The silence of many Spanish media on a serious statement by Pedro Sánchez

Yesterday I spoke to you here about some words spoken on Saturday by Pedro Sánchez at a meeting of the PSOE federal committee.

Governing without legislative power: Pedro Sánchez is announcing a dictatorship
Pedro Sanchez's operation to do Maduro a big favor by faking a humanitarian act

In that statement, and after outlining what will theoretically be his political agenda, Sánchez stated:

"We are going to move forward with determination on this agenda with or without the support of the opposition, with or without the participation of a legislative branch, which necessarily has to be more constructive and less restrictive."

I also added here the video in which anyone can hear those statements (the video is Spanish, you can activate automatic subtitles in English in the bottom bar of the player):

It is very serious that a ruler of a democratic country clearly states that he intends to govern without parliament, which in any democracy is the power in charge of making laws and supervising the actions of the government. A statement like this should cause a scandal in Spain. On Twitter, this statement has been widely disseminated. Last night I decided to do a test by searching on Google for the term "Sanchez poder legislativo" (Sánchez legislative power), and this appeared:

I was surprised to see that one of the five results is this website. As you know (and if you don't, I'll remind you once again), although it appears in Google News, Contando Estrelas is a blog, not a general media outlet. It is very rare to find this blog on the front page when searching for a current news item like that on Google. How is this possible? The explanation is as simple as it is sad: the vast majority of the major media have silenced this statement by Sánchez or have not paid much attention to it.

So, in Spain we have a prime minister who announces that he will govern without the legislative power, that is, without the two chambers of parliament that "represent the Spanish people" (Article 66 of the Constitution), and most of the media look the other way and remain silent. I don't know the reason for this silence, but it's not hard to imagine it given one fact: last year, Sánchez's government squandered 554 million euros on institutional advertising. There is no money for ALS patients, but there is money to make propaganda and buy the favor (and silence) of the media.

Remember this for tomorrow, because this is how a democracy disappears: when those who have to oversee the political power stop doing so, and among those who have that duty are the media, the famous "fourth power."

Of course, I refuse to lose hope: today, thanks to social media, we can turn that silence into an outcry. It is something we can all do, by spreading the word about what the government wants to silence. You can do your bit with a simple tweet. It has never been easier than now to contribute to the defence of democracy. Let us each take on this task, please.

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Photo: PSOE.