Barcelona is one of the world's truly great cities: it has stunning architecture, efficient public transit, and gorgeous beaches.
Add a truly progressive mayor to the list.
One of the most-tweeted photos in Spain these days shows riot police hauling away Ada Colau. The image is from July 2013, when the anti-poverty protester was trying to "occupy" a Barcelona bank that was foreclosing on homes.
The caption added by Twitter users: "Welcome, new mayor."
Colau is the first of the indignados, or angry ones — Spain's Occupy movement — to win office. She narrowly defeated Barcelona Mayor Xavier Trias in local elections Sunday.
Cheers of "Sí se puede!" — "Yes we can!" — went up through the crowd at Colau's campaign headquarters in Barcelona overnight, when vote tallies showed she had won.
"This is a victory of David over Goliath," Colau told supporters, beaming.
For background, the Spanish property bubble's collapse -- and subsequent crisis -- really sucked for everyday Spanish citizens. Imagine the American property crisis, but then imagine the pain of actually not being able to declare bankruptcy, leave your mortgage behind and start a new life. In Spain, your mortgage cannot be discharged in bankruptcy court: you will literally be paying for the house you lost for the rest of your life.
So, calling out bankers for their bad behavior is good politics and good sense.
Two years ago, she testified before parliament at a hearing about Spain's foreclosures crisis. On the panel, Colau spoke right after a representative of Spain's banking industry.
"This man is a criminal and he should be treated like one," she said at the time, her voice shaking with rage.
Lawmakers' jaws dropped. Colau got a reprimand from parliament, but her speech endeared her to millions of Spaniards hurt by layoffs and austerity.
"Our politicians prioritized rescuing Spanish banks, over rescuing Spanish citizens," Colau told NPR in a recent interview, reflecting on that February 2013 parliamentary hearing that catapulted her to fame. Video of her rant went viral on Spanish TV and social media.
Yes, we can? Well, yes, Barcelona
did!
Congratulations to Ada!
If anything, I hope this huge progressive accomplishment will be a lesson for American journalists who deride Bernie Sanders as a joke. (And for progressives who must work to elect Bernie within this problematic media environment.)
One of those journalists, Matthew Yglesias of Ezra "explains it all" Klein's Vox Web site, regularly publishes "hot takes" treating Bernie Sanders as nothing more than an Internet sensation.
Sanders's virality doesn't show that he has a chance to win. If anything, it's the opposite. His virality stems, in part, from the fact that he isn't even trying. Most politicians are trying, on some level, for mainstream influence. Even a long-shot candidate like Martin O'Malley really might become the Democratic nominee if Hillary Clinton is struck by lightning or suffers some unforeseen meltdown.
Sanders isn't like that. He's not going to win no matter what, and he knows it. After all, he is an avowed socialist with zero interest in big-dollar fundraising who's not afraid to say he thinks the US should fundamentally transform itself into a different kind of country.
Yes, Matt, it is possible for real progressives to win by calling out banks on their criminal behavior. Ada showed this to be true in Spain -- and Bernie --
announcing his candidacy this afternoon -- will show it to be true in the United States, too.