Who are they? A left-wing political party in Spain, formed in 2014 from the protest movement (Los Indignados) that emerged to address the post-GFC political and economic climate in Spain. Podemos translates into English as ‘we can.’
What do they want? Podemos’ goals are to heal the economy, promote liberty, equality and fraternity, redefine sovereignty, and recover land from extractive and exploitive industry.
Notable policies include a universal basic income, corporate tax-avoidance prevention, withdrawal from some free trade agreements, referenda on major constitutional reforms, reduction of fossil fuel consumption, promotion of public transport and renewable energy, and stimulus of local food production by small and medium enterprises.
Who/what are they fighting? Much like Syriza in Greece, Podemos seek to address poverty, inequality and unemployment, and renegotiate austerity measures.
How do they organise? In order to establish a functioning political party, Podemos set themselves three conditions: to gather the support of at least 50,000 party members, to develop their policies and organisational structure through open participation with citizens’ assemblies, and to seek unity with other parties of the left and leftist social movements. The 50,000 member signatures were gathered within less than 24 hours.
Success stories: It’s early days for Podemos, but successes include their rapid rise to the position of Spain’s second largest political party, with more than 170,000 official members.