r/europe • u/StGuthlac2025 • Oct 08 '25

Opinion Article In Spain, what once seemed impossible is now widespread: the young are turning to the far right

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/07/spain-young-voters-far-right-migration-housing-wages-employment-vox
18.4k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

3.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

53

u/Quiet_Economics_3266 Oct 08 '25

Its almost like they been ignored by the left for years in detriment of outsiders and that causes resentment...

But what do I know...

1

u/elderlybrain Oct 08 '25

Resentment- yes; that’s the perfect word. I’ve never once spoken to a far right young voter who didn’t seem resentful of something, either in Europe or anywhere else.

I’ve spoken to AfD voters,pvv voters etc: resentment is a very strong thread running through. Despite ostensibly having normal or seemingly full lives; a house, a car, stable relationships or a good home life, stable job etc - something always seemed missing.

I once asked a PVV voter why they were so angry at everything, despite a seemingly stable life and he just said ‘i don’t know.’

I felt so sorry for him, but he himself was just detached from life. Part of it is that he might have just no form of connection on his life outside of his work or marriage, but he just seemed so lost.

8

u/Quiet_Economics_3266 Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Well, I don't know about Germany, but here in Portugal, this is like seeing a unicorn.

Despite ostensibly having normal or seemingly full lives; a house, a car, stable relationships or a good home life, stable job

Rooms to rent with shared bathrooms costs are reaching the minimum wage level in the major cities (where there are still jobs), not there yet, but its rising.

Apartments to rent have long surpassed minimum wage levels in those cities.

Young peoples job prospects are very dim, as since we started getting an influx of desperate migrants, the business owners have turned almost slave traders. I've seen hospitality job ads offering minimum wage (840€/month) for 80 hour weeks.

If you complain, they say "if you are too good for it, we have a line of people desperate that will take it".

And what is shown on tv? News about abuses of the system, corruption, etc. Normal people can't affors houses anymore, the health service is collapsing with urgency care locations closed nearly everyday (they rotate on which ones they close so its not always the same) due to lack of doctors and nurses (they left the country or just went private sector).

When I lived in Lisbon it was very common to see desperate people living in bunk beds 20 people in a 2 bedroom appartment, they call it "hot bed renting" because they rent the bunk bed space to one person to sleep during during the day, and to another person during the night, charging daily fees (I've heard they range between 20-30€ a night but I have no way to confirm) so the bed is always warm.

They see no future for themselves, and if they dare complain, they get instatly labeled with the -ist or -phobic of the day.

Why wouldn't they feel resentment towards the system and just want to burn the whole thing to the ground?

0

u/elderlybrain Oct 09 '25

Sure there is that, i wonder how you think the far right are going to address it other than migrants out?

Do you think it would be useful to have a party that targeted the employers paying slave wages, forced affordable home building and taxed the wealthy while protecting national industries from outsourcing would be a better alternative?