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Politics in a Time of Crisis:Podemos and the Future of Democracy in Europe
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A manifesto for a new, democratic left: a political programme poised to transform Europe
Since 2011, Pablo Iglesias has led Podemos, a new radical left party in Spain that is reframing the nature of modern politics. Under his guidance, the party has unmasked the ideological motives behind European austerity, revealing the true nature of this power grab conducted on behalf of elites intent on dismantling the welfare state. Here, Iglesias delineates his political vision. He skewers not only the Spanish establishment, but also the anti-democratic bloc comprising the Troika, corporate interests, and the “Wall Street Party.”
Politics in a Time of Crisis—which includes an in-depth interview with Iglesias—is an incisive examination of the current situation in Europe as well as a stirring call for international resistance.
Reviews
If there is a single book that embodies the activist left’s turn towards electoral politics it is Pablo Iglesias’s Politics in a Time of Crisis.
What shines through is Iglesias’s determination to rid the left of its ambivalence towards political power. He ridicules the ‘white knights of the purity of principle,’ too obsessed with theory to actually fight for change.
Iglesias mixes the serious with the playful, political theory with pop culture. He cites Billy Elliot and The Wire alongside Francis Fukuyama and David Harvey to discuss neoliberalism’s corrosion of the postwar social democratic consensus, Game of Thrones alongside Gramsci to illustrate the meaning of power. The book is aimed at the ‘youth without a future,’ the generation for whom adult life will begin with the considerable difficulty of getting away from the family home.
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There are few precedents for such an explosive political ascent in modern western Europe … Podemos has thrived because it has shredded the old left rulebook.
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Iglesias and his Podemos party are radically shaking up Spain’s political establishment.
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What’s clear from Iglesias’ passionate arguments is that there is another, deeper agenda afoot. Podemos is trying to restore public faith in democracy: in the notion that a party can win power and administer the state without falling under the lure of greed and corruption, and without violating their promises to the electorate or selling out quality public services.
, Pop Matters