‘Fascist influencer’ and Left-wing rapper spark explosive free speech debate in Spain
ONE is an admirer of Hitler who likes to wear a Franco-era blue shirt; the other is a Left-wing rapper whose lyrics attack Spain’s royal family and pay homage to convicted terrorists.
Together they have triggered a fiery debate over the limits of free speech in Spain this week that has led to riots across the country.
Pablo Hasel, a Catalan musician, was arrested by police on Tuesday to serve a prison sentence for his offensive lyrics. His Left-wing supporters poured onto the streets, clashing with riot police, to protest against the ruling.
But many also accused authorities of double standards over the case of Isabel Medina, an 18-year-old “fascist influencer” allowed to march in Madrid just days before to deliver a highly antiSemitic speech.
One observer said: “They stick Pablo Hasel in prison for inciting hatred in tweets and songs but leave Isabel Medina free after she incites hatred towards Jews.”
Last Sunday, as Mr Hasel was barricading himself inside a university building in his home city of Lleida to avoid arrest, Ms Medina was taking part in an authorised march to honour the dead of the Blue Division, soldiers sent by General Franco to fight for Hitler in Russia.
“The enemy is always going to be the same one, albeit with different masks – the Jew,” Ms Medina, wearing a blue shirt bearing the Falangist party’s yoke
and-arrows symbol, told neo-fascists before a monument to Blue Division casualties in a Madrid cemetery.
Spanish media quickly outed her as the daughter of a politician who had once dallied with a fascist party before joining the conservative Popular Party.
Ms Medina claimed to have been an activist for five years since “falling in love” with fascism and Hitler, and to have left her days as an online fashion influencer behind her. Mr Hasel was first arrested for his combative lyrics in 2011, and has since been convicted twice for glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy in his music and social media comments, as well as other crimes including assault and threats.
The 32-year-old’s stand ended when a large police contingent broke the padlocks of his barricade and arrested him, prompting a series of violent protests in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities, with dozens injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators.
His supporters said the phrases that have led to his jail term, in which he blames police for torturing terrorists to death in prisons and depicts former Spanish king Juan Carlos as a drug-consuming whoremonger who sells weapons to the Saudis, are merely opinions.
Others point to alleged double standards among Spanish authorities, saying that while over 100 people have been convicted of glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy since 1980, charges were recently dropped against police caught in a WhatsApp chat group wishing death on Left-wing politicians.
Spain’s public prosecution service has announced that it is investigating possible anti-Semitic hate crimes at the Blue Division rally.
‘They stick Pablo Hasel in prison for inciting hatred in tweets and songs but leave Isabel Medina free after she incites hatred towards Jews’