In Contemporary Left-Wing Activism Vol. 1: Democracy, Participation and Dissent in a Global Context, eds. Joseph Ibrahim and John Roberts, Abingdon-New York, Routledge, 2019, pp. 127-145.
ABSTRACT
The political trajectories of Podemos’s founders are various, but some of the most influential started in the transnational movements against neo-liberal globalisation of the late 1990s. During his Erasmus term in Bologna Iglesias joined the Italian Tute Bianche (White Overalls), whose civil resistance techniques emulated the Zapatista movement in Chiapas. In late 2008, a group of professors, including Iglesias, Monedero, Bescansa, Jerez, Fernandez Liria and Domínguez, formed La Promotora de Pensamiento Crítico. They tried to translate academic discussions into mainstream language, organising roundtables with prominent guests to hold discussions with students and activists on the main issues of national history and international politics, often after watching movies. At the beginning of 2014, the 15M mobilisations had lost momentum, but some groups began to formulate a transition from social movements to the electoral struggle. Podemos and IU agreed to run together as Unidos Podemos (UP) to avoid the waste of votes that affected both in the previous elections.
