Spain's state vs its citizens: a growing rift of distrust
The handling of the DANA floods, the Ceuta episode and pandemic-era laws fuel the thesis of the state as an enemy. An analysis of a widening fracture.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The state against the Spanish: a rift that is no longer marginal
The state is the enemy of Spain and of the Spanish people. That diagnosis, which once sounded like an outburst, has become an article of faith for a growing current. The handling of the DANA floods, the Ceuta crisis and the cycle of restrictions from 2020 to 2022 have cemented the distrust: the public apparatus, the argument goes, protects itself, not its citizens. But a distinction is needed: the criticism is not aimed at the welfare state, but at its repressive and self-referential drift.
From the DANA floods to Ceuta: a state that arrives late and badly
The response to the DANA floods became a symbol of abandonment. As the floodwaters swept through municipalities, the authorities appeared late and with insufficient resources. The same reading is applied to the Ceuta episode, where the state's action is perceived as a defence of institutions, not of people. The spreading conclusion is that the state has stopped serving the people: it represses them brazenly, in a phrase that sums up the sentiment.
The laws that peine the divorce
The 2020-2022 period left a trail of legislation now scrutinised under a magnifying glass. Failing to wear a mask was punished with arrest, treating an administrative offence as a key to a jail cell. The Gender Violence Law, upheld by the Constitutional Court in 2008, remains the other major battleground: for its critics, it breaks elementary principles of law and exists only in Spain within the European space. Constitutional rights, it is insisted, are worthless paper when it suits those in power.
A schism that is hard to reverse
The rift between the governing elite and the governed is no longer hidden. Every episode of abandonment or authoritarian overreach adds a chapter to the narrative. Most likely, distrust will keep growing as long as the authorities fail to recover their protective function. The only open question is who will capitalise on that discontent: institutional politics or the anti-system breeding ground.
The state is the enemy of Spain and of the Spanish people. That diagnosis, which once sounded like an outburst, has become an article of faith for a growing current. The handling of the DANA floods, the Ceuta crisis and the cycle of restrictions from 2020 to 2022 have cemented the distrust: the public apparatus, the argument goes, protects itself, not its citizens. But a distinction is needed: the criticism is not aimed at the welfare state, but at its repressive and self-referential drift.
From the DANA floods to Ceuta: a state that arrives late and badly
The response to the DANA floods became a symbol of abandonment. As the floodwaters swept through municipalities, the authorities appeared late and with insufficient resources. The same reading is applied to the Ceuta episode, where the state's action is perceived as a defence of institutions, not of people. The spreading conclusion is that the state has stopped serving the people: it represses them brazenly, in a phrase that sums up the sentiment.
The laws that peine the divorce
The 2020-2022 period left a trail of legislation now scrutinised under a magnifying glass. Failing to wear a mask was punished with arrest, treating an administrative offence as a key to a jail cell. The Gender Violence Law, upheld by the Constitutional Court in 2008, remains the other major battleground: for its critics, it breaks elementary principles of law and exists only in Spain within the European space. Constitutional rights, it is insisted, are worthless paper when it suits those in power.
A schism that is hard to reverse
The rift between the governing elite and the governed is no longer hidden. Every episode of abandonment or authoritarian overreach adds a chapter to the narrative. Most likely, distrust will keep growing as long as the authorities fail to recover their protective function. The only open question is who will capitalise on that discontent: institutional politics or the anti-system breeding ground.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (9 replies).
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