How social media helped VOX - a Spanish right-wing party

The Spanish students Monica and Andres told us about Spain's previous politics and said that social media plays a big role in influencing other people.

It all started in 1975. The dictatorship led by Franco ended and two big parties were born. The PP (Conservatives) and the PSOE (Social Democrats). After 1982 Spain was ruled by the two big parties. In 2008 there was an economic crisis. A huge rise of unemployment from around 8% in 2008 to 26% in 2014 occured. The government, led by PSOE, was unable to do anything. The government changed  from PSOE to PP

Report on what the Spanish students told us

The Spanish students told us about Spain's previous politics and said that social media plays a big role in influencing other people.

It all started in 1975. The dictatorship ended and two big parties were born. The PP (conservatives) and the PSOE (social democrats). After 1982 Spain was ruled by the two big parties. In 2008 was an economic crisis. A huge rise of unemployment, from around 8% in 2008 to 26% in 2014. The government, led by PSOE, was unable to do anything. The government changed from PSOE to PP in 2011. A time of budget cuts and corruption scandals began.

After this other parties appeared, like VOX (far right, in 2013), Podemos (left, in 2014) and the Ciudadanos (liberals, in 2005 (great influence from 2014)). Podemos and Ciudadanos gained power:

Podemos   ->  20% of voters                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Ciudadanos-> 14% of voters

But what about VOX?

VOX promotes hart nationalism and supports what Franco’s dictatorship did. They are against immigration and laws that project “women and minorities” (religious, LGBT+). Against populism. In social media VOX gained a lot of hate using trolls and memes.

How are they going to do that?

They don’t know. When asked, they are unable to answer. And when they answer, they just confirm they don’t know how to do it.

. It begins a time of budget cuts and corruption scandals.

After this, other parties appeared, like VOX (far right, in 2013), Podemos (left, in 2014) and the Ciudadanos (liberals, in 2005 (great influence from 2014)). Podemos and Ciudadanos gained power:

Podemos   ->  20% of voters                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Ciudadanos-> 14% of voters

But what about VOX?

VOX promote hart nationalism and supports what Franco’s dictatorship did. They are against immigration and laws that project “women and minorities” (religious, LGBT+). Against populism. In social media VOX gained a lot of hate using trolls and memes.

How are they going to run the country?

They don’t know. When asked, they are unable to answer. And when they answer, they just confirm they don’t know how to do it.

Monica and Andres are Erasmus+ students from Spain who are studying at the University of Dortmund. They are taking part in a project called "Europa macht Schule" which gives them the opportunity to do projects in schools. They chose this topic because they find it really important to inform pupils about what is going on in Spain and showing how right-wing movements can use social media to influence people.