Sánchez wants to turn Barcelona into the cradle of resistance against the far-right wave

MadridBarcelona as the birthplace of resistance against the global far-right wave. With this objective, the PSOE, in coordination with the Socialist International, chaired by Pedro Sánchez himself since 2022, is organizing a transnational conclave of progressive parties and organizations in the Catalan capital on April 17 and 18 to demonstrate that they are confronting the rise of the extreme right. This is the Global Progressive Mobilisation, which, according to the socialist sources consulted, has a will to continue and is not just a one-off political event. In fact, the far-right has also held various global meetings, including one in Madrid where the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, sponsored European leaders who follow in Donald Trump's footsteps.

The event, which will be held at Fira Barcelona, comes at a time of maximum visibility for the Spanish president on the international stage, precisely due to his confrontation with the US president: not only with the war in Iran but also with defense spending or policies such as the regularization of half a million migrants.

The choice of Barcelona to host this event is also not accidental. Beyond the desire for decentralization that, as the PSOE assures, the party has, it is clear to everyone that Catalonia is an oasis for socialists compared to the rest of Spain, with the PP and Vox governing in most of the autonomous communities (and with a demographic boom). Unlike Madrid, governed by the hardest PP both at the municipal level and in the regional government, coming to the Catalan capital has become a balm for the PSOE, especially since the appeasement of the independence movement, which has lost strength on the streets. Catalonia is the most relevant community in terms of demographic and economic weight governed by socialists in all of Spain. For this reason, government sources expect the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, to play a role in the progressive summit as host, along with the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni. Taking into account, moreover, that the situation in large cities, especially regarding the issue of housing and affordability – a concept that took hold with the Democratic candidate in New York, Zohran Mamdani – will be one of the axes that will shape the meeting.

"Barcelona was the ideal place," reinforce PSOE sources. "As reactionary forces organize on a global scale, it becomes more necessary for progressives from different latitudes to organize and coordinate their response. The growing far-right wave must be met with an equally transnational, inclusive response united by shared values," they summarize from the party to explain the motivations of the progressive platform.

Cultural battle

For months, the PSOE has been working on this event with the aim of Sánchez being the host of internationally renowned progressive leaders. However, as it arrives, consulted leaders believe that, paradoxically, it is Sánchez right now who is the most visible face and that the platform will serve to further enhance this message. "It wasn't planned for this, but it will end up being this," interprets a consulted socialist leader. Who is confirmed to be in Barcelona for now? The president of Brazil, Lula da Silva; the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro –both have shown an openly anti-Trump stance in Latin America–; the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa; the president of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, and the president of the European Council, António Costa. Also intellectuals from the left to give a patina of in-depth political thought to the event, in addition to several ministers of the Spanish government such as the vice president, Carlos Cuerpo, or the former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, as well as several European social democratic leaders.

Since his no to the war in Iran, Sánchez has multiplied his presence in international media. After appearing in the New York Times regarding the regularization of migrants –he himself wrote an article defending its merits–, he has become the subject of a report. One of the first to launch the headline internationally was the British newspaper Financial Times with the headline "How Pedro Sánchez became the antithesis of Trump" and last week the US economy newspaper Wall Street Journalpublished a special on bilateral relations between Spain and the United Kingdom titled "The Spanish Revolt: The Leader Who Says No to Donald Trump." The Spanish president has capped this with his own article in Le Monde Diplomatique, a publication that is a benchmark for the European left, in defense of multilateralism. With this strategy, Moncloa wants to go beyond progressivism and also appeal to voters with liberal values who feel attacked by what it considers to be the 21st-century neofascism embodied by Trump.

Apart from the PSOE and the Socialist International, also part of the organization of the progressive summit in Barcelona are the Party of European Socialists (PES), chaired by Stefan Löfven, former Swedish prime minister, and other organizations and platforms such as the Progressive Alliance, which has set aside the differences it had with the Socialist International (it split in 2013) to organize the conclave. The idea of the promoters is to dedicate Friday the 17th to debate of thought, while Sunday the 18th would be the most political event with international figures and Sánchez himself. In parallel, apart from the summit, the Spanish president would hold a bilateral summit with Lula da Silva within the framework of the bilateral agreements of each country.

The program is still under construction, but some of the debates that are already planned have to do with "progressive feminism as a global defense of democracy"; "recovering the power of the narrative" against the far right; wage inequality, or diversity in Europe. In short, Sánchez champions global progressivism with the hope that this will also give him an internal return: that his voters will be activated for the Andalusian elections –there will be just one month left until the May 17th date– and that the framework will take hold that in the next Spanish elections it will be either him or what Trumpism represents. It is the last card that the Moncloa has left to try to reverse the demoscopy and the judicial problems surrounding the government until D-day arrives in 2027.