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Tag: spain
November 9, 2023
Jack Montgomery
Breaking
World

BREAKING: Spanish Populist Leader SHOT in The Face.

Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, a co-founder and former president of the populist Vox party in Spain, has been shot in the face in the national capital of Madrid.

Santiago Abascal, the party’s current leader, says the 78-year-old appears to be “out of danger” following the shooting, carried out on a street in the center of Madrid around 1:30 p.m. local time. No suspect description or possible motive had been disclosed as of the time of publication.

Before starting Vox, Vidal-Quadras was a prominent member of the establishment right Popular Party, acting as its leader in Catalonia and serving in the European Parliament.

Similar in outlook to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, Vox has been gaining popularity rapidly on a eurosceptic, anti-mass migration platform, bolstered by opposition to lockdowns during the Wuhan virus pandemic.

Founded in 2013, it has gone from securing less than 0.25 percent of the vote in its first outings to being a top-three party in multiple elections, with the Popular Party turning to it to form coalition governments at the regional level.

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Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, a co-founder and former president of the populist Vox party in Spain, has been shot in the face in the national capital of Madrid. show more
October 24, 2023
Jack Montgomery
Immigration
News
World

Over 1,600 African Boat Migrants Flood Spanish Islands.

More than 1,600 boat migrants from sub-Saharan Africa reached Europe by way of Spain’s Canary Islands over the weekend, with a record-breaking 321 migrants arriving on a single vessel on Saturday.

The islands off the north-west of Africa, popular with expatriates and tourists from Britain and Germany, have seen around 23,500 migrants land on their shores since January. Much of the influx has been concentrated in recent months, with 8,561 arriving in the first two weeks of October. Arrivals are currently up around 90 percent on last year overall.

Once they reach Spanish soil and claim asylum, boat migrants are often able to move on to Continental Europe, where they have mostly unfettered access to the European Union’s borderless Schengen travel area. There is also little to stop them from making a second voyage to the United Kingdom, as the British authorities do not as a matter of policy ever turn back boat migrants at sea, and often actually help them to complete their journeys.

Migrants have also been reaching Europe by taking boats directly to the Spanish mainland, or by breaking through the border barriers around the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, bordering Morocco. Further east, even more migrants have been reaching Europe via Italy, and Greece, bordering Turkey, has also seen an increase in border crossings on land and at sea.

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More than 1,600 boat migrants from sub-Saharan Africa reached Europe by way of Spain's Canary Islands over the weekend, with a record-breaking 321 migrants arriving on a single vessel on Saturday. show more
September 22, 2023
Jake Welch
News
Politics
World

1 in 3 Europeans Are Now Voting for Populist Parties.

Just under one-third of Europeans – 32 percent – have started voting for both left-wing and right-wing populist political parties over the past several years as trust in establishment parties has plummeted, according to a recent analysis conducted across 31 countries.

Right-wing populist parties in particular “have really broadened their voter base and are forging coalitions of voters with very different concerns,” argues Daphne Halikiopoulou, comparative political scientist at the University of York and a PopuList co-author.

Europe has witnessed electoral success for populists in countries across the continent, including Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Spain, with a number of those going to the national polls within the next 12 months.

The share of the vote for populist parties has skyrocketed in recent years, as only 20 percent of Europeans voted for anti-establishment parties in the early 2000s, with even fewer in the 1990s, at just 12 percent. The researchers highlight a number of current political trends as the contributing factors, such as mass uncontrolled immigration from the third world, climate change – all but accepted as sacrosanct by the political mainstream – and other “culture war” issues.

Despite some fluctuation in the vote share, “the underlying trend is the numbers keep rising,” argues Matthijs Rooduijn, a political scientist at the University of Amsterdam, who led the research.

“Mainstream parties are losing votes; anti-establishment parties are gaining,” Rooduijn added.

Recent polling similarly found that right-wing populist parties are also expected to make major gains in next year’s European elections.

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Just under one-third of Europeans – 32 percent – have started voting for both left-wing and right-wing populist political parties over the past several years as trust in establishment parties has plummeted, according to a recent analysis conducted across 31 countries. show more
reparations
September 14, 2023
Jake Welch
News
World

Caribbean Nations Demand $33 TRILLION in Slavery Reparations.

Caribbean nations are demanding a staggering $33 trillion from Europeans as a ‘formal apology’ for their role in the Transatlantic slave trade, with ‘Caricom,’ an economic and political union representing 15 West Indian countries, establishing a ten-point plan to conduct negotiations.

The plan will request a formal apology, repatriation to Africa for “those persons who wish to return,” education and healthcare funding, transfers of technology, and debt cancellation, among other things.

The report has calculated that Great Britain owes the largest amount at $19.6 trillion – more than six times the country’s annual GDP – followed by France at $6.3 trillion, then Spain at $6.3 trillion. Jamaica alone demands $9.5 trillion.

“We need a figure to begin with, a negotiating figure,” argued vice-chairwoman of Caricom, Verene Shepherd, who added: “The crime is huge. The responsibility for what happened is huge.”

Caricom first established a reparations commission in 2013, regularly writing and contacting former colonial powers about receiving reparations. Yet, it “didn’t get a positive response” from the countries, according to vice-chairwoman Shepherd.

Proponents of slavery reparations neglect to mention that Great Britain took out one of the largest loans in human history to emancipate those enslaved throughout the Caribbean in the 1830s. The British also dedicated major naval resources to patrolling the Atlantic to enforce the abolition of the Transatlantic slave trade through the early- to mid-nineteenth century, capturing and releasing an estimated 200,000 people at the cost of thousands of British lives.

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Caribbean nations are demanding a staggering $33 trillion from Europeans as a 'formal apology' for their role in the Transatlantic slave trade, with 'Caricom,' an economic and political union representing 15 West Indian countries, establishing a ten-point plan to conduct negotiations. show more
wildfires
August 22, 2023
Jack Montgomery
News
World

Wildfires Caused by Arsonists, Not ‘Climate Change’, Say Officials.

Wildfires that have seen 12,000 flee their homes on the Spanish island of Tenerife were started deliberately, officials say – but the press are still hyping climate change as a supposedly contributing factor.

Part of the Canary Islands popular with tourists and, increasingly, illegal boat migrants, Tenerife has been gripped by blazes for a week, with Spain’s socialist leader Pedro Sanchez declaring the affected area a “disaster zone”.

Fernando Clavijo, the Canaries’ regional president, has confirmed the authorities believe the wildfire was started deliberately, and that at least three lines of investigation have been opened.

Nevertheless, much of the establishment media is still seeking to frame the fires as a climate issue, with the Associated Press (AP) insisting lack of rainfall and changing weather patterns have been influenced by climate change.

Hot weather is far from uncommon in the Canaries, which lie off the north-west coast of Africa, and they are popular with tourists for precisely that reason.

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Wildfires that have seen 12,000 flee their homes on the Spanish island of Tenerife were started deliberately, officials say – but the press are still hyping climate change as a supposedly contributing factor. show more
spain
July 24, 2023
Jake Welch
News
World

Spain’s Complex Elections: Neo-Cons Largest Party But Far-Left Claims Win.

There has been no clear winner in the Spanish general election, with the neo-conservative People’s Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) – currently in office – both failing to achieve an outright majority.

The PP won 136 seats, 14 more than the PSOE, which won 122, but a party or coalition must attain a majority of 176 in the 350-seat Spanish parliament in order to govern. If a coalition cannot be formed, the previous government can actually continue for the next four years, even without a mandate. The parties will now endure months of negotiations with smaller partners.

The right-wing populist VOX Party obtained just 33 seats, which still makes it the third-largest party in the country. A coalition between PP and VOX would fail to obtain an outright majority, despite initially being considered likely. Leader of Vox, Santiago Abascsal, argued after the results were announced:

“I’d like to point out something that’s bad news for many Spaniards: despite losing the election, Pedro Sánchez [leader of PSOE and the current Prime Minister of Spain] can block the formation of a new government. Worse still, Pedro Sánchez could even be invested as prime minister with the help of communists, [Catalan] independence supporters and terrorists.”

The extreme left-wing party Sumar – led by the lifelong communist Yolanda Diaz – came fourth with 31 seats but, once again, would be unable to offer PSOE a majority in the parliament. Two regional Catalan and Basque separatist parties collected 13 seats between them and have already supported the current government, giving rise to a potential alliance.

Communist Diaz suggested the left won after the results were publicized on Sunday night: “We’ve won. Today we have a better country. From tomorrow, we have to keep winning rights and we are committed to doing that – more rights for women, for LGBTI people and for workers.”

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There has been no clear winner in the Spanish general election, with the neo-conservative People's Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) – currently in office – both failing to achieve an outright majority. show more