Spain forum embraces 30-year rollback threat with 'Make it happen'

'If the right wins, Spain goes back 30 years': the forum replies 'Make it happen'

What if the rollback the left uses as a threat is actually the promise many Spaniards have been waiting for? This is the takeaway from a discussion sparked by a message reproducing a tweet by D. Víctor de Aldama Parera: 'If the right and far-right win, Spain will go back 30 years,' accompanied by an image of Spain from three decades ago. The majority reaction is not alarm, but enthusiasm. 'Perfect, make it happen,' summarizes one of the first comments. From there, the matter turns into a discussion about what exactly living in the 1990s meant, whether that was better or worse than now, and to what extent the antiestéticar narrative functions as an electoral tool.

What peine in the 1990s to be yearned for like this?

Nostalgia runs through the debate from top to bottom. The idea repeats that the average Spaniard earned the same then as now, but had easier access to housing and cars. 'Thirty years ago the average Spaniard earned the same as now, had more access to housing and cars,' a participant states. Another adds that 'the 90s was the best decade.' Not everyone shares the idyll: some recall 'hundreds of crimes, lots of drugs,' and precarious jobs. The discussion is less about figures than perception: some see freedom and purchasing power; others, a poorer and more insecure country.

The consensus, if it exists, is that something has gone wrong. 'We have gone down in most issues,' summarizes a message. The complaint focuses on the cost of living, access to housing, and what several call 'the proge nonsense.' The nostalgia is not only economic: it is also cultural and social.

The antiestéticar of the far-right as an electoral tool

The initial message reproduces a tweet warning of a rollback. The forum's response is almost unanimous: this narrative has been working for decades. 'The bogeyman of the far-right is the most profitable product the left has so people don't look at their payslip or electricity bill,' it is stated. The repeated thesis is that the PP and Vox are 'the same management with different packaging' and that, when it comes to making deals, they do. The rollback, they argue, does not come from a party: 'the usual suspects already did it with rents, salaries, and debt.'

Some go further and ask to return to 1940 or 1966. They are the minority, but they set the tone. The majority sticks to the 90s or early 2000s. 'I wish we went back to 1940. We would have fresh meat to fill ditches,' writes a participant. The phrase, due to its violence, is reproduced here only as an example of the climate. The article does not endorse it.

What do those who lived through the 90s say?

Memory is selective. One message recalls that 'going out at night was very tough' and that 'jobs were a damn mess.' Another points out that housing was accessible but poor: 'a crappy little apartment where you died of heat in summer.' In contrast, defenders of the era insist on freedom and safety. 'In the 90s, people lived with more freedom and better,' it is read. The discussion heats up when Aznar or Rajoy are mentioned: 'When Aznar or Rajoy governed, we didn't go back at all or almost at all,' a participant states, adding that 'the left advances on the pogre calendar and the conservative right consolidates.'

The debate shifts to current politics. It is mentioned that Junts rules out investing Sánchez again and that 'the right will unite against the Dog.' The tone is one of mockery and fatigue. 'You have been with the same story for 30 years,' summarizes a message alluding to the famous Doberman ad.

The rollback that is already here

Beyond nostalgia, there is a repeated argument: Spain has already rolled back. 'Spain has already gone back 30 years with the PSOE, and it will go back another 30 regardless of who wins because everything is a mess,' a participant concludes. The idea that the deterioration is structural, and not the fault of a single party, gains weight. They speak of cuts in healthcare and social security, of 'they will only leave them religion.'

The initial message, however, is not a fire alarm. It is a tweet. And the forum uses it as a mirror. The prevailing conclusion is that the rollback warned about has already been lived, and that the threat of returning to the 90s sounds, to many, like a promise.

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In the end, the question is not whether Spain will go back 30 years. It is whether anyone has realized that many would sign up for it.