Is Barcelona witnessing the democratic resurgence in a world that Trump considered his own and is slipping from his grasp before he can tie it down? Is social democracy being reborn? Is the authoritarian delusion that was spreading everywhere declining? Often, reality offers unexpected signs that end up revealing the precariousness of the direction things seemed to be taking. Democracy seemed to have entered a phase of decline, post-democratic authoritarianism threatened to shift the political axis towards radicalism and the far right. In this context, Netanyahu dragged Donald Trump into the Iran war, and the ineffable American president pushed his delusions to the limit of nihilism and ignorance. His insolence spread everywhere, exposing the frivolity of the character.
With the war delusion stalled, an unexpected sign of attention emerged. Orban, a faithful servant of Trumpist fervor and Russian power, resoundingly lost Hungarian elections that were supposed to validate the regime’s authoritarian drift and unseated its promoter. Such a crushing defeat that Orban did not even dare to attempt a coup d’état, leaving his patrons speechless. Hungary voted for Europe; authoritarian fabrications received a serious warning. The anti-Trump vehemence of the American Pope, Leo XIV, was surprising, as he warned, without nuances, that “the world was being destroyed by petty tyrants,” at a time when Trump took his delusion to the extreme of disseminating images of himself mutated into Christ (there are indications that in the United States, this display of indecency has damaged the President’s reputation more than the war). And polls are beginning to show signs of a retreat of the far-right in European countries after having stalked right-wing parties that repeatedly showed signs of submission to their demands.
And in this context, Lula de Silva and Sánchez, two presidents who, at the height of the war, had opted for ‘No to war,’ much to Trump’s irritation, have decided to take a step with a call that points to the possibility of capitalizing on the current confusion in favor of social democracy, which has been dormant for too many years. With the legitimacy of having distanced themselves from Trump and company from the very beginning, they call for an unreserved fight against the reactionary challenge and the betrayal of the right, and they advocate for a rebirth of the left that had lost its future perspective and, finally, seems to be awakening from its slumber in the face of the push of post-democratic authoritarianism and the disturbing growth of the far-right among sectors of the popular classes that should not be alien to them.
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And so, a first call has arrived, modest but timely, choosing Barcelona as the starting city. A capital without a state, with an added degree of freedom when it comes to spreading a message to the world: a gap has opened in the balance of power, and it must be seized to restore democratic values. Just a few weeks ago, when President Sánchez began to chart a path distant from the war process by proclaiming ‘No to war,’ some already wanted to write him off. And now, however, in view of what has happened in Hungary and the offside position into which the most submissive are falling, his gamble opens up a certain expectation for the future. And his international presence is growing, just as here the PP is unashamedly formalizing its marriage with Vox.
Time will tell who has best interpreted the signs of the present. Are we truly facing a certain paradigm shift? Has the reactionary delusion hit rock bottom? Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and South Africa are the countries accompanying Brazil and Spain in this Barcelona meeting, which will undoubtedly provoke Trumpist indignation. And it holds the value of a warning against the growing wave of anti-democratic impunity that is assailing the world.
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