Center-Left Governments Sold Out Western Sahara
Western Sahara is Africa’s last colony, and its citizens live under a brutal occupation. The Biden administration and its counterparts in Europe are set to cement that reality for generations to come.
83 Articles by: Eoghan Gilmartin
Eoghan Gilmartin is a writer, translator, and Jacobin contributor based in Madrid.
Spain’s Right-Wing Judiciary Is Trying to Block Historic Feminist Legislation
New legislation in Spain will ensure free, publicly provided abortions and allow menstrual leave from work. The raft of measures shows left-wing party Unidas Podemos’s strong feminist stance — but faces obstruction from the country’s hard-right judiciary.
Freedom for Ukraine, Freedom for Western Sahara
Western Sahara is Africa’s last colony, and its citizens live under a brutal, US-backed occupation. If we support self-determination for Ukrainians, we should also support it for the people of Western Sahara.
Europe Is Replacing Energy Dependence on Russia With Reliance on North African Dictatorships
The European Union’s pivot away from Russian fossil fuels is being sold as part of the green energy transition. Yet the plan’s reliance on imports from Morocco and occupied Western Sahara shows how it is driving a new kind of green colonialism.
Yolanda Díaz Is Fighting to Make the Spanish Left Work
Since becoming Unidas Podemos leader last April, Spanish labor minister Yolanda Díaz has broken the populist party out of its rut. She’s won concrete gains for organized labor through her government post — showing how the Left can reconnect with the working class.
Spain’s Right-Wing Supreme Court Is Riding Roughshod Over Democracy
Podemos MP Alberto Rodríguez has been stripped of his seat in Congress following an unjustified assault conviction. His removal shows how a Supreme Court packed with right-wing judges is undermining Spain’s basic democratic standards.
Europe’s Border Regime Is Killing Thousands
Over two thousand people have died trying to cross from Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands so far this year. While the European Union boasts of its humanitarian migrant policy, it has made these islands into a rampart of a murderous border regime.
The Communist Manifesto Is Still Haunting the Powerful
Yolanda Díaz, labor minister in Spain’s first left-wing coalition since the 1930s, writes on why The Communist Manifesto is still today the sharpest critique of capitalist society.
The Whitewashing of Franco’s Regime in Spain Must End
Spain’s new “memory law” attempts to grapple with military dictator’s Francisco Franco crimes. But without acknowledging the continuity between his regime and the current system, there can be no real justice.
How Real Madrid’s Florentino Pérez Built His Evil Empire
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez wasn’t just a key player in the botched European Super League attempt — he’s also vicious capitalist who has profited from outsourcing and privatization at the expense of the Spanish public.
The Indignados Movement Changed Spanish Politics Forever
This day in 2011, the Indignados protesters occupied Madrid’s Puerta del Sol to denounce Spain’s dominant parties and their austerity agenda. Ten years later, the Spanish left no longer has that insurgent dynamism — but it’s had an enduring success in breaking a previously monolithic neoliberal consensus.
Thank You, Pablo Iglesias
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has announced his retirement. Over the last decade, he brought the radical left to the heart of Spanish politics — but its challenge to the establishment ultimately fell short.
The Bombing of Podemos’s Offices Is the Latest Sign of Rising Neofascism in Spain
On Thursday night, the Murcia regional HQ of Spain’s Podemos party was set ablaze with a petrol bomb. The incident was the latest in a string of terrorist attacks against the Left — showing how the growth of the parliamentary far right is combining with the rise of a violent neofascist street movement.
Pablo Iglesias’s Madrid Campaign Can Shake Up Spanish Politics
On Monday, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias announced he is resigning as Spain’s deputy prime minister to run for election in the Madrid region. Iglesias’s move to regional politics is aimed at blocking the formation of another far-right government in the capital — but it also highlights his own party’s need to go beyond relying on one brilliant communicator.
Joe Biden Should Quit Stalling and Reverse Trump’s Colonial Handover of Western Sahara
One of Donald Trump’s last decisions in office was a squalid diplomatic deal with Morocco, granting US recognition of its occupation of Western Sahara in exchange for Moroccan recognition of Israel. Since the move, the Saharawi population has faced intense military repression — yet the Biden administration refuses to say whether it will reverse Trump’s colonial handover of the territory.
Donald Trump Has Just Traded Western Sahara Like a Victorian Colonialist
The Trump-brokered deal between Morocco and Israel normalizes relations between the two states. But the outgoing president bought Morocco’s agreement by endorsing its ownership of Western Sahara — making the US the only major state to rubber-stamp an occupation regime condemned by international law.
Spain’s Left Is Winning the Battle for Welfare — But Not the War on Neoliberalism
A year into Spain’s coalition government, today’s budget offers major public health care investment and a commitment to expand the Guaranteed Minimum Income plan. These promises show how Unidas Podemos has changed the political agenda — and yet centrist ministers are still stonewalling on measures that risk upsetting business.
Pablo Iglesias Tells Jacobin: We Want a Spanish Republic
Spanish deputy prime minister and Unidas Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias talks to Jacobin about the experience of Spain’s left in government, the current historical moment, and Podemos’s trajectory over the last six years.
Spain’s New Memory Law Will Finally Recognize Franco’s Victims
Even after Spain’s late 1970s transition to democracy, its political establishment maintained a tactful silence over the record of Franco’s dictatorship. But a bill advanced by the left-wing government insists on the need to acknowledge the dictator’s crimes — and identify the estimated 112,000 people lying in unmarked graves across Spain.
Spain’s First Communist Minister Since the 1930s: “The Right Can’t Accept a Party Like Ours in Government”
This January, a pact between the Socialists and Unidas Podemos gave Spain its first ruling left-wing coalition since the Civil War. One of two communist ministers, Alberto Garzón, spoke to Jacobin about the government’s survival in these times of crisis — and why the militant right still refuses to accept its legitimacy.