Cultural Politics and Anti-Austerity Movements in Spain: Towards a Comprehensive Strategy of Change

Abstract

The suffering generated by the politics of so-called ‘austerity’ in Spain, together with the country’s history, political tradition and socio-demographic characteristics, has led to growing questioning of the implementation of such policies. What in Spain is called ‘the social majority’ has confronted austerity as a form of increasing economic oppression established through political authoritarianism against the will of the population, including the voters of parties that have approved severe measures of cuts in social spending after promising otherwise in electoral campaigns. The politics of austerity have created great suffering among the Spanish popular classes who, moreover, are not responsible for the economic collapse in recent times. This Orwellian strategy has not been successful in achieving a hegemonic position over society as citizens have organized and mobilized to confront austerity economics and ideology and have proposed an alternative vision for political action. By placing the concept of power relations at the centre of the analysis, cultural politics is understood here as a contested space in which meaning is introduced in society and the material relations are co-configured (Berry and Theobald, 2006; Fenton, 2015; Freedman, 2014; Klaehn, 2010; Mosco, 2009; Pedro, 2016a; Goss, Pedro and Gould, 2016). In this battle, a plurality of factors comes into play; both complementary and opposing forces interact in a manner that confers a hegemonic position to elitist economic and political blocs which have been systematically challenged by counter-hegemonic forces. This chapter, therefore, focuses on the confrontation between economic and political elites on the one hand and critical, social and political organizations on the other. It first addresses the general characteristics and consequences of the implementation of austerity policies in Spain, as well as its specific effects in education and housing. Second, this chapter focuses on the resistance to austerity and the general proposals posed by the 15-M 8 Cultural politics and anti-austerity movements in Spain Towards a comprehensive strategy of change Joan Pedro Cultural politics and anti-austerity movements in Spain 171 (or Indignados) movement and the Podemos party, together with an analysis of the concrete struggles to defend public education and the housing sector from austerity. These two case studies will show the economic and ideological interests behind the implementation of austerity. Regarding the housing sector, this means that public housing is privatized in a way that limits human rights while it provides high profits for market speculators. Regarding education, the politics of austerity is operating as a method to augment the corporate and political control of knowledge to the detriment of its critical edge and emancipatory value for the common good.