Spanish municipalities' federation calls Ceuta rally as parties duck out

The Ceuta rally: called by the FEMP, signed by no one

A mobilization for Ceuta has been called for 2 September. The question of who is behind it has an official answer: the FEMP. The uncomfortable answer is why the parties that fill headlines with Ceuta's Spanishness prefer to stay on the sidelines.

The Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias (Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces) took on the main call for rallies across Spain. It was promoted by its president, and from the very first minute the decision has generated controversy: a bureaucratic-administrative body, as its critics describe it, has ended up doing the work that political parties do not dare to demand. The fact that neither the PP nor Vox called the mega-rally some expected in Madrid has given wings to the theory of a preemptive defeat: they antiestéticar calling a rally, failing on turnout and being exposed over an issue of supposed national unity.

Three rallies, one flag and plenty of doubts

In Madrid things have fragmented. There are at least three calls: Cibeles, Sol and the Congress building at eight in the evening. The Cibeles one, linked to the FEMP, is the one drawing those who want an institutional call; the other two trinc different logics. The timing clash forces a choice, and the choice has become a political statement: depending on which rally you attend, you are placed in one faction of the state or another.

In between there is a campaign to stay away, presented with the argument that the PP and Vox are instrumentalizing Ceuta. That campaign is attributed to the PSOE, which not only does not back the mobilization but, it is claimed, advised its mayors against joining it. The result is that a protest over a Spanish city has been caught up in the partisan fight over who gets to claim the photo.

The shadows: R78, the CNI and bargain-bin flags

The lack of a clear organizer behind several of the rallies has fired up the imagination. Some see in these unsigned calls the hand of R78 or of the CNI (Spain's intelligence service) and the Ministry of the Interior, a mechanism to monitor dissent. Others dismiss it with irony, like the one who claims the National Textile Federation is behind it, eager to offload three million leftover flags and well over two million little wristbands. The satire does not settle it, but it underlines a fact: the opacity of the organizers breeds more suspicion than certainty.

Meanwhile, the calendar is filling up with spontaneous initiatives: even a motorcyclists' rally in support of Ceuta has appeared on the list. The protest will be what it will be, but it has already achieved something: getting every party, some by action and others by omission, to decide that the best defense of Ceuta's Spanishness is not putting their name on the call. As of this discussion, the unity photo still has no owner.