{"id":6036,"date":"2026-04-17T07:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T07:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/6036\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T07:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T07:04:10","slug":"global-leftist-leaders-gather-in-spain-to-mobilise-against-far-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/6036\/","title":{"rendered":"Global leftist leaders gather in Spain to mobilise against far right"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona, Spain
Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s Pedro Sanchez and Brazil\u2019s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will spearhead gatherings of the global left in Barcelona on Friday and Saturday, in a bid to defend multi-lateralism and mobilise left-wing movements against the far right.<\/p>\n

The meetings, organised by Spain and left-wing political networks, come as US President Donald Trump\u2019s swift cuts to humanitarian aid, military interventions and threats to abandon NATO have shaken the status quo of international relations and prompted a rethink of global allegiances.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Brazil\u2019s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Spain\u2019s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez meet at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on 6th March, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters\/Ueslei Marcelino\/File photo<\/p>\n

Borne out of a wake-up call for European socialists after the far-right surge in EU elections in 2024, the aim of the so-called \u201cGlobal Progressive Mobilisation\u201d starting on Friday is to mobilise advocates of left-wing ideas, culminating in a declaration of common actions on goals from defending democracy to the green transition, organisers said.<\/p>\n

A second gathering on Saturday \u2013 entitled \u201cIn defence of democracy\u201d \u2013 is organised by the Spanish government and is the fourth instalment of a summit launched by Lula and Sanchez in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cShow there is an alternative\u201d
Both leaders are vocal critics of the Trump administration \u2013 with Sanchez having been particularly outspoken over the Iran war \u2013 and both face growing far-right challenges in upcoming election races.<\/p>\n

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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has also clashed with Trump, will attend, as will Mexico\u2019s President Claudia Sheinbaum, marking the first visit to Spain by a Mexican president since 2018 after years of tension over the legacy of Spanish colonial rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that progressive parties and governments unite to convey to the public, especially in Spain, that we belong to something that goes beyond domestic politics,\u201d Sanchez said of the gatherings, speaking in Beijing during a visit to China where he and President Xi Jinping pledged closer ties.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s far right lost one of its biggest champions with the defeat of Hungary\u2019s nationalist leader Viktor Orban in Sunday\u2019s election. Sanchez has hailed that, saying \u201cthe wave can be stopped, and Hungary proves it\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the other event, 3,000 people including current and former heads of state, around 400 mayors, unions, activists, and political parties will gather for two days hosted by Spain\u2019s Socialist Party. Sanchez and Lula will close the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cRadical forces are at play in our countries to sponsor extreme right-wing movements \u2026 we have to show there is an alternative,\u201d said Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, whose membership spans 33 parties across Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona, SpainReuters Spain\u2019s Pedro Sanchez and Brazil\u2019s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will spearhead gatherings of the global…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[751,1970,4057,4058,4059,4060,4061,3542,205,17],"class_list":["post-6036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-brazil","tag-claudia-sheinbaum","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-far-right","tag-global-progressive-mobilisation","tag-leftist-movements","tag-luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva","tag-multilateralism","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}