Last November, a meeting of five high-profile Spanish politicians in Valencia made headlines: Yolanda Díaz, vice-president of the left-wing coalition government in Madrid, Mónica Oltra, vice-president of the left-wing government of the autonomous region of Valencia, Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona, Mónica García, leader of the party Más Madrid and Fátima Hamed Hossain, of Arab origin and MPs from the city of Melilla, did the honors. Theme of the meeting: “otras politicas”. Which allows two readings: other policies – or other politicians. Over 1000 participants came.
Yolanda Díaz opened the meeting with the words: “This is the beginning of something that will be wonderful”. Mónica García added, alluding to her experience with Isabel Ayuso in Madrid: “It’s now normal for shouting to take precedence over dialogue and insults over listening”. Ada Colau added that they were all fed up with the heated political atmosphere. An inclusive feminist gathering, across a spectrum of left parties and alliances.
A week later in Barcelona: a similar political act at the 3rd Congress of “Catalunya en Comú”, the Catalan variant of Podemos. Yolanda Díaz came to “listen”. And then Ada Colau’s appeal: “I know that you weren’t looking for that. You never wanted to be head of government, never wanted to be a political leader on the world stage. But it’s your turn. Spain needs a leader like you.” A few days later, a tweet by Yolanda Díaz disturbed the media. One of her most vicious political enemies, Teodoro García Egea, general secretary of the right-wing party PP, who pounces on the “communist” in every session of the Spanish Parliament, has contracted Covid-19. Yolanda Díaz: “Recover quickly, Teodoro. Be hugged”.
Who is this Yolanda Díaz?
Who is this Yolanda Díaz? Born 50 years ago in Fene, Galicia, into a trade unionist family with a communist tradition – her father was secretary of the trade union “Comisiones Obreras” that emerged from communism – she grew up in a working-class settlement with a view of the Astano shipyard, which at the time was more than 5000 workers employed. The place, located near the city of Ferrol, was the focal point of the workers’ resistance at the end of the Franco era.
She studied law in Santiago de Compostela, with subsequent specialization in labor law, urban planning law and spatial planning. From 1998 to 2012, she then represented workers in her own law firm as a politically committed lawyer in legal disputes – again and again free of charge. She was also a legal advisor to the Ferrol Fishermen’s Guild. In short: 14 years of grassroots work in close contact with social reality.
In 2007 she began her political work: councilor in Ferrol and deputy mayor in a coalition with the Socialist Party PSOE. From 2012 member of parliament for the Galician left-wing party Esquerda Unida in the autonomous region of Galicia. From 2016 onwards, members of the Spanish Parliament for the party alliance Unidas Podemos, which includes the Galician group “Galicia en Común”.
Podemos wants her to take over as party leader
Since the beginning of 2020 she has been Minister for “Labour and Social Economy” in the coalition government of Pedro Sánchez, and since the departure of Pablo Iglesias last year she has been Vice-President of the left-wing government. Her work focuses on restoring the rights of workers who were “mutilated” by the right-wing government under Mariano Rajoy through a 2012 reform backed by an absolute majority. The result, among other things: a brutal increase in precarious jobs. In two years of tough and skilful negotiations, she managed a real feat: employers and unions agreed to strengthen workers’ rights. Since then, the right-wing party has been insulting the business associations, and the parliamentary majority for the passage of the legislative package has not yet been secured.
Yolanda Díaz has so far resisted pressure from Unidas Podemos to take over the party leadership and run as a presidential candidate in the next elections. She has new transversal and cross-party structures in mind for the Spanish left.
In Galicia, one of the most contradictory regions of Spain, this has been going on for a long time: a significant proportion of ordinary people still make their living from fishing in the harshest of conditions. On the edge of the Iberian Peninsula and bordering on Portugal, smuggling was also an important source of income, just like drug trafficking today.
The inconsistency was also reflected at the political level: on the one hand, the region was governed for 15 years – from 1990 to 2005 – by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former minister of the Franco regime. On the other hand, the working class there was very active in the resistance movement against this same regime.
Then came the oil spill from the tanker “Prestige” in 2002, called “marea negra” (black tide), which covered the entire coast with a black layer of highly toxic oil sludge. On this occasion, the Galicians saw the complete failure of the right-wing government led by Fraga – as well as the right-wing government under Aznar in Madrid. Finally, thousands of volunteers tried to eliminate this black layer in months-long operations. The “marea negra” ruined many fishermen’s families (the agreed damages are still outstanding), and protest and grassroots movements swelled. The best known was called “marea blanca” (white tide). These movements later became politicized (Nunca Máis, Las Mareas, etc.) and joined long-established separatist and nationalist groups. The oldest is the BNG party, which has 19 MPs in the Galician parliament.
The most popular politician in Spain
According to Yolando Díaz, the engine of such a transversal development could be an open, inclusive feminism. In contrast to Sahra Wagenknecht’s “Get Up” project, there seems to be a chance for this in Spain: Yolanda Díaz has long been the best-rated Spanish politician in polls.