A far-right feeding frenzy in the swamp left behind by Spain’s flash floods

The tragedy in Valencia has unleashed a far-right feeding frenzy, with multiple organizations seeking to attract new followers in the wake of a natural disaster that has led to anger among citizens who feel abandoned by the authorities. The wave of citizen activism triggered by the flash floods is creating spaces for collaboration, and blurring the boundaries between groups in the orbit of Spain’s ultranationalist party Vox and others that are even more extremist.

One organization that stands out particularly is Revuelta, a youth group with ties to Vox. This entity, which claims to be sending help to the affected areas from Arganda del Rey (Madrid), boasts of having mobilized “thousands of youths,” and takes an ironic view of the accusations that they are “dangerous neo-Nazis.” Using the kind of rhetoric that exalts popular patriotic heroism, Revuelta says in its social media posts that the collection points for donations are there to “help affected Spaniards,” a message that suggests discrimination based on origin, in line with what the French far right calls the “national priority.”

Revuelta is now in the spotlight following the recent unrest in Paiporta, a town hard hit by the flooding where a delegation of state and government officials paid a visit on Sunday, only to end up covered in mud and insults. A young man who, in statements to eldiario.es, described himself as a “volunteer” with ties to Revuelta, wrote in a chat to which that newspaper had access: “Those from my association are here, we have destroyed their car, but we have only been able to hit him [the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Party PSOE] with a stick on the back [...]” The young man was not in Paiporta that day, but he has asserted that he is well informed about what happened there.

It is a critical moment, because when there is a perception of social collapse, the chances of the far right pushing the boundaries of what is considered conceivable increase

Felipe González Santos, Babeș-Bolyai University

Another young man, this time a 21-year-old from Madrid who collaborates with Revuelta and said his name is Pablo — no surname provided — is the one who was seen speaking heatedly with King Felipe VI and wearing a shirt from the Blue Division, a volunteer unit sent by Franco to Germany to fight alongside the Nazis. In a telephone conversation, Pablo said that he is a collaborator but not a full-fledged member of Revuelta. He also claimed there were members of Revuelta in Paiporta on Sunday because the group “has people there distributing food.” Pablo denied participating in any acts to disturb the peace, and said that he went to Paiporta out of “moral duty” and to “remove mud.” Regarding his choice of clothing, he denied any neo-Nazi ties: “The Blue Division was a group of volunteers who fought against communism.”

In response to questions from EL PAÍS about the possible participation of its members in the disturbances, Revuelta responded in writing in these terms: “The Revuelta organization is dedicated to the distribution of humanitarian aid. And we understand the indignation of the Spanish people at the lack of response from the state. Trying to criminalize the citizens of Paiporta or Valencia, and the thousands of young volunteers who are helping to bring tons of material to the affected areas, is an infamous act that will have legal consequences.” Neither Vox nor Asoma, a group in charge of running Revuelta’s website, responded to questions from this newspaper. Solidaridad, Vox’s union, on Sunday offered legal assistance to the individuals who kicked Pedro Sánchez’s car in Paiporta.

As is usual with youth organizations, the radicalism of Revuelta’s positions exceeds that of its elders. These days the group does not conceal its affinity with extreme figures from which Vox leader Santiago Abascal and his people usually keep their distance. An example: Revuelta has praised Alberto Pugilato on the social platform X for having sent help to Valencia. The singer of a rock band, Pugilato was in the news in June for assaulting a comedian named Jaime Caravaca. Convicted by the Supreme Court of a hate crime for the racist lyrics of his songs, Pugilato has failed to delete a message he posted about Adolf Hitler: “The unemployment rate in Germany in 1932 was 43.8%, descending to 12% in 1936. Indeed, Hitler eliminated 6 million... from the unemployed rolls.”

Revuelta and Núcleo Nacional, an extremist group founded this year, are also collaborating on the distribution of food deliveries and aid on the ground. Even within the hornet’s nest of the far-right world, Núcleo Nacional stands out for its extremist views. The ideology of a group whose members usually dress in black establishes their desire to “protect our Race.” Núcleo Nacional uses the word “race,” with a capital R, a term that is usually avoided even within the most radical circles: “Just as we understand the biological reality that differentiates women from men, we also identify the biological reality of the racial characteristics of each people.”

Jesús Ruiz, leader of Núcleo Nacional, says by phone that his organization is in sync with Revuelta and other groups, and mentions a political party called España 2000, with which it shares an “operations center” in Valencia. A 59-year-old salesman who lives in the northern city of Gijón, Ruiz defines Núcleo Nacional as a “cultural and sports association” of “radical nationalists” that is now focused on helping Valencia. Its priority, he says, is helping the Spanish people. “We want to help our own people, the Spanish people,” says Ruiz, who maintains that Núcleo Nacional is against “illegal immigration” as well as “legal immigration.”

Another organization that is cooperating with Núcleo Nacional in the collection and delivery of food supplies from Madrid is Alternativa Estudiantil (Student Alternative). While Núcleo Nacional shared a video on Sunday of the attack on Sánchez’s car and the message “popular justice,” Alternativa Estudiantil did the same with a video in which the delegation headed by Felipe VI was besieged along with these words: “We fascists did it.” The head of the Vox delegation in the European Parliament, Jorge Buxadé, mentioned Alternativa Estudiantil in a message on X, describing this association as one of several groups of “young people” who are “doing it like never before.”

Falangists and populists

Two far-right parties in full action mode right now are Falange Española de las Jons and Democracia Nacional, which publicize their aid work with the slogan “Only the people save the people.” If Falange proclaims itself the heir of a historical tradition of Spanish nationalism, Democracia Nacional is a more recent classic on the extreme right-wing scene. Founded in 1995, it was from the beginning a refuge for militants of neo-Nazi or pro-fascist organizations, such as Cedade and the Juntas Españolas. The party publicly defends Josué Estebánez, the neo-Nazi soldier who stabbed to death a 16-year-old named Carlos Palomino in the Madrid metro in 2007. The party president is Pedro Chaparro, who spent time in prison for the assault on the Blanquerna bookshop in Madrid in 2013.

The pattern — with some nuances depending on the organization — is repeated: the proud nation has risen up to help its fellow Spaniards in the face of inaction by the leftist national government of PSOE and Sumar, which is being criticized in much stronger terms than the regional government of Valencia, currently in the hands of the conservative Popular Party (PP). Agitators with tens of thousands of followers on social media keep feeding this story.

It is the same pattern that the populist politician Alvise Pérez follows when he shares videos on Telegram of himself and his followers — his “squirrels,” as he calls them — doing aid work. After Spain’s central high court, the Audiencia Nacional, opened an investigation into Pérez over alleged illegal financing, the leader of Se Acabó la Fiesta (The Party’s Over) said that he will donate the next three months of his salary as a member of the European Parliament to the victims of the flash floods.

Felipe González Santos, a researcher at Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania, where he studies the far right movement on a global level, notes how the far right is publicizing its aid work in order to stir up a “cultural battle” based on a simple dichotomy: “we” versus a “them” that includes “immigrants, the lazy and disorganized left, and the treacherous government.” “It is a critical moment, because when there is a perception of social collapse, the chances of the far right pushing the boundaries of what is considered conceivable increase. For example, something that would be unusual in normal circumstances, such as talking about citizen patrols or popular justice, can seem acceptable if the majority perception is one of chaos,” says the author of the article Strategies of the far right to co-opt progressive policies. The civil society organizations of Vox in Spain. González Santos points out how the behavior of the extreme right these days “anticipates how it will act” in the face of increasingly frequent extreme natural phenomena.

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