Before more than 5,000 people and in suffocating heat, the second vice president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, presented this Friday in Madrid the first act of ‘Sumar’, the listening process after which she will decide whether to run for the next elections generals. It has been a massive event in which Díaz has conspired against citizen “disaffection” towards politics and has renounced the parties to give prominence to citizens.
Yolanda Díaz presents the logo and a first video of ‘Sumar’, where she emphasizes that she will listen to decide if she is a candidate
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The also Minister of Labor has said she wants to “widen democracy” so that it also affects the economy at a “key moment” for the country. And she has made it clear that she will only take the step of being a candidate for the Presidency of the Government if the citizens ask her to do so at the end of the hearing.
“43 years ago we recovered democracy and it was very important. The current challenge is to broaden democracy, because we want a better democracy that reaches homes, schools, day centers, centers for the elderly and that is also an economic democracy at a key moment in our country. Democracy has to reach taxes”, she recounted, between shouts of“ president, president ”.
Díaz has defended “a diverse and happy country” and has described this Friday as a “very important day”. “We promote a citizen movement, from society, in which the leading role is yours, not ours. You are going to add. It’s not about parties, it’s not about acronyms, it’s about collective intelligence, about thinking of a better country. It is going to present a country project for the next decade”, he has told the thousands of people, supporters of different parties to the left of the PSOE, but also people not linked to any of them. “We have more than a year to think about the country we want,” he concluded.
Díaz: “This decade is at risk”
During the act, the different speakers explained that ‘Sumar’ is “a citizen movement that wants to open a conversation with civil society”. “Mobilizing ideas and mobilizing people”, has summed up the humorist Nerea Pérez de las Heras, who has served as master of ceremonies. It is about, she has said, to “renew ideas” that support democracy. Díaz is going to tour the country “to converse with all citizens” in two types of events: sectoral and general, “where citizens in all their diversity can participate in ‘Sumar’. Different teams of professionals and representatives of citizens will be created and it will be these groups that will draw up a proposal for a “social contract” for the next decade, which will be presented in 2023.
“This decade is at risk,” said Díaz, who has confessed that he is “aware that there is citizen disaffection” towards politics because that is how different surveys determine it. “I don’t care what the demographic studies say,” the vice president considered. “I know that politics has disconnected, it has been left behind, politics has left you behind. That is why the challenge is more important. Disaffection is our responsibility, and you are responsible people, when you pay taxes, you defend the planet, we fight against the climate emergency, when you say that public affairs matter to you, that you do not like corruption”, he acknowledged.
For this reason, he has considered that “there is no disaffection that is worth”. “Let’s walk together, let’s add up to decide that the future is decided by us,” she said, to applause. “I know that you are tired of noise, of confrontation by confrontation, of no for no, of voting against the labor reform that is helping so many people. I know you are tired”, she insisted. And, in this line, she has remarked that “politics is to listen, listen and listen”, but also “dialogue, dialogue, and dialogue” and “reach out”. “And after listening and discussing, reaching agreements to change people’s lives because that’s what politics is for,” she continued.
The bases of the project seek a “quality public health” or “have quality public schools, a decent salary, a decent job and decent housing.”
Cries of “president, president”
“We are not resigned, the right wing does not have to govern,” he added in the face of the polls that point to an unstoppable growth of PP and Vox. “We will not allow it. ‘Add’ is not about resignation, it’s about joy, it’s not about going back to the past. Adding is about hope. Let’s deal with hope. Without hope, a country has no future and we are not going to resign ourselves”, he concluded.
“’Sumar’ is not about parties, it’s about thought, about thinking seriously about our country. To take important things seriously, which are things to eat and things to dream about, because we are human beings”, he added. However, Díaz has recognized that the challenge that lies ahead “is more complex than a political party.” “I am going to tour all of Spain with enthusiasm, joy and I am not going to speak, I am going to listen to you, because you are the protagonists. The time has come for you to step forward for a new democratic social contract”, he has told the thousands of people who have supported him.
In any case, Díaz wanted to make it clear that in this “citizen movement” she is “one more piece.” “If you want I’ll join, but the leading role is citizen”, she has remarked. “If we don’t give up, the next decade is ours.”
The supports: from Monedero to James Rhodes or Elizabet Duval
At the launch of the listening process, Díaz has been supported by different personalities although there have been no party leaders, as she herself agreed with United We Can and More Country, the forces that believe in her as a candidate for the Presidency of the Government. In addition to deputies from United We Can such as Roberto Uriarte, Aina Vidal or Joan Mena, the event was attended by the spokesperson for Podemos, María Teresa Pérez, one of the founders of the Juan Carlos Monedero party or members of Más Madrid such as Jorge García Castaño.
Diaz was also accompanied by pianist and writer James Rhodes, writers Elvira Sastre, Belén Gopegui and Elizabeth Duval, as well as former IU leader Gaspar Llamazares, former Madrid City Councilor Guillermo Zapata, MEPs Ernest Urtasun, María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop , and the Secretary of State for Agenda 2030 and leader of the PCE, Enrique Santiago, among others. And, through different videos, the actor Antonio de la Torre, the singer Kiko Veneno or the Basque writer Bernardo Atxaga have expressed their support for the vice president.
Díaz wanted to focus the first act of ‘Sumar’ on listening to representatives of environmentalism, feminism, trade unionism and representatives of the immigrant group, women cleaners and the field of public education and health, with an eye on the mental health.
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