Summary
King Felipe VI of Spain faced a hostile crowd in Valencia, where unprecedented floods have devastated communities, leaving over 200 dead and many missing. Footage shows protesters shouting “murderer” and “shame” at the king, with some throwing objects and mud as he walked through the affected area of Paiporta.
I think the king is being a lightning rod in this case, not sure what a ceremonial rich dude could have done.
That said, this should be a red alert warning to the entirety of Europe. It happened in Austria last month, in Greece last year and it’s going to keep happening. We can’t keep doing business as usual, the climate crisis is here.
not sure what a ceremonial rich dude could have done
People are afraid and confused, they have never seen anything like this. They need something to direct their anger towards, and out of confusion, they see this rich guy with no problems and never having struggled before in his life. Too easy of a target. There are probably a lot of questions that people don’t have answers to. How could they have not seen this coming? Why was there no warning? Why aren’t the rich people using their personal funds to help with the efforts of recovery? That’s my take
not sure what a ceremonial rich dude could have done.
This is the kind of situation in which a king (or president) can make a difference.
Royalty don’t have any direct power to order people to do things, but they do have a voice with quite a broad reach. Whenever the king speaks, people will hear it. Even if they don’t care about the king.
In a time where people are getting their information from sources curated to fit their own political bubble or economical interests, it’s quite powerful to be able to reach a whole country across political and economic interests.
Royalties can’t dictate, but they can encourage and motivate people to work together on a common goal despite of their differences.
When something is seriously threatening the country, it would be nice if the king would bother making a motivational speech, so that people, companies and politicians could see the purpose of uniting against the common threat.
It might not sway the opinions of people or companies who have strong interests in not doing anything differently, but it will boost the morale of people trying to do their best, enabling them to rest assured that they’re doing the right thing despite of what others might do. We could say it’s a really vague forn of long term meta-politics, but sometimes that’s also all that is needed to set a direction.
It’s not political as such, but more like “yo let’s save this sinking ship” instead of passivily watching it happen. It won’t fix anything by itself, but it’s a good start. Without a good start and set direction, you can be sure that nothing will ever change.
Not to mention the mass stores of wealth I’m sure he has. That could probably go a long way towards improving things. I’m sure also, as a rich person, he produces far more CO2 than most, which certainly doesn’t help the situation. He could work towards decreasing that and improving green initiatives.
I think the king is being a lightning rod in this case, not sure what a ceremonial rich dude could have done.
He could have lobbied on their behalf. And it would look very disrespectful and shameful for the government to ignore him asking for help for his subjects.
It’s long past time for monarchs to be a thing of the past
Start with Chucky since he especially doesn’t deserve it.
Footage shows an angry crowd shouting “murderer” and “shame” at the king, who was also asked why nothing had been done to avoid the tragedy.
Damn right. Fuck monarchies.
There’s still a king of Spain?
Unfortunately, yes. We can’t even vote on the matter.
However, it’s worth noting that a good part of the hate is directed to Mazon, the governor of the region that is being accused of not only downplaying the alerts from the weather agency but also of not asking for help nor declaring the emergency status that would allow the central gov. to take control and send more help for political gains (the central gov is from a left-leaning coalition while the region gov is from a right-fascist coalition).
Is Mazon a MAGA republican by any chance?
Not technically. He is part of a right-wing “moderated” party. Years ago, his party was that at least. Now, their party (Partido Popular) are very close-tied to Vox, a fascist party pretty much like the MAGA GOP. The PP has decided to become much more fascist in order to not lose against Vox and ultimately decided to adopt much of Vox’s political views in order to ally with them and stand a a chance in the elections.
I appreciate the in-depth explanation. Power hungry cabrones who will do anything to hold on to power; the rest of the world can get fucked.
Ah, ok right wing. That’s all you had to say.
I feel like people missed the sarcasm a bit here
It happens a lot on Lemmy, and with all this text-based communicating we do now. Par for the course. Also, the serious answers were both relevant and interesting!
There is also a King of Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and a King of the Netherlands. But most monarchies are constitutional so they hold no political power.
Technically, Spain’s king holds some power. He is the highest military authority (he holds the title of General Captain of the whole army) and he has to sign any law before it can core to effect. If he doesn’t sign it, the law won’t pass. Although it’s more of a formal fignature, he could not allow a law to pass if he wanted.
Same in Norway.
The monarchies can stay on one condition. They all wear silly hats like the Swedish king
This is the silliness that is desired. Our heir apparent have yet to take up her father’s penchant for silly hats. One day I hope.
I don’t know, popes are kings and they can wear pretty silly hats.
Do we have to keep popes around?
Not silly enough. Either sew bunny ears on it or else the pope has to go too.
Fair.
I should have clarified. I mean silly (fun) not silly (ridiculous)
The British monarch does hold political power, but usually does not do anything with it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_the_United_Kingdom#Constitutional_role
Hence “most”.
Yes, the monarchy was reestablished after General Franco’s (fascist) Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War against the Republicans and Socialists (and Communists and anarchists, all in their separate groups) back in the 1930’s.
In other news, Spain still has a King and Queen.
The fuck???
Once I was the king of Spain, now I eat humble pie
Hey Clinton! Hey Yeltzin! Got problems? You phone me!
Spain still has kings?
Removed by mod
Your ignorance is overwhelming
Have you ever been to Spain? It is one of the most livable countries in Europe. Madrid has become the most desirable capital city in Western Europe in the last few years. The road and rail networks are superior to most developed countries. The healthcare system works better than almost any country you can point at. Its banks, construction companies, universities are some of the best and largest in the world.
How is Spain backwards?
Disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, Spanish
They raped, murdered and pillaged my ancestors and up until the but very distant past. So pardon me for holding a grudge
I might have bad news for you: your ancestors raped murdered and pillaged someones ancestors. I don’t even need to know where exactly you’re from to make this statement with full confidence.
So hold your grudge if you want, just don’t be hypocritical about it.
Nah mate, I’m pretty sure the only barbaric civilizations were the European ones. Never heard of any american civilization doing that kind of thing in the past. Nor any asian one. It’s just the european barbarians…
/s (although it should be pretty evident).
Seeing some comments, that /s is pretty much necessary.
Much more recently, Germans put a bunch of my ancestors in ovens. I don’t hold a grudge with the ones who had nothing to do with it (i.e. almost every German alive today).
Germany was forced to clean up house, though.
Franco died in bed (in extreme agony, apparently; the only good thing the bastard ever did; but still), naming his successor, whose son is the current unelected parasite on the throne. The dictator’s children and grandchildren are public figures, celebrated and followed by embarrassingly large portions of the population.
The murderers and torturers who worked for him kept their jobs, were forgiven all their crimes, and their children and grandchildren succeed them (old money and contacts in high places go a long way towards winning elections).
The supposed “transition” merely put some new wallpaper on top of the existing structures, with a watered down constitution voted under military threats: vote for it, or else, even going as far as staging a coup attempt so that Franco’s successor could “save the day”, become a hero, and water the new supposed democracy down even further.
Do not compare Spain to Germany. It’s extremely insulting to Germany.
Last I checked, Franco did not sire the entire Spanish population. Who you are blaming for things that happened before any of them were born.
Franco did not sire the entire Spanish population.
No, but he did kill, or drive into exile or poverty and political irrelevance anyone who didn’t share his views.
Most of the surviving population, especially the ones with economic and political power, were fascists. Their children were fascists. Their grandchildren were fascists wearing progressive masks. And their great grandchildren are fascists who’ve taken off their masks.
When the bastard said he left everything “tied up and well tied up” he wasn’t kidding.
No, but he did kill, or drive into exile or poverty and political irrelevance anyone who didn’t share his views.
Those people were also Spanish. The ones you condemn for what they did to your ancestors. So shouldn’t you be in favor of that?
Sure mate. I guess you know half or more of spain population to say so…
What you apparently forgot to mention is that even in Germany or Italy, where they “cleaned” the place of fascism are dealing with a raise in fascism. Maybe your vision is slightly biased.
Yeah man, my ancestors were raped, murdered, and tortured by a European country in the XX’th century.
I don’t hold this generation accountable for the crimes of their forefathers.
Move on
Most other states tend not to celebrate their raping, murdering, and pillaging as a national holiday, though.
And there’s also the fact that most Spanish politicians are descendants of those that served under the coupist dictator Franco (who nominated the current parasite in chief’s father as his successor), and share the same political views, as does a nauseatingly high portion of the population.
Move on
No.
But they get to enjoy the benefits of the criminality of their forebears?
So what"s your solution? Because, as far as I know, Spain doesn’t have an colonies nowadays. And what are those benefits anyways?
All cultures to a greater or lesser extent, enjoy the fruits of raping and pillaging other groups. That is just how it was done for the entirety of human existence
People like you just like to concentrate on your own perceived exceptionalism and that of your group. All this intelectual dishonesty serves to get economic benefit from playing the victim
Genocide and theft are okay because everyone does it?
Tell me that you’re of European descent without telling me you’re of European descent.
You mean like how Chinese, Mongols, Japanese, Namibians, Egyptians, Somalians, Aztec, Cherokee, all raped and pillaged to their hearts content for literally hundreds and some for more that a thousand years, until someone stronger showed up?
Yeah, get a history book
And no, I am not European or American or come from any developed country. I am Latin American, but unlike you, I don’t get my education from internet bulletin boards
If they raped your ancestors, which by the way I believe is disingenuous, as Im sure much mixing was consensual (not denying rape though), you are as much the offspring of the rapist as of the raped, you’d do well in starting to acknowledge that you are part of that which you hate.
If a black person has an offspring with a white one, the offspring has the same right to be callen white or black, even though society has’nt realized that yet.
