VOX: From 'witchcraft' environmentalism to migration standoff
From 'witchcraft' environmentalism to Ceuta's healthcare: the messaging sequence VOX uses to build its narrative of order and frontal criticism of the government
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
VOX: from 'witchcraft' environmentalism to Ceuta's overwhelmed healthcare
How many topics fit into a single message? At VOX, almost all of them. The party led by Santiago Abascal spent months chaining together communications that jump from environmental conservatism to electricity bills, and from the Catalan elections on 14 February to the state of healthcare in Ceuta. The wrapping changes; the destination doesn't. Every issue serves to return to the same territory: order, security and head-on reproach of the government. That is the thread that ties together a mosaic of different campaigns.
'Real conservatism' against witchcraft environmentalism
The starting point isn't taxes or borders, but trees. The party championed a 'green, clean and prosperous Spain' and contrasted its model with what it described as the 'false environmentalism typical of witches and shamans'. The underlying thesis: defence of the land should not be the exclusive property of the left. It's a piece of marketing rather than a programme, and it fits the ambition to occupy ground that the classic centre-right had given up for lost. The slogan closed with a 'RT if you share this vision of the environment': content designed to circulate, not to be debated.
Electricity 27% more expensive and the narrative of abandonment
In January 2021 the argument turned electric. The party denounced a 27% rise in electricity prices in the middle of a cold snap and asked, literally, where the government was. MP Iván Espinosa put the star figure on the table: '70% of the cost of the electricity bill has nothing to do with the cost of energy.' On top of that, 4 million unemployed and more than 700,000 workers on ERTE furlough schemes. The same day they spoke of a 'treacherous rise in electricity and gas' amid the 'biggest cold snap of the century', and the government was rebranded as the 'government of lies'.
14F and the battle for law and order in Catalonia
Ahead of the Catalan elections on 14 February 2021, the message was fine-tuned. Santiago Abascal and Ignacio Garriga presented the vote as the chance to 'restore the law and order that has been snatched from us'. Jorge Buxadé, in Cancelar, summed it up in three words: 'We want security.' Behind it, protection for workers, the unemployed, those affected by ERTE and business owners closed without compensation. In Tarragona, Javier Ortega appealed to resistance; in Sabadell, a candidate was surrounded and turned the incident into an argument. The party called its opponents 'totalitarian separatists' and promised not to give up 'a single inch'.
The patriotic international: from Meloni to Kast
In mid-January 2021 the party internationalised its narrative. Under the title The Future of Patriotism it brought together Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Chile's José Antonio Kast, Sweden's Mattias Karlsson and Americans Ted R. Bromund and Grover Norquist, with Buxadé and Garriga as hosts. The message was clear: there are allies beyond borders and the axis is no longer just national. A network that, over time, has proved more useful as a showcase than as a vote-winning lever.
TV, the political industry and the party's voices
The other front is the media. Espinosa attacked public broadcasting and delivered one of his campaign lines: 'The only industry that grows every year in this country is the political industry.' Earlier he had argued that this system 'doesn't work regardless of who governs'. At the same time, the party boasted of having its spokespeople standing up on TV sets and warned that the opinions of 'the tricksters, the separatists and the compulsive liars' would not set its course.
Immigration as a permanent axis
The immigration lane runs through the entire period. In November 2020, the party accused Canary Islands MP Ana Oramas of 'betraying Canarians' over what it described as an open-door policy, and placed low-wage workers, the unemployed, young expatriates, the self-employed and shopkeepers ahead of any other group. Months later the focus shifted to Ceuta: the party released a video attributing to migratory pressure a list of health and security incidents that, it claimed, had overwhelmed the healthcare system of the autonomous city. It is a partisan claim; the cause-effect relationship is not quantified in the materials distributed.
Abascal, Alvise and the sharing of the stage
Here the narrative splits. Some argue that Abascal's decision to put migration control ahead of any other flag was a tactical success and almost a gesture of political generosity, with the argument that it's time to pull together and park egos. And some reproach that an emerging figure in the digital ecosystem, Alvise, did not publicly back that line and limited himself to publishing audience analyses on his broadcast channel. The reproach is not about policy. It's about sharing the stage.
The provincial thermometer the party displayed
Alongside the rhetoric, the party machine kept posting its own figures for territorial pogre. Las Palmas, 29 with a rise of 20; Segovia, 36 (+29); Jaén, 34 (+21). These are the markers the party used as proof that its message resonated more where the PP governed comfortably. What those numbers don't clarify is exactly what they measure.
The party that promised to talk about everything has discovered that, in reality, it only needs one topic and seven ways of telling it. The rest is scenery. The electricity bill, meanwhile, doesn't negotiate: it arrives every month without asking who governs.
How many topics fit into a single message? At VOX, almost all of them. The party led by Santiago Abascal spent months chaining together communications that jump from environmental conservatism to electricity bills, and from the Catalan elections on 14 February to the state of healthcare in Ceuta. The wrapping changes; the destination doesn't. Every issue serves to return to the same territory: order, security and head-on reproach of the government. That is the thread that ties together a mosaic of different campaigns.
'Real conservatism' against witchcraft environmentalism
The starting point isn't taxes or borders, but trees. The party championed a 'green, clean and prosperous Spain' and contrasted its model with what it described as the 'false environmentalism typical of witches and shamans'. The underlying thesis: defence of the land should not be the exclusive property of the left. It's a piece of marketing rather than a programme, and it fits the ambition to occupy ground that the classic centre-right had given up for lost. The slogan closed with a 'RT if you share this vision of the environment': content designed to circulate, not to be debated.
Electricity 27% more expensive and the narrative of abandonment
In January 2021 the argument turned electric. The party denounced a 27% rise in electricity prices in the middle of a cold snap and asked, literally, where the government was. MP Iván Espinosa put the star figure on the table: '70% of the cost of the electricity bill has nothing to do with the cost of energy.' On top of that, 4 million unemployed and more than 700,000 workers on ERTE furlough schemes. The same day they spoke of a 'treacherous rise in electricity and gas' amid the 'biggest cold snap of the century', and the government was rebranded as the 'government of lies'.
14F and the battle for law and order in Catalonia
Ahead of the Catalan elections on 14 February 2021, the message was fine-tuned. Santiago Abascal and Ignacio Garriga presented the vote as the chance to 'restore the law and order that has been snatched from us'. Jorge Buxadé, in Cancelar, summed it up in three words: 'We want security.' Behind it, protection for workers, the unemployed, those affected by ERTE and business owners closed without compensation. In Tarragona, Javier Ortega appealed to resistance; in Sabadell, a candidate was surrounded and turned the incident into an argument. The party called its opponents 'totalitarian separatists' and promised not to give up 'a single inch'.
The patriotic international: from Meloni to Kast
In mid-January 2021 the party internationalised its narrative. Under the title The Future of Patriotism it brought together Italy's Giorgia Meloni, Chile's José Antonio Kast, Sweden's Mattias Karlsson and Americans Ted R. Bromund and Grover Norquist, with Buxadé and Garriga as hosts. The message was clear: there are allies beyond borders and the axis is no longer just national. A network that, over time, has proved more useful as a showcase than as a vote-winning lever.
TV, the political industry and the party's voices
The other front is the media. Espinosa attacked public broadcasting and delivered one of his campaign lines: 'The only industry that grows every year in this country is the political industry.' Earlier he had argued that this system 'doesn't work regardless of who governs'. At the same time, the party boasted of having its spokespeople standing up on TV sets and warned that the opinions of 'the tricksters, the separatists and the compulsive liars' would not set its course.
Immigration as a permanent axis
The immigration lane runs through the entire period. In November 2020, the party accused Canary Islands MP Ana Oramas of 'betraying Canarians' over what it described as an open-door policy, and placed low-wage workers, the unemployed, young expatriates, the self-employed and shopkeepers ahead of any other group. Months later the focus shifted to Ceuta: the party released a video attributing to migratory pressure a list of health and security incidents that, it claimed, had overwhelmed the healthcare system of the autonomous city. It is a partisan claim; the cause-effect relationship is not quantified in the materials distributed.
Abascal, Alvise and the sharing of the stage
Here the narrative splits. Some argue that Abascal's decision to put migration control ahead of any other flag was a tactical success and almost a gesture of political generosity, with the argument that it's time to pull together and park egos. And some reproach that an emerging figure in the digital ecosystem, Alvise, did not publicly back that line and limited himself to publishing audience analyses on his broadcast channel. The reproach is not about policy. It's about sharing the stage.
The provincial thermometer the party displayed
Alongside the rhetoric, the party machine kept posting its own figures for territorial pogre. Las Palmas, 29 with a rise of 20; Segovia, 36 (+29); Jaén, 34 (+21). These are the markers the party used as proof that its message resonated more where the PP governed comfortably. What those numbers don't clarify is exactly what they measure.
The party that promised to talk about everything has discovered that, in reality, it only needs one topic and seven ways of telling it. The rest is scenery. The electricity bill, meanwhile, doesn't negotiate: it arrives every month without asking who governs.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (1344 replies).
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