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Starting in November 1976, Felipe González proclaimed that the Saharawi people were going to "win in their struggle" and promised that "our party will be with you until the final victory" 46 years have passed in which Western Sahara has operated as part of the imaginary of the left. "It's part of the sentimental education of the left, like Palestine," reflected a socialist leader with experience in foreign policy.
Only from that feeling can the historical and transcendental decision of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to support the Moroccan position be explained, which is taking so long to digest in the political space of the left. Of course outside the PSOE the decision is rejected. Also on the part
of the nationalist and independentist allies. But in the PSOE itself, the government's movement has been received coldly. On the contrary, with the vast majority of the Government's decisions, messages of pride, defense or explicit support for the Executive's position have not been expressed from the socialist ranks. There is no emotion whatsoever with this decision, which the leadership of the party and the government defends as an exercise in "political realism" in a world in transformation.
The difference this time is that the unrest will penetrate the socialist ranks. No one has come out to defend it on their own, beyond the defense in terms of pragmatism that figures such as Adriana Lastra or Félix Bolaños have expressed when they have been asked about the issue in events already scheduled. Despite the support of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who has landed during his mandate in his autonomist position, he has partially leveled the feeling of being very sour. And some voices have come to express it publicly. The president of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, spoke about these sentiments: “Be aware that we live in difficult times, but now, more than ever, it is important to respect and defend one of the most universal values: human rights. The Saharawi people deserve to live in peace and freedom. From the heart, all my support to the families and the Saharawi people». The vas deputy Odón Elorza expressed his regret: “The abandonment of just causes hurts me”, criticizing that “before pragmatism and geostrategy he always thought that the socialists could embrace just causes”. And he shed light on a key and generational fact: the imprint of experiences such as that of solidarity with the Saharawi cause.
But the discomfort with the situation reaches even seats in the Council of Ministers occupied by the PSOE. They privately question not so much the need for the measure as how it has been managed. It was considered that as it has been shaped, a position of weakness with respect to Morocco is revealed. There was also fear of Algeria's response and the conclusion of a new front in domestic politics as neither the PP, as the main opposition party, nor United We Can as a coalition partner were informed of the decision.
To the left of the PSOE, the rejection is clear and has been expressed by ministers such as Ione Belarra or Alberto Garzón. The qualitative leap on this occasion is that the Second Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, who publicly only tiptoes on issues that distance PSOE and Podemos, has placed this time without nuances in front of the President of the Government. Unlike her on other occasions, she has avoided endorsing him. Yesterday he expressed his "sadness" at the change in the Government's position. “We are experiencing very difficult times and I think that somehow the coalition government has been formed and must reflect,” he said, lamenting that to the “great economic and social crisis” and the “energy crisis of the first magnitude”, now adds “the crisis with the Sahara.
The second vice president called for "a joint reflection by the coalition government to rise to the circumstances of this historic moment." Díaz considered that while he was in Sánchez as Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, they should give some sober explanations that, in addition, he considered that they have materialized with “incorrect” ways.
That Díaz now acts in tune with Podemos is by no means a minor issue. This Saturday, former Vice President Pablo Iglesias celebrated this unity – “this time there is no dissonance with Podemos and with the PCE, good news” – in an opinion article in which he referred to the movement as “Sánchez's stab”. Outside the Government, Iglesias operates with more freedom as a kind of critical conscience that hits the PSOE at every move. He continues to set the pace of his political space.
