310 | nº 31, pp. 303-314 | doxa.comunicación
July-December of 2020
The notion of homeland in Unidos Podemos discourse (2016-2017): the articulation of a constructive patriotism
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
[But that is not being patriots, ladies and gentlemen, that is selling the country! (Applause). I will give you an example. One of the clearest examples was Eurovegas, which your colleague Ignacio González –currently in jail– promised to Sheldon Adelson (Montero Gil, DS, 06/13/2017, p. 12)].
The constant references to the homeland reinforce the populist discourse of Podemos. They present themselves as the only political party committed to the people, as the only one capable of defending their interests. Some expressions such as “to be bound to the honor of the homeland” are quite surprising. Unidos Podemos set themselves up as the protectors of the oppressed citizens, forgotten by their rulers: loving the homeland is “taking care of the people”.
[Thank you, Madam President, I am concluding. Let me tell you that I owe myself to the honor of my homeland and to that gave the citizens of my country, not to the honor of this House. (Protests. –Applause). It will be fun if after my speech some members of this Parliament demand their turn to speak for personal references after talking about potential criminals (Iglesias Turrión, DS, 10/27/2016, p. 23)].
[Today you are not going to get away with it. Today, in front of the Government of the Partido Popular, we are going to show what patriotism is and we are going to defend our people (Franco Carmona, DS, 28/09/2017, p. 18)].
[These people, whom you are not protecting, are my homeland, and that is the Spain that is breaking down (Franco Carmona, DS, 10/19/2017, p. 11)].
[Stop being bracelet patriots, be patriots at heart, work to solve the problems of our country. To work for Spain is to work for those who have the least and to love the country is to take care of our people” (Franco Carmona, DS, 10/19/2017, p. 12)].
Along the same lines, references to compatriots are common. Whenever they are appealed to, it is done to denounce that they live in precarious conditions, that they “have fallen” from the middle class, that they have had to go into exile due to lack of employment or that they are affected by the impoverishment that neoliberal policies entail. It is used, therefore, in a more restrictive way than in the discourse of conservatives: not so much to elaborate a nationalist discourse that encompasses all Spaniards, but to create a top-down dichotomy that opposes the people –the true homeland– to the elite.
[Since austerity policies have been applied in Spain, three million compatriots have fallen out of the middle class. And now are you going to tell us that this Government, led by Mariano Rajoy, is going to take a different path? (Iglesias Turrión, DS, 10/27/2016, p. 22)].
[How outrageous it is that in our country former presidents and former ministers sit on the boards of directors of strategic companies that continue to cut off the electricity and heating for our compatriots!” (Iglesias Turrión, DS, 11/23/2016, p. 40)].
[To be an example in the world is to take care of our compatriots who have been forced to leave the country and encourage their return so that they create wealth in our land (Iglesias Turrión, DS, 06/13/2017, p. 60)].