An authoritarian manifesto in favor of Sánchez that promotes a conspiracy theory

In recent years, the most lurid conspiracy theories have been used by all sorts of despots in various countries.

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Three years ago, I explained here that Vladimir Putin's dictatorship used conspiracy theories to defend its crimes, particularly Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and to delegitimize the West. Basically, the Kremlin's tactic is to demonize its enemies by lying about them in order to whitewash itself. This is not a new strategy: it has been used by numerous dictatorships, including the totalitarian regimes established by Nazis and Communists in the 20th century.

Yesterday, former socialist ministers and artists and intellectuals close to the left published a delirious manifesto of support for Pedro Sánchez's government, which is cornered by corruption scandals. Significantly, the text signed yesterday by these famous supporters of the government omits any reference to the corruption cases affecting Sánchez's personal circle, his government, and his party, as if they didn't exist. It's yet another example of the peculiar political bubble in which many Spanish leftists live.

At the same time, the manifesto attacks "judges and magistrates" who, according to the signatories, "open lengthy investigations with weak evidentiary bases", and it also attacks "a very important part of the media and social networks" because, according to the text, "they have unleashed an orgy of fake news or half-truths in order to create an unbreathable political climate". Not a single mention of the government's repeated lies or the evidence of corruption discovered so far. That should not have reached the leftist bubble either.

At the same time, the manifesto attacks "judges and magistrates" who, according to the signatories, "open lengthy investigations with weak evidentiary bases", and it also attacks "a very important part of the media and social networks" because, according to the text, "they have unleashed an orgy of fake news or half-truths in order to create an unbreathable political climate". Not a single mention of the government's repeated lies or the evidence of corruption discovered so far. That should not have reached the leftist bubble either.

But the most surreal part of the manifesto appears at the beginning. This is what it says:

"The attack, from all conservative and reactionary fronts, on the progressive coalition government and its president is more like a conspiracy to overthrow a legitimate government than the political criticism proper in a democratic system."

This is very reminiscent of the "Judeo-Masonic conspiracy" that Franco's dictatorship spoke of, but in a woke version. This statement in the manifesto is yet another example of how the Spanish left doesn't accept political criticism and oversight of power as inherent to a democracy. With a government mired in corruption scandals, they want the opposition, judges, journalists, and even the Church to look the other way and shut up, as if this were a dictatorship in which legitimate criticism of the government makes you an enemy of the state. In the end, this manifesto becomes one more reason to oppose the government, whose situation is so unsustainable that it resorts to an openly authoritarian and conspiratorial text to defend itself, as Putin's regime does.

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Photo: PSOE.