Vox spain gender violence law11/18/2023 ![]() In many ways, its rise mirrors advances made by populist and far-right parties across Europe. The party’s shocking ascent to power was, at first, ascribed to its stance against separatism in the northern Spanish region of Catalonia-Vox called the country’s dominant parties soft on separatists and campaigned on a “ Spain first” ticket. ![]() But it burst into Spain’s national consciousness only late last year, when it campaigned and won 12 seats in the regional legislature in Andalusia, in southern Spain, the first time any of its candidates had been elected to office. Vox-the word is Latin for “voice”-was founded in 2013 by a handful of conservative politicians who’d grown disenchanted with the People’s Party, the traditional right-wing bloc in Spain, for not adopting more hard-line stances against secessionists and progressive legislation passed under the former Socialist government. Read: How Spain misunderstood the Catalan independence movement Only one party in Spain is currently making that argument, and the speaker at the rally, Alicia Rubio, helps run its get-out-the-vote efforts. The sexes were being pitted against each other, and the only way to restore the balance, the speaker said, was by voting against feminist legislation. The crowd responded with thunderous applause. In a gravelly voice, a small woman introduced as a dissident of gender ideology-the expression is used by the global far right to designate advances in women’s and LGBTQ rights-declared that it was in fact men who were being discriminated against under the law. The smaller march that followed, however, was decidedly not courting the feminist vote. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have fallen at their feet, trying to lay claim to “real” feminism, whether that has meant touting gender-neutral speech or championing women-friendly economic policies. Nearly 65 percent of college-age women here embrace the label and, it follows, form a potent voting bloc for national elections being held this weekend. That day, headlines hailed feminism in Spain as a force to be reckoned with. The “March for Femininity,” as the demonstration was called, was a counterprotest to an enormous International Women’s Day rally held two days prior, a historic affair that saw hundreds of thousands of women throughout Spain stream down their cities’ major avenues to demand the application and expansion of anti-gender-violence laws. ![]() A man carrying a megaphone led a chant, “Feminism doesn’t represent me.” A canopy of pale pink and blue balloons swayed above them like a roving baby shower, the theme song from Pirates of the Caribbean blaring from speakers nearby. MADRID-On a recent Sunday, a compact huddle of about 100 principally middle-aged men and women slowly advanced onto Puerta del Sol square here in the Spanish capital.
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