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Angry crowds confront Spanish king in flood-hit Valencia (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

King Felipe VI of Spain faced a hostile crowd in Valencia, where unprecedented floods have devastated communities, leaving over 200 dead and many missing. Footage shows protesters shouting “murderer” and “shame” at the king, with some throwing objects and mud as he walked through the affected area of Paiporta.

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[-] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 57 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I think the king is being a lightning rod in this case, not sure what a ceremonial rich dude could have done.

That said, this should be a red alert warning to the entirety of Europe. It happened in Austria last month, in Greece last year and it's going to keep happening. We can't keep doing business as usual, the climate crisis is here.

[-] Buttflapper@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

not sure what a ceremonial rich dude could have done

People are afraid and confused, they have never seen anything like this. They need something to direct their anger towards, and out of confusion, they see this rich guy with no problems and never having struggled before in his life. Too easy of a target. There are probably a lot of questions that people don't have answers to. How could they have not seen this coming? Why was there no warning? Why aren't the rich people using their personal funds to help with the efforts of recovery? That's my take

[-] bstix@feddit.dk 2 points 1 month ago

not sure what a ceremonial rich dude could have done.

This is the kind of situation in which a king (or president) can make a difference.

Royalty don't have any direct power to order people to do things, but they do have a voice with quite a broad reach. Whenever the king speaks, people will hear it. Even if they don't care about the king.

In a time where people are getting their information from sources curated to fit their own political bubble or economical interests, it's quite powerful to be able to reach a whole country across political and economic interests.

Royalties can't dictate, but they can encourage and motivate people to work together on a common goal despite of their differences.

When something is seriously threatening the country, it would be nice if the king would bother making a motivational speech, so that people, companies and politicians could see the purpose of uniting against the common threat.

It might not sway the opinions of people or companies who have strong interests in not doing anything differently, but it will boost the morale of people trying to do their best, enabling them to rest assured that they're doing the right thing despite of what others might do. We could say it's a really vague forn of long term meta-politics, but sometimes that's also all that is needed to set a direction.

It's not political as such, but more like "yo let's save this sinking ship" instead of passivily watching it happen. It won't fix anything by itself, but it's a good start. Without a good start and set direction, you can be sure that nothing will ever change.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

Not to mention the mass stores of wealth I'm sure he has. That could probably go a long way towards improving things. I'm sure also, as a rich person, he produces far more CO2 than most, which certainly doesn't help the situation. He could work towards decreasing that and improving green initiatives.

[-] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world 49 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It’s long past time for monarchs to be a thing of the past

[-] borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 month ago

no masters

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 36 points 1 month ago

Footage shows an angry crowd shouting "murderer" and "shame" at the king, who was also asked why nothing had been done to avoid the tragedy.

Damn right. Fuck monarchies.

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 month ago

There’s still a king of Spain?

[-] Sakychu 23 points 1 month ago

There is also a King of Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and a King of the Netherlands. But most monarchies are constitutional so they hold no political power.

[-] Irremarkable@fedia.io 15 points 1 month ago

The monarchies can stay on one condition. They all wear silly hats like the Swedish king

[-] tissek@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 month ago

This is the silliness that is desired. Our heir apparent have yet to take up her father's penchant for silly hats. One day I hope.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I don't know, popes are kings and they can wear pretty silly hats.

Do we have to keep popes around?

[-] hungryphrog 3 points 1 month ago

Not silly enough. Either sew bunny ears on it or else the pope has to go too.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Fair.

[-] Irremarkable@fedia.io 3 points 1 month ago

I should have clarified. I mean silly (fun) not silly (ridiculous)

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

The British monarch does hold political power, but usually does not do anything with it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_the_United_Kingdom#Constitutional_role

[-] Sakychu 3 points 1 month ago

Hence "most".

[-] ZombieMantis@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Yes, the monarchy was reestablished after General Franco's (fascist) Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War against the Republicans and Socialists (and Communists and anarchists, all in their separate groups) back in the 1930's.

[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In other news, Spain still has a King and Queen.

The fuck???

[-] SiEstUbiEst@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Once I was the king of Spain, now I eat humble pie

[-] DaMamaJama@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Hey Clinton! Hey Yeltzin! Got problems? You phone me!

[-] ToucheGoodSir@lemy.lol 3 points 1 month ago

Spain still has kings?

this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2024

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