Documenting Podemos and the rise of DIY politics in Fernando León de Aranoa's Política, manual de instrucciones (2016)

Abstract

Centring on Fernando León de Aranoa’s Política, manual de instrucciones, this essay examines what Antonio Gramsci has called the ‘crisis of authority’ in the context of (post-) crisis Spain. I claim that León de Aranoa’s documentary feature not only registers the emergence of Podemos as a nascent political party, it also attempts to legitimize Podemos as the only viable parliamentary alternative to the hegemony of the Partido Popular (PP) and the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE).