2023-10-13 22:21:20
“Philip VI complicit in the coup d’état.” The phrase that headed a banner protesting against the amnesty last Sunday in Barcelona brings out a feeling that has been germinating for weeks among some sectors of the right: that the monarch is not fulfilling his duty to stop Pedro Sánchez and his partners; that he should not have proposed the leader of the PSOE for the investiture.
This sector also warns the king that his “last betrayal” would be to sign the foreseeable amnesty law that Sánchez and the Catalan independentists will agree upon. The threat has begun to seep to the surface, from far-right forums and the Twitter accounts of the most radical to the columns of some leading opinion leaders on the media right. There are those who exert even veiled pressure on Felipe VI, but others are very clear in asking him not to sign a general pardon for those prosecuted by the process.
The atmosphere in some factions of the extreme right is such that they have recovered the nickname “Doorpudo VI” that they gave to the monarch when in 2021 he signed the pardons for the independence leaders convicted by 1-O. Then, as now, the king could not refuse to sign the Government’s regulations.
The messages against the king have their origin in what is known as ‘fachosphere’, that set of Telegram, YouTube channels or Twitter and TikTok accounts dedicated to propagating the most anti-system postulates of the extreme right. This is where weeks ago an idea began to take shape that spread quickly: that Felipe VI had to act to prevent Sánchez from reaching the Government thanks to an agreement with the pro-independence parties. That is, he should not propose him as a candidate for the investiture after the failure of Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
But the king did order him after the round of consultations on October 3. Then the first criticisms arose from far-right influencers like InfoVlogger, very close to Vox: “Did anyone expect anything else from our Doormat VI?”
The king proposes Sánchez as a candidate, who only has 121 votes from his party. Did anyone expect anything else from our Doormat VI? ????
— InfoVlogger (@infovlogger36) October 3, 2023
Throughout the week there were many accounts that recovered that nickname with which a part of the extreme right denounces the monarch’s alleged servility to the Government for years. The images of Felipe VI walking with Sánchez and his wife through the Alhambra in Granada during the European summit inflamed the most radicals even more.
IMAGES OF PEDRO SÁNCHEZ, KING FELIPE, LETICIA AND BEGOÑA BEFORE THE €200,000 DINNER IN GRANADA.
SINCERELY, IF THE KING FINALLY SIGNS THE AMNESTY I DON’T NEED A KING BECAUSE HE WILL PUT HIS SEAT BEFORE SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS.
THE TRUTH IS THAT THIS THEATER RIGHT NOW MAKES ME… pic.twitter.com/Nwv7hxGCJP
— A LAWYER AGAINST DEMAGOGY (@aitor13023985) October 6, 2023
In fact, deep disappointment is spreading in far-right forums as a result of the hoax launched by one of the usual agitators in that area, Alvise Pérez. Through his broadcast channels he assured, without any evidence, that during the first round of consultations Sánchez told the king that he could not refuse to sign the amnesty law, at which time, according to Alvise, the monarch ordered that the candidate of the PSOE was expelled from Zarzuela.
Those who gave credibility to the hoax at the time now regret having believed it in the Telegram forums: “The doubts about whether I was going to order it or not have already been cleared up,” “The Spanish people are totally alone and abandoned by all institutions.” In the chats of Alvise’s followers, many voices emerge criticizing the king and considering it lost for him to side with him. Even so, a sector still hopes that Felipe VI will not sign the amnesty law if it is finally the agreement reached by PSOE, Sumar and the pro-independence parties. Some from hope in the king and others directly from the threat to the monarchy.
The most radical have intensified this campaign on networks in recent days. “If His Majesty King Felipe VI agrees to sign any amnesty law, he must abdicate immediately”, “If he does not dare to defend the Constitution, we Spaniards will take care of doing so”, “He cannot, under any circumstances, sign the amnesty and much less a referendum in Catalonia. “I would be signing the end,” are some messages released in recent days.
But the pressure on the monarch is not limited to the online dissemination channels of the extreme right propagandists. In a more or less subtle way, the idea that the king will not sign, that he should not do so or that this act would place him in a very complicated situation has been emerging in columns and statements by public figures.
The clearest is Alfonso Ussía, historic columnist for La Razón now in El Debate, a conservative and monarchical online media funded by a Catholic association. “The King is not going to sign anything that threatens unity, freedom and democracy in Spain,” write Ussía: “We are in a highly serious situation. And only a Spaniard is qualified to stop the catastrophe.”
From that same newspaper run by Bieito Rubido, former director of ABC and La Voz de Galicia and a journalist very close to Mariano Rajoy and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, columnists such as Luis Ventoso and Antonio R. Naranjo also pressure the monarch not to sign. The first reminds you that signing would be breaking the Constitution: “The last hopes of many Spaniards are pinned on the King at a decisive moment.” The second warns him that the demonstrations in the street They are a message for him too and tells him that perhaps he should worry about “the indignation that will be felt by those who, after defending him more than himself, feel a little abandoned.”
There is speculation about this possibility in several right-wing media, which warn the king that signing the law could be a step towards the disappearance of the monarchy. The texts are speculations about the king’s decision, but also messages of pressure towards the monarch, to whom they attribute the responsibility of stopping a norm that they consider would “completely collapse the current democratic legal/political framework and would open a path of no return”.
That speech has also jumped from the columns to public statements. The former vice president of the Government Alfonso Guerra uttered some words that seem like a warning to the king: “If you have to sign that, you will have to remember the speech you made on October 3, because that text would be exactly the opposite of the speech you made.”
The pressure on the king has forced other regular opinion leaders to come to the monarch’s defense and clarify that he cannot refuse to sign an amnesty law. The battle between both sectors of the right is for now incipient, but it will inevitably lead to a point at which both factions will have to vehemently defend their positions: when Felipe VI sees himself facing the text of the amnesty law with a pen in his hand. hand.
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