Mazón doesn't let us see the forest

I have the impression that, for some time now, both the PSPV and Compromís have failed to rise to the occasion. These people are probably doing everything in their power to oppose Carlos Mazón's government, but it's obvious that their efforts are insufficient to reach the citizens. It's not, therefore, a question of quantity but of quality. In other words, I would say that our opposition is trying to solve today's problem with yesterday's tools, and it has been mired in this error for more than six months without perceiving any sign that suggests a change. By centering its policy on Carlos Mazón's resignation, the opposition has turned the president of the Generalitat into the only real problem in the Valencian Community. Certainly, Mazón is a problem in himself, but when 26% of the Valencian population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, perhaps we should broaden our focus. That's what the figures suggest. If we are unable to do so, populism will take advantage of the situation, as, in fact, it has already begun to do.

The opposition that Compromís and PSPV are putting up against Carlos Mazón's government is what we might call a classic opposition: a policy for politicians that rarely takes citizens into account. A recent example of this old-fashioned policy is the advertisement that Vicent Marzà published on the Times Square marquee, coinciding with Mazón's visit to New York. Everything there is is a game played by politicians for politicians. Marzà may smile with satisfaction, but the gesture is a sign of the impotence in which Compromís seems to be entrenched: a path that leads to irrelevance, no matter how much its followers celebrate it. I am in favor of a policy made by professionals, but when those professionals place their profession above politics, they end up distancing themselves from reality and from their constituents.

I'm not saying that the work the opposition does in the Cortes is unimportant. I believe it is, but I also believe it's not enough because its impact doesn't reach the people of Valencia in a clear way. The framework in which politics develops today has been overtaken by the social moment we live in, dominated by technology. Citizens pay more attention to what happens on social media than to what happens in the Valencian Parliament, and this is where many of the ills that plague politics today stem from. In the Cortes, politicians speak for politicians; on social media, the conversation flows differently, more directly: political life no longer takes place exclusively in Parliament and demands new forms of communication. We may not like the change, but it cannot be remedied.

The opposition may argue that, with the current parliamentary arithmetic, there's little it can do to improve the situation of Valencians. I disagree. It can do something very important: reach out to the citizens. We just saw this in the meeting Pedro Sánchez held with the victims of the Dana. People need to be heard. What citizens demand are not grand words or fantastic promises, but small, everyday gestures that allow them to feel the closeness of their representatives. In this sense, practically everything remains to be done: we need a policy of reasonable emotions and politicians who are committed to it to defend the collective values ​​on which a society is built.