PSOE have won again in Spain. Humanity yes, art no.
Posted by Aeron Bergman
The Partido Socialista Obrero Español has nearly taken the absolute majority in the Spanish parliament again. Mild, polite, social justice loving Jose Luis Zapatero will continue his quiet campaign of economic status quo with a liberal edge. While Spain is still keen on racism in football matches, embarrassing racist police actions, and as of 2006 has the second lowest education rate in Europe after Portugal, Zapatero enacted progressive policies including legalized gay marriage, and anti domestic violence laws. He also withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq and cheerfully ignored the cries of casposos in the Catholic church. Suddenly Spain became one of the most liberal countries in the world. His bone headed policies towards the Basque Country could have cost Zapatero the election, but didn’t. The population stands behind a mildly humanistic vision of their country.
This election shows that Spain is nearly fully bipartisan now. More radical parties such as left wing Izquierda Unida have lost seats, and will play smaller roles when they join PSOE to make the ruling coalition.
But Zapatero is an enemy of contemporary art. PSOE brings “understandable” art to the people such as Picasso blockbusters and state sponsored beach parties, while avoiding funding for young artists and smaller art centers. The nation’s art schools are poor and even more conservative than art schools usually are. In fact, the most interesting art centers in Spain are sponsored by socially conscious banks such as Caja Madrid and La Caixa.
Anyway, this is great news for Spain, and great news for Europe. At least there are still a few somewhat Socialist governments here.