The scandal of the non-consensual kiss that Luis Rubiales gave the world champion soccer player Jenni Beautiful the first internal competition between Sumar and Podemos has emerged and has exposed the ability to Yolanda Diaz to take the initiative away from Irene Montero with the aim of setting the political agenda on a matter of feminism and gaining prominence on a very topical issue.
That race looked very good yesterday. The Podemos staff, led by Montero, confirmed just 40 minutes before the start of his presence at the concentration of support for the soccer player, which was held in the Plaza de Callao de Madrid. Had he not gone, all that space would have been left to Díaz, who had announced three hours before that he would be there. The call was promoted by the 8M Commission, the feminist group closest to Montero and the one that most supported her at critical moments. Díaz, with his mere presence, would have filled that void and would have reinforced the idea that within the space of the alternative left there has been a change of cycle in which Sumar is now the leader.
Both Díaz and Montero entered the fund of the Rubiales case from the outset, denouncing that it was an act of sexual assault and demanding forceful measures against the then president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). But from that coincidence they have followed differentiated political strategies and, what is more important, in which there has not been any type of coordination.
The Minister for Equality has opted to lavish herself on radio and television interviews to push feminist pressure on Rubiales. Instead, Sumar has accompanied her public pronouncements against the top soccer leader with a display of concrete initiatives to demand responsibilities. How to file two complaints or open a round of contacts, among others.
All of this was also revealed very well yesterday. On the one hand, Montero did two radio interviews. For his part, Díaz had a speech on television and then undertook a round of meetings with different sectors of women’s football to delve into the crisis. Thus, he met with the president of the Association of Professional Soccer Players FUTPRO -to which Hermoso belongs-, with the Association of Spanish Soccer Players (AFE) and with a delegation from the Women’s Soccer League.