Francina. The contrast with Laura and the Partido Popular's Marga Prohens was telling. Marga can do all the shouty stuff in parliament, but there is more in common between her and Francina than between Francina and Laura, and Francina knows it. They are cut from similar political fashion catalogues. Not so Laura.

The new parliamentary term about to start and Laura was issuing the demands. Get rid of so-and-so as a senior official or we'll withdraw our support. This is how government works in the new age of politics. Podemos aren't actually in government, but they want to run it. Do as we say or we'll bring you down. "I made thee, and I can break thee." And when it came to parliament actually gathering, beforehand there were Podemistas in front of the building - green t-shirt to a man, woman, fierce beard in at least two cases, and Alberto Jarabo. A tirade was launched against the national government's education law. "Elitist, divisive, sexist, doctrinaire Catholicism, anti-democratic, centralised, mercantilist, class-oriented and contrary to the culture and languages of each region of Spain." By implication, because of the staunch defence of Mallorca's teachers demonstrated by the very wearing of the green t-shirts, the Podemistas were levelling much the same accusations against Francina, education minister March and PSOE. The government, of which they aren't formally a part, was not doing enough to stop the implementation of the national education law.

Strangely perhaps, David Abril of the Més Luddite wing and someone not unfamiliar with a green t-shirt himself came to the aid of Francina. Podemos, he said, are "equivocating". They are not a party of the government nor are they the opposition, while they have privileged mechanisms of control. They should join the government if they're that bothered was the tone of his message.

Sensing, correctly, that not all is sweet and friendly, the PP's temporary leader, Miquel Vidal, also came to Francina's side. He would like a meeting to discuss issues on which the PP and the government can agree, such as financing and indeed a new way forward for education, thus breaking definitively with the disastrous dogma of José Ramón Bauzá. Was this simply a suggestion of a new way of doing politics, a sweeter and friendlier way, or was it Vidal recognising that if (when) the government collapses in a heap, the PP might be needed in order to pick up the pieces? Francina and Marga looked so much happier together.

Our Ladies Of Wecan

All is not well in the Reform Church of Iglesias. The faithful have started to desert the pews of Saint Pablo and Our Lady of Wecan, seemingly alarmed at the thought that Wecan might weaken Spain by converting it into the Greek Unorthodox Church of Syriza. Had this thought not occurred to them before? Or is it the case that the faithful are only now rumbling Podemos? The easy part was grabbing hold of some power at the ballot box. The less easy part was always going to be convincing the faithful (and others) that, once handed this power, they aren't just a bunch of hairies from the students' union locked in mortal combat with each other in dissecting their own version of Dialectical Materialism rather than being taken seriously.

In former times, English slang gave us the "nit". In strictly linguistic terms, nit means nothing. The nit of slang was someone who was foolish, who did not do sensible things, who had nothing to offer except nittishness and being a nitwit. It would be harsh indeed to suggest that Podemos (We Can) have nothing to offer, because they have plenty, and some of it is sensible. However, they are doing their best to appear to be nits, a bunch of Charlies, some right Herberts, or even left Herberts.

Laura Camargo, considered by some to be the real power behind the Wecan throne in the Balearics of Dave Spart Jarabo, confronted the lovely, indeed immaculate Inmaculada de Benito of the Mallorcan hoteliers federation and launched into a tirade of fraud, worker abuses, exploitation, blah, blah. Laura might have a point, but it became lost in the vitriol. Why did she do it? Probably for public consumption. Wecan were wanting to show the Mallorcan public that they can stand up to the hoteliers, that the hoteliers' days in the sun of power are no more. Unfortunately, and despite a large number of Mallorcans concurring with the view that the hoteliers do have too much power, there is a far greater number who rely on the hoteliers and related businesses. Laura really should learn that she isn't in the students' union and that in the real world one adopts a less strident manner.

Our Lady Laura of Wecan was but one who was indulging in delivering sermons from the pulpit of Saint Pablo. There was also Our Lady Xelo. She informed his Royal Highness that, rather than splash the cash on the thrash at the Almudaina when various politicos and others are invited for some gin 'n' tonics, the moolah should go towards soup kitchens. On balance, one would have to agree with Xelo that this might be, in still-crisis times for many, a preferable deployment of financial resources, and the King, thoroughly admirable man that he is, might even be inclined to agree as well. However, protocol and all that does rather intrude into such affairs. Whether Xelo will ask for a doggy bag for her canapes and cut along with it to the nearest crisis centre after the reception, we will find out.