The cryptic reasonings of Íñigo Errejón They are one of its hallmarks since that famous irradiating core. His resignation letter fulfills the same premise. He doesn’t explain, he doesn’t acknowledge, they are all insinuations and euphemisms. It is not clear if he assumes his responsibility in any way because he does not mention the accusations of abuse and harassment, although he does recognize a dissonance between the public and private persona and confesses to professional support for a mental health problem. Beatriz Bonete, sociologist, expert in Gender and Social researcheranalyzes the words that the former leader of Más País has chosen to say goodbye to politics.
“It sounds like what we have seen many other times: a man who, faced with the possible accusations that are going to be brought against him, takes a first step to embody himself in “the victim”. Furthermore, he does it by throwing balls outside, nothing more and nothing less than the patriarchy. As if he, by being leftist, got rid of their influence”he points out.
Bonete considers that “in general, he uses language that It seems close, but it is very formal. Sometimes very institutional, other times very ambiguous. For example, when he says that he has been holding positions of public representation and very high visibility for 10 years, he basically means that has held positions of power. Both in the political and public sphere (and visible) and within the parties in which he has been (less visible), but in which he has always occupied leadership positions.
Exculpatory intent
For the sociologist “she uses an impersonal grammatical formula to say that in politics “one survives and is more effective with a way of behaving that is often emancipated from care” translation with a gender perspective: The only ones who have the right to “emancipate” from care are men. They do it in the domestic sphere, when they ignore family care, and they do it in the professional sphere, when they act by abusing their position of power. In both paragraphs, an “exculpatory” intention also shines through, specifically pointing out the patriarchy, as if he lived on another planet. That of the sexist left-wing men who believe that by becoming victims of a “neoliberal” and “stressful” system, they can excuse any behavior.”
He presents himself as a victim of the system
Finally, Bonete points out that he talks about “the character and the person.” As if he wanted to blame the “character” he represented when he was in politics. “It draws attention because a few weeks ago I uploaded a story on Instagram with the headphones on while “I enjoyed preparing an intervention. The letter has little of a “farewell to politics” and much of a preemptive attempt to protect oneself and identify oneself as “the victim of the system”given what will most likely come: the testimonies of the true victims of the patriarchy of Errejón. But we already know (unfortunately) that when the river sounds like discrimination and/or violence based on sex by a powerful man…. Always carry water,” he concludes.
This is the letter that Íñigo Errejón published in X:
“In recent months, and more insistently in recent weeks, I have been thinking that I had to make some important decisions. Today the day has come to do it.
I have been politically engaged and active for almost as long as I can remember. That’s my way of being in the world. But for ten years I have held positions of public representation in institutional politics and of very high visibility and media exposure. I have had the privilege of defending the ideas that I consider the most beautiful and fair, and of doing so during one of the most intense, but also hardest, decades of Spanish politics. That entails many experiences, learnings and reasons for pride. But it also generates a type of life, a daily life, a subjectivity, a type of links with the public sphere, with fame and with others that take their toll. The pace and way of life on the political front line, for a decade, has worn out my physical health, my mental health and my affective and emotional structure. I think this is something that everyone who is in this position for a long time experiences to a greater or lesser extent.
On the political and media front line one survives and is more effective, at least that has been my case, with a way of behaving that is often emancipated from care, empathy and the needs of others. This generates a toxic subjectivity that in the case of men, patriarchy multiplies, with co-workers, with organizational colleagues, with emotional relationships and even with oneself.
After an intense and accelerated political cycle, I have reached the limit of the contradiction between the character and the person. Between a neoliberal way of life and being a spokesperson for a group that defends a new, more just and humane world. The ideological struggle is also a struggle to build better, more careful, more supportive and, therefore, freer ways of life and relationships. You can’t ask people to vote differently than how they behave in their daily lives.
I have been working on a personal process and psychological support for some time, but the truth is that to advance in it and to take care of myself, I need to abandon institutional politics, its demands and its rhythms.
I thus announce, as I have already communicated to my colleagues in charge, my resignation as spokesperson for the Plurinational Parliamentary Group of Sumar, I leave my seat in Congress and all my political responsibilities. I will always continue to be active and committed, but for me this institutional political stage is ending and I hope to contribute in this way to the generational renewal of cadres and ideas that the democratic and popular forces need.
I finish the most important stage of my life. A hard and exciting stage. With successes that I am proud of and mistakes that I hope to help repair with this decision.
A fraternal hug to all the colleagues of all these years.
Health.
Íñigo Errejón”