“Only the People Save the People?”: Affective Infrastructures and the Polarization of Climate Disaster in Spain

Abstract

Extreme weather events are increasingly becoming polarized political battlefields on digital platforms. This article examines the 2024 Valencia flood crisis (Spain) to analyze how “affective infrastructures” shape public interpretation of climate disasters. Employing a mixed-method approach—integrating national survey data with computational analysis of social media (PLN and Social Network Analysis)—we identify a structural “affective gap.” This gap represents a divergence between citizens’ privately declared helplessness and the performative rage dominating the digital sphere. We trace how the viral slogan “Only the people save the people” acted as a “sticky” sign, mobilizing solidarity while delegitimizing state institutions. The findings demonstrate that digital affective economies do not merely reflect public malaise but actively restructure it. This case offers a critical blueprint for understanding how algorithmic polarization and affective politics converge to challenge institutional trust and social cohesion during climate emergencies.