In June last year, as Spain’s ageing monarch Juan Carlos announced he was handing over his throne to his son Felipe, tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets across Spain, draped in the red, yellow and purple colours of Spain’s 1930s republic.
This was Spain’s own – albeit milder – take on Game of Thrones, and the people wanted a say. Hundreds of thousands signed petitions demanding that the handover of power be put to a referendum. Among those leading the call was Pablo Iglesias of Podemos. “What is the problem with having a referendum and what is the problem if the Spanish people have the right to decide on what our future should be?”
On Wednesday, nearly one year after republicans and others poured into the streets, the 36-year-old ponytailed politician and the new king met for the first time. And lest King Felipe VI brush off the turbulent times of last spring, Iglesias defied protocol to hand him a personal gift: a box set of the Game of Thrones television series.
“I told him it was a series he would definitely like and that it offers key points to understanding the political crisis in Spain,” Iglesias told reporters covering the king’s first visit to the European parliament in Brussels. The king, who smiled as he received the gift, told the anti-austerity leader that he hadn’t watched any of the series.
Iglesias is a devout fan of the blood-soaked series and recently even switched up his “tick tock” slogan, referring to the numbered days for the governing People’s party, to: “Winter is Coming for the PP.” Last year he edited a book entitled Win or Die – political lessons from Game of Thrones. The cover featured a drawing of Iglesias sitting on the iron throne.
Days before season five was set to air, Iglesias explained his passion for the series to radio station Carne Cruda. “It’s an amazing series and allows you to understand the theories of Max Weber, Machiavelli and Gramsci ... and to understand the relationship between power and legitimacy,” said the former political science professor. “I’m biting my nails in anticipation.”
The show has particular relevance for Spaniards, he said, drawing parallels between the battle for the throne that underpins the series and the current situation in Spain. “In Game of Thrones there is a crisis of regime similar to what there exists today in Spain.”
He linked Podemos and the character of Khaleesi, in that both offer “hope that things can change.” He dismissed suggestions that her royal bloodline would make her part of the “casta”, the term he uses deridingly to refer to the establishment. “The character goes much further than her last name,” he argued, in that her storyline demonstrates the power of a political project to challenge the established order.
But it’s not enough to just have a moral argument, you also have to have instruments of power, in this case it’s the dragons that build a political project that challenges the order. It’s inspiring.”
