DANA in
Valencia:
The Two Visits
of King
Felipé VI

1. Climate Defence: Leadership, Politics and Fictional Time

The rain occurred in towns upland as the result of a Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos (DANA) — caused when colder air at higher altitudes drops over warmer Mediterranean waters, causing moist air from the sea surface to rise quickly, with dense cumulonimbus clouds formed in the process.

In Paiporta, not a drop of rain fell — yet the rainwater from upland surged downstream through riverbanks that could not contain it, cascading into spaces of human habitation. Despite alerts being received by Government response systems, they were tragically late. Some residents received messages on their phones when already in life-threatening situations.

This paper focuses on King Felipé VI for the sole purpose that he is a Sovereign — both Head of State and Commander in Chief — the highest authority in Spain and a highly prominent figure in the media. The first visit is to Paiporta on November 3rd, five days after the catastrophe. The second visit is to one of three areas in Valencia province on November 12th, fourteen days after the initial devastation.

1.1 Hereditary Symbolism and the Social Contract

Royalty is known for having a lineage traceable back centuries. Such a perspective of linearity provides a fictionally comforting narrative — humanity has a continuous place of prosperity and will continue to do so (Lynch, 2016). The monarch is afforded luxurious living and impeccable education to rule in the best conceivable way. In this way an expectation, or social contract, is formed (MacIntyre, 1984).

The Head of State symbolises good relations and integrity for future prosperity. The Commander in Chief symbolises strength and defence against bad will. Both titles carry the weight of a promise — and a fiction.

1.2 The Two Politics

Traditional Politics — the politics of governance, public debate, official announcements, and diplomatic visits. In this politics, the message by the monarch is of happenings being orderly, controlled and organised. The police uphold the status quo.

Rancière Politics — in contrast, disruption of the status quo is the politics itself. People assert their power as equals with behaviour lacking traditional order, uncontrollable by authority, unified by a setting that has required a uniquely common response. This politics creates an aesthetic disorder that challenges what humanity defines as 'order' — revealing it as a fictional construct. In this politics, it is unpoliceable.

2. Objective Analysis

Though theoretical, Jacques Rancière's ten theses on politics discuss elements of humanity that Nature has the power to catalyse. Despite the severity of warnings over years, many leaders continue to provide a traditional politics attitude to climate issues. In El Mundo's two films, the catalyst of nature combined with unsatisfactory response from officials is key to understanding the unrest.

2.1 Disorderly Consensus: Rancière Politics

Inaudible, unordered, pixelated and unframeable. From the beginning we are aware that this is not a performance for the camera. Shakily shot on a mobile phone, it is an intensely aesthetic situation without the polishing of traditional monarchical representation. A caption is needed at the beginning to provide insight: "The visit of the Kings, Mazon and Sanchez to Valencia was interrupted after a shower of objects and mud on the procession."

This solidifies Rancière's first two theses — we are immediately aware that traditional governance does not exist here. This is governance by the people, unleashing their disagreement with hellish fury.

In the first ten seconds, those charged with guarding the monarch — the Police — look visibly nervous, unknowing how to enact the usual authoritative order. In an absolute role reversal, the Police are attempting to keep the monarch as an equal to the community. The environment is now a stage for the frustration of excluded voices. The monarch is now illegal with no right to rule or be heard.

With social media and camera phones this footage became worldwide news instantly. What has been captured is a moment that is unthinkable and rare in society — typified by sporadic insults near camera that unify to a universal chant: 'Asesino' — Murderer.

Also interesting is El Mundo's only edit of the footage, at 1m 34s — switching from the monarch being berated in mid-shot by an adult, to a close-up of the monarch with members of the community's younger generation. They look pleading rather than angry. Whilst we have no access to the unedited footage, this edit is an interesting change of frame — from absolute dissensus to discourse for resolution.

2.2 Violence Restored: Traditional Politics

If Rancière politics frames absolute anarchy, this is the opposite. The similarities start and end with the video being shot on a mobile phone. What is now filmed has clearly been planned — governance exists once more. There is no pixelation and a temperament of calm consensus is restored.

The monarch, previously drowned out from speaking, is now the only voice heard. All dissensus is pointed toward faith in the camouflage-clad army in the backdrop. The media coverage makes it easy to assume that equality is being restored — in fact, what is being restored is inequality through assurances that the anaesthetising order has returned. There are no questions from community members who staged their unrest previously.

The police order here could be considered slightly unnerving. It is so aesthetic that it almost anaesthetizes via its over-stimulation — as if we are seeing one uniformed being rather than individuals, unknowing whether the group offers a symbol of safety or total command.

Despite a similar number of views on the El Mundo YouTube page, this footage is not shared as widely by global news outlets. To Jacques Rancière, this would no longer be politics — even though it seems as such. Rather, El Mundo is supporting the monarch's imagery resurrection, reinstating him visually as Commander in Chief.

3. Biopolitics and Systemic Exclusion

Paiporta is considered a small town with an elderly population where this level of incident rarely occurs. The regional Valencian government, when informed of the floods, set a 'level 2' alert despite the potential severity. A 'level 3' alert would have meant Central Government control and a reorganisation of resources — which might have worked better for the people of Paiporta, but may also have been considered weak for leadership.

It is the decisions behind such traditional politics that Nature exposed in this case. However, it is important to remember that instability is a regular occurrence for many people where the mere concept of a home does not exist (Mbembe, 2024). Nature has a way of readdressing the aesthetic and exposing bureaucratic responses against a capitalist continuation that scientists warn is a threat to our very existence.

4. Conclusions

In Rancière Politics we witnessed the realities of Nature's aftermath — a community enraged at being left to fend for themselves. This exposed the traditional politic for its forecasting fictionalities and response inadequacies, providing a new and deeply aesthetic politics that counteracted fictional narratives of justice. That Nature can cause this redefinition of temporality highlights an anaesthetisation covering a temporal imbalance.

In Traditional Politics the monarch's discourse is focused on the reassertion of institutional faith and traditional order. We are assured that 'the police' have the aftermath under control.

To conclude, El Mundo's footage shows us two uniquely distinct relationships with time and order. One within which there is a complete redistribution of life as we know it with no visible grand narrative of justice by an official order. The other, an attempt to reinstate the institutional symbolism for a better tomorrow.