The world of progressive forces plans to hold an international conference with broad scope this Friday and Saturday in Barcelona, aiming to give new momentum to its project in an era marked by the rise of nationalist and far-right forces. The event —called Global Progressive Mobilization— will bring together representatives from political parties, trade unions, academia, and civil society organizations from dozens of countries to promote the adaptation of the social-democratic ideology to a new political phase, the synergies between sometimes fragmented currents, and the recovery of political enthusiasm after a complex phase. The conference will run parallel to the fourth edition of the summit for the defense of democracy —which is expected to include participation from about twenty governments— and the first bilateral governmental summit between Spain and Brazil, whose leaders, Pedro Sánchez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, are the main promoters of the initiative and are scheduled to speak at it.
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The progressive family has gone through a phase of considerable political difficulty in recent years, marked, among other things, by the loss of support among the working classes of the most prosperous democracies in the northern hemisphere —who have sought protection in the national-populist proposal amid economic, social, or identity grievances— and among the working classes of Latin American democracies —who have done the same in response to grievances often linked to the rise of insecurity or other failures in managing the public dimension—.
The corresponding rise of nationalist forces, which in many cases have adapted better to the spirit of the times, has caused major upheavals in the global landscape. In its most acute form, embodied in the democratic world by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, it causes a rupture of the international order and violence that inflicts terrible suffering on civilians and serious consequences for the global economy. In other less virulent forms, it entails the assertion of a backward agenda on civil rights and the fight against climate change or blows to supranational projects such as the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU. The Global Progressive Mobilization seeks to facilitate a refinement of the political strategy to counter these movements.
In this regard, the program of the Barcelona call shows the will to promote a huge reflection on a very wide range of issues, from the defense of democracy and a rules-based world order to the regulation of new technological powers, social cohesion, equality, and environmental protection. It will attempt this with an intense schedule of panels mixing viewpoints from different geographical and professional fields, with the hope of capitalizing on the political opportunity offered by the wear of Trumpism in a series of political initiatives abhorred by broad layers of societies in much of the world, even beyond the reference segment for progressives.
Besides Sánchez and Lula, the event —promoted by the political platforms of the Socialist International (SI), the Party of European Socialists (PES), and the Progressive Alliance (PA)— is expected to feature prominent political figures such as David Lammy (British Deputy Prime Minister), Rahul Gandhi (leader of the opposition in India), and Elly Schlein (leader of the Democratic Party in Italy), among many others.
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The role of Barcelona
The event positions Barcelona as the seat of international progressivism after the long decade of the procés in which major events disappeared from the city. After that hiatus, the Government of Salvador Illa has emphasized the foreign agenda both in trips abroad —the president has visited, for example, China, Korea, Japan, and Mexico during this term— as well as projecting Barcelona as the main Spanish city with a progressive outlook. Illa will act as host and receive attendees at the two institutional summits and will speak on Saturday at the international conference. The president plans to hold a dozen meetings with conference and summit attendees and to interview, among others, Lula, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro.
Aligned with Pedro Sánchez, the choice of Barcelona is also not accidental because ideologically it is now more favorable for socialists than Madrid and an event without protests or mobilizations is initially guaranteed. Illa has had to deal with domestic problems such as the lack of Budgets —still unresolved— and the international agenda suits him perfectly. “We do not like what we are seeing in the world with an unrestrained use of force and unprecedented humiliations with suffering in many parts of the world and hate speeches,” he said this Wednesday in the Parliament, emphasizing the relevance of the event.
Barcelona already hosted this autumn the 10th Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean, which recalled the Barcelona process held 30 years ago to promote peace in the Middle East, now completely volatilized with the massacre in Palestine at the hands of Israel and the war conflict in Iran involving this country and Donald Trump. The socialist communion is reflected not only in the tandem between Sánchez and Illa but also between the latter and the mayor. Jaume Collboni, who will participate in the meeting, is also leading in Europe the association of European mayors in favor of public housing. After the meeting of the progressive families, Barcelona will host in June and July the visit of Pope Leo XIV, who will come to bless the new tower of the Sagrada Familia, and the start of the Tour de France.
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