Columna Marginal - February 2026
The occidental world is so fucked up that it's making the president of Spain seem like a good president. Even if the decisions of this government are pure opportunism, and if it fuels the game of polarization that all right-wing politicians started, the (leftist) international opinion seems pretty good about Pedro Sánchez and his government. But that's what happens when everyone reads the headlines instead of the whole article.
Let me say this loud and clear: Spain is not an oasis of the left, and one of the reasons is the existence of the party that is in power nowadays. But that's a long story that I can't explain here. I'll let the next elections show you a totally different face of this territory.
Anyways, Spain sucks, and PSOE (the so-called "socialist" party of Spain) sucks too. With this party in power, we had:
- Several massacres on the borders or in the sea, blocking migrant people from entering the country while rich people get in through planes. Amnesty International is still asking for some answers for 30 dead and 70 disappeared (in the border??) on June 24th of 2022.
- Prosecution of alternative leftist or anarchist political projects, including several cases of cops infiltrating social movements. These cases were defended by a minister that has been accused SIX times by the European Court of Human Rights for not investigating tortures of police while he was a judge. This is the same guy that defends the previously commented massacres. Suspicious, right?
- In the middle of a housing crisis, they gave LOTS of money to be able to pay the rents, and what happened? Oh, the miracle: landlords increased prices, and the result: rich people getting richer. It's impossible they didn't know, especially when so many of the known faces of the party are landlords. In general terms there's a really bad management of the housing crisis just to protect landlords.
- Corruption. Corruption is everywhere. All kinds of cases appear around the president, and yes, maybe many are created by a toxic political environment that lies to get votes, but many aren't.
- Spain gave all the power to Morocco to do anything they want with Western-Sahara, leaving the Sahrawi people totally abandoned (even more than before). Even worse, this was used to improve relationships between the two countries and make Morocco control the border so Spain does not have to do the dirty work. Colonialism and racism from a "socialist" government.
- More externalized dirty work: they opened jails for migrants in Mauritania. These jails were paid for by the government, yes. And they will hold minors inside too, yes, something that can’t happen here (but it’s done in another type of prison for migrants called CIEs). So poor racialized migrants can’t enter our border, or they will be killed, prosecuted, brutally assaulted and/or raped, and if they survive, they will work like slaves for people that don’t want to pay taxes and won’t ever be held as criminals. The same government that allows this also goes to other countries to create cages so fewer people cross two borders and/or get in a boat that is a nearly certified death in the Mediterranean.
- Bought military technology from Israel after advertising an arms embargo on that country. Also, a few years before, they sold a lot of military stuff to Saudi Arabia that was used to bomb Yemen.
- Etc.
I could continue writing about this, but I just don't want to. Spain sucks. PSOE sucks. Many think they are nice because they aren't horrible fascists, but they do a lot of shit. And now let me show you some punk music from this country that promotes anarchy instead of lame social democrats. If ESKORBUTO can't be voted for, let me show you who should be the ones I would vote for.
LAMPREA EXPLOSIVA - Anarquía de Montaña
From the mountains of remote Galiza, here you have a band that I really love and that I have been following and known since we (them and me) were kids. We met after so many years of some Internet relationship in Galiza, in a squat in a very, very small town (it has... 10 houses?) in the middle of a natural paradise. I always had a special love for duos (PIÑÉN or CIEMO, for example), and LAMPREA EXPLOSIVA, with their already long history and their parallel duo band with the same two people that change instruments (GIUSSEPPE), was always a special one. They also manage their own label, Caracol Negro!
LAMPREA EXPLOSIVA are for punks that love Thoreau, Emerson and Walt Whitman, but also Emma Goldman, Quico Sabaté and Kropotkin. Not many anarchists understand the secret words of the beating heart of the forest, its natural processes, and the art of waiting and letting things grow. I always hoped they were a seed for more Galician youngsters to get their instruments and make noise until their ears bleed, but as far as I know, only they did something like this beautiful eco-anarchist project in the last few years. Maybe the other ones are so hidden in their mountains that their sounds are unreachable for me.
In this release, LAMPREA EXPLOSIVA has a first track "Unha forza de combate / Guía breve dos mustélidos de Galiza", where they talk about another thing that I didn't mention before about our government. Their support of extractivism in our own land, the elimination of natural spaces for touristic projects, the constant help for fucked up real estate businesses, or any other economic profit from natural resources. Nature battles against these aggressions in so many ways, but also there are many people that do so. Defend your forests, deserts, and seas!
https://caracolnegro.bandcamp.com/album/anarqu-a-de-monta-a
Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 20, 2024
ARREST - Pobre i Perillós
An already classic band from Barcelona. They have been playing since the start of the previous decade, and their music and lyrics are amazing. If you're into early 80s UK punk like the first few No Future Records releases this is for you. The band has members of TOTÄLICKERS, CRUZ, CRIMEN DE ESTADO and SIBERIA. They also have a fake band that is pretty funny called STOICHKOV. Sometimes I can feel like I'm a Barça punk too!
In this EP there's an amazing track, "Mentirán" that summarizes pretty well some things I didn't explain in the text of this column. The rise in the cost of living, evictions, and how it feels to be a poor person in this country. That's why the name of the EP means "poor and dangerous". The lyrics are translated on their Bandcamp page if you're curious.
https://arrest.bandcamp.com/album/ep-7-pobre-i-perill-s
Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 19, 2022
ROTURA - Al otro lado
ROTURA aren't a classic from the city of Barcelona yet, but I hope they will be. Watching them play live is always beautiful, and I loved this project since the beginning. They do a powerful melodic punk, very political, and have really catchy songs that have stayed with me since the first listen.
I wouldn't say that ROTURA reminds me of specific bands, but there's always an easy comparison of the vocals with ELEKTRODUENDES, but don't be fooled by these descriptions and listen to them! They sound very different in general terms. In my opinion, the lyrics of the songs are a big part of this band, and they also have them translated on their Bandcamp page. During the last year I've been listening to them nonstop. Also, they are in the Fediverse! The only band I know from here that has Mastodon and Pixelfed accounts.
https://rotura-punk.bandcamp.com/album/al-otro-lado
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KIRATXA - Giza Ustelkeria
From Euskal Herria, this "new" band is bringing the noise to this column. I missed them and the "pomada" that Oscar always carries with him when they came to Barcelona, I hope I have a second opportunity!
Their raw punk sounds spit over nearly everything, from heroin to the military, from the countries that perpetrate a genocide that we all know to the bosses ("who doesn't want to kill their boss?"). In the song "Mare Mortum" they talk about the amount of people who are left to die in the Mediterranean Sea while they are trying to reach the coasts of this horrible country.
https://kiratxa.bandcamp.com/album/giza-ustelkeria
Bandcamp Album of the Day Feb 6, 2018
DOLENT - S/T
Let's keep the noisy sounds on; this Valencia band is SO good. One of my favorites from last year. It is a modern-sounding hardcore punk sung in Valencià created by some of the people that helped to release a lot of punk around here in the last decades. They are pretty fast, and I think the guitars have an effect that is too loud for my personal taste, but besides that, I like it a lot. I've played this so many times already! I wish I could have gotten the tape, but I'm always late, and it's sold out now.
The track "Som l'amenaça" says something like "burn the flag, destroy Spain" (this is a free interpretation), which is all I want. In my opinion this band is a little gem produced in this area of the world that has been totally overlooked, but it's worth a listen or two. You will like it, I promise! I hope they keep doing this band for so long.
https://polzedelamort.bandcamp.com/album/dolent-dolent
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