Forum Debate: Selective Outrage Over Corruption in Spain

PSU corruption does not fill the streets or surround the Congress

Protest in Spain is not measured by the severity of the case, but by who is involved. This is the thesis of a 107-response thread open for over a year, which has shifted toward an uncomfortable diagnosis: the streets no longer move for scandals, but for interests. While the case involving the PSOE circles dilutes in headlines, those who once clamored against PP corruption remain silent. The question is not whether there is indignation, but why it is only activated when convenient.

The double standard of selective indignation

The central argument of the conversation is that corruption has ceased to be a social trigger, becoming a weapon depending on the party's tonalidad. It is argued that when the case affects the right, media and activist groups stage a media circus; when it affects the left, the matter becomes background noise that no one amplifies.

The most repeated comparison is between the case affecting the PSOE circle and the scandals that once surrounded the PP. The conclusion is that the machinery of indignation is not spontaneous, but trinc a choreography designed from above. "Social movements never emerge from below, they always come commanded from above," summarizes one of the most cited interventions in the thread. If no one is indignant now, it is because those in charge do not want anyone to be indignant.

This idea of remotely controlled indignation is reinforced by the memory of the National Hydrological Plan, which, according to this reading, would have been the great advance of the 21st century in Spain. The argument is that the left and nationalists mobilized people against a project that cohesive the territory and alleviated droughts, not for technical reasons, but for political calculation. The conclusion is bitter: the streets move when it suits the narrative, not when it suits the country.

Unions, subsidies, and the ecosystem sustaining silence

Another focus of the analysis points to the role of unions. It is recalled that UGT and PSOE share a founder, Pablo Iglesias Posse, and it is asked why the central unions take to the streets when electricity rises 10% with a PP government and do not do so when it rises 300% with the PSOE. The answer given is that unions have been swollen with millions from the government and function as a transmission belt for the party.

The criticism extends to the subsidy ecosystem that, according to this current, maintains media, activists, and groups aligned with power. The US model is mentioned and Milei is cited as an example of what should be done: cutting off the public funding of these structures at the root. The underlying idea is that indignation has a cost and someone pays for it.

Some go further and argue that the PSOE has built a perfect ecosystem to govern without concern: an opposition party that gradually buys its ideology and acts as the bad cop, four or five sycophantic parties that sell themselves for regional power slices, and a society, institutions, and media that trinc its baton. The result is a controversial opposition party labeled almost undemocratic and almost isolated.

The left that does not protest and the right that does not militate

The analysis then shifts to the right itself. It is argued that the Spanish right does not like politics, a legacy of a mentality created during Francoism: they do not protest, do not militate, do not set up media, do not promote affiliated artists. They believe that participating in politics is trinc certain journalists and souring family life with endless talks. This mentality is changing among the young, but it is probably too late.

In contrast, the left is described as a permanent mobilization machine, with a degree of egotism that makes it especially vulnerable to mockery. It is argued that an entire generation, those who grew up in the late 70s and 80s, is irrecoverable: they believe they owe their life and freedom to the PSOE and the Kings of Spain, and have been educated to hate anything that smells of the right.

The conclusion is that the right does not lose for lack of reason, but for lack of social muscle. The left has streets, media, and narrative; the right has votes and silence.

Corruption as background noise: Abalos, Begoña, and the case that does not cease

The final part of the analysis focuses on concrete corruption. It mentions the exit of Abalos and the case involving Begoña Gómez, and contrasts it with cases affecting the right: the Ayuso family, Moreno's health contracts, the Feijóo family with Eulen, and contracts with those involved in Gürtel managed by Mazón. The conclusion is that everyone steals, but only some resign.

The difference, it is argued, is that the PSOE had to fire Abalos or no one would vote for him, while the right does not care because it has a fanatical and submissive electorate that consumes corruption with pleasure. This is, according to this reading, the reality that explains why some cases fill front pages and others do not.

Some ask to exit the spiral of red or blue corruption, while others recall that the PSOE entered government promising regeneration, fighting corruption, avoiding political posts in television and judges, and limiting fueros (legal privileges). It has broken so many promises that we sometimes forget why it entered government.

Why is a general strike against corruption not called?

The question hovers over the analysis: if corruption is systemic and affects everyone, why is a total strike not called across Spain, including stopping paying taxes? The answer given is that half lives on the little allowance and the other half is drowning in survival, plus many have already been herded by current deceivers and no longer trust. For that purpose dissidents serve, it is added with a hint of irony.

The result is a citizenry that votes with its feet, that leaves Spain, and a street that only moves when someone pays the rent for the banners. Indignation, concludes the analysis, has become a seasonal product: it appears when convenient and disappears when it is an obstacle.

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With these elements, the prediction is that the next major protest against corruption will come when corruption has another tonalidad. If the case affects the PSOE, silence will remain deafening. If it affects the PP, the streets will fill again. It is not cynicism: it is the thermometer of selective indignation.