I showed this picture to many people, but I never told the story behind it and I think there is no better moment than this one.

In 2015 and after almost two years of militancy, my membership in Podemos was hanging on by a thread. I was tired of the Neo-Eurocommunist current on one side and the unsubstantial Laclauian left populism on the other, and I was thinking of leaving.

At that time I came to Ireland on holiday for over two weeks. Walking along the Liffey I saw on a light pole an event of the Irish Anti-War Movement in Unite the Union HQ. It was there that I met John Molyneux for the first time, he gave a brilliant speech about the refugee crisis. I remember I didn’t contribute to the debate because I wasn’t feeling comfortable about speaking in public at that time, but I was determined to have a conversation with that man.

I reach him at the end and had a brief conversation. I remember him telling me that if he were in Spain, he would be in Podemos because there was potential to build a new anti-neoliberal left. He also warned me about the possible dangers, pointing at what had happened with Syriza in Greece. He talked about how PBP was an early example of an anti-neoliberal party with a core group of revolutionaries in the leadership.

The truth is that after that brief conversation I came back home and put through my application to join Anticapitalistas, which back then was a revolutionary group within Podemos. Now, 7 years after that moment, I can say that I owe this time to that brief conversation with John.

I would like to send my condolences to his family and friend.

“Porque fueron, somos; porque somos, serán.”