As of May 27, the Spanish State is reporting 236,259 confirmed coronavirus infections and 27,117 Covid-19 deaths, a per capita casualty rate almost twice that of the United States. For the decade before the Covid-19 crisis, the Spanish State has been home to some of the most important developments on the international left. The revolutionary socialist organization Anticapitalistas helped found the broad left Unidas-Podemos party in 2014 and has provided some of its best known public figures. However, after Unidas-Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias accepted a post as Deputy Prime Minister in a joint government with the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers Party (SPOE), Anticapitalistas voted to leave the party.

The SPOE/Unidas-Podemos government has responded better than many to the Covid-19 crisis, including a recent millionaires tax proposal, yet its actions have fallen short of any attempts to radically restructure society. Instead, the government is paying for emergency Covid-19 expenditures by taking on debt, setting up a clash over austerity and budget cuts in the midst of a deepening depression. Meanwhile, the powerful feminist movement, along with immigrant, youth, environmental, and municipal social movements and trade unions are planning to return to the streets as the economy opens.

Julia Cámara is a feminist organizer and historian based in Zaragosa and Alex Merlo worked as parliamentary staffer for the Podemos European Union delegation in Brussels, both are members of Anticapitalistas. They discuss the roots of Podemos, its strengths and weaknesses, and where Anticapitalistas plans to go from here. This May 26, 2020 video conference was hosted by No Borders News, International Viewpoint, The Call, Punto Rojo, New Politics, and Rampant.

Program begins at 4:30 minutes into the live stream.

[For international coronavirus coverage and news and analysis from working-class and socialist points of view, read No Borders News.]