Sentinel rose bushes are grown in many vineyards. The rose is first infected if a fungus such as powdery mildew enters the crop. The thistle flower, so delicate, is a visual warning. An attentive wine grower will save the crop thanks to the roses … withered
Sanchismo doesn’t seem to focus much on farming. The first economic tool that Sánchez used to gain a foothold in the party was called bancal de Rosas. It was a fundraiser and had a nice name. I’m so sorry that the sect is dead. Pancal de Rosas sounds like a verse by Miguel Hernandez, “The land you occupy and the manure,” with the great visual reference to socialism. Our minds paint all the roses on the porch in socialist red. Now, if we look closely, we discover that there are many withered. Like the one in the vineyard where powdery mildew or phytophthora has begun to enter. They are two devastating diseases that infect vines and grapes and destroy entire crops. Like corruption at the top of the parties, I think. But the Socialist Workers’ Party pretends not to see the withering flowers. What’s more, it hides them. It is as if they were cut down and did not grow on their lands. As if ignoring them or moving them would cure the disease of the rest of the terrain. As if they did not continue to warn about the plague.
The rose bed looks like a gardening company. It seems like a good name to market services like pest control in gardens and parks, for example. Restoring damaged lands.
Instead of dissolving it, they should have left it idle or dormant – as managers say – in case someone needed it again. It has always surprised me that there are consultations with empty stores in the fridge in case someone needs it urgently. It is happening. Look at Aldama and his comrades. His company Management and Support Solutions for Business (as meaningful names go: SGAE says its initials) was dormant until 2019, with almost no income. But in 2020, the pandemic arrived and the small company flourished: its turnover reached more than 53 million euros, almost all of it from public contracts.
I think Sanchez will not revive the Rose Balcony. But someone will have to bring life back to socialist lands. Eliminate pests, remove weeds from the land, and replant and green what is destroyed.
I read Lucia Sola Sobral’s wonderful debut, You Will Eat Flowers (Asteroid Books), in one sitting. It reflects the toxic environment of emotional abuse of a handsome, half-realized man. Discomfort that cannot be seen but is noticeable. The doubt of knowing you chose him because, at first, he seemed like something else. With the image “You will eat the flowers” the Socialist Workers Party comes to mind. Because I can imagine how many socialists, supporters and Sánchez voters are eating roses right now. Withered and with thorns inserted.