More than 6,000 progressive political leaders from over 40 nations convened in Barcelona this weekend to develop strategies for countering the global rise of far-right movements and winning back voters who have shifted toward conservative positions.
The international summit, organized by Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, addressed topics ranging from United Nations Security Council reforms to implementing wealth taxes on billionaires. The gathering comes at a time when nationalist and far-right political forces have expanded their influence worldwide, successfully connecting economic hardships to immigration and institutional failures.
Sanchez, who has gained international recognition for his criticism of U.S. foreign policy under President Trump, led the conference amid growing optimism that far-right momentum may be slowing. Recent developments include declining poll numbers for Trump, the removal of Hungary’s Victor Orban after 16 years in power, and weaker-than-expected performance by France’s far-right in recent municipal elections.
High-profile attendees included South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who addressed supporters waving red banners and wearing ‘Make Science Great Again’ hats while calling for international institutional reforms and new progressive partnerships.
“To be progressive is to defend a reformed multilateralism, where the rules work for everyone,” Lula da Silva told the enthusiastic crowd during the summit’s final session, as participants periodically sang Spanish anti-fascist songs.
Political strategist Marcus Roberts from Mandate Research emphasized that progressive parties must focus on everyday economic concerns to regain support. He pointed to a recent 30-nation Ipsos poll showing voters prioritize unemployment, inflation, poverty and inequality over concerns about extremism or moral issues.
Rising fuel costs linked to Middle Eastern conflicts have damaged Trump’s approval ratings, creating what Democratic strategists view as an opportunity to make compelling economic arguments before November’s midterm elections.
French economist Gabriel Zucman spoke at the event advocating for increased taxes on wealthy individuals, a proposal that polls show has broad support across Europe and America but was rejected by French legislators in his home country.
“It’s hard for people who can’t afford eggs to be concerned about democracy,” said Neera Tanden, former advisor to Presidents Biden, Clinton and Obama, and current director of the Center for American Progress think tank.
Isabel Allende, Chile’s former Senate president and daughter of Salvador Allende, Latin America’s first Marxist leader who was removed in a 1973 U.S.-supported military coup, cautioned that progressive movements have lost touch with ordinary citizens’ daily struggles.
“It’s unimaginable to fight against the right if we can’t get closer to ordinary people,” she stated.
Participants who had recently attended International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings noted that Barcelona discussions reflected similar concerns about restructuring power dynamics within global institutions, though concrete next steps remained undefined.
Economics professor Mariana Mazzucato, who advises governments on using public investment for economic growth, observed that while institutions remain intact, their internal logic is evolving.
“Trump is accelerating the crisis of the old order… but if progressives do not offer a credible alternative framework, someone else will fill that vacuum,” she warned.
Research from Freedom House’s “Freedom in the World” index documents increasing numbers of authoritarian governments over the past twenty years, coinciding with rising conflicts, military coups, and freedom restrictions as wealthy democracies reduce foreign aid programs while their citizens face domestic economic pressures.
Although organizers insisted the event wasn’t specifically anti-Trump, they acknowledged that progressive movements cannot simply wait for new U.S. leadership, with many supporting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s proposal for “middle powers” to unite.
“Trump has become a symbol for the extreme right. But this is about social democrats coming together. The fact that U.S. Democrats are so well represented is a first and shows that this movement is growing,” German Social Democrat leader and vice-chancellor Lars Klingbeil told reporters.
American progressive voices featured prominently in the two-day event’s closing ceremony, with former vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz encouraging attendees not to abandon Democratic efforts, while figures from Bernie Sanders to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Hillary Clinton sent supportive video messages.
“The reality is that the tools that the right wing are using to try to destroy our democracy are similar from country to country,” U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a Foreign Relations Committee member, said in a Reuters interview.
“We need to share experiences to understand how we can fight back,” Murphy added.
