BARCELONA, Spain (AP) \u2014 Progressive leaders from around the globe gathered in Barcelona on Saturday trying to galvanize their forces and defend the multilateral rules-based order in a world turning to the right and violently torn by superpowers.<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez, an outspoken critic<\/a> of President Donald Trump and the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, hosted two overlapping events about democracy and progressive politics at a convention center in Spain\u2019s second city.<\/p>\n While no leader mentioned Trump in the part of the first gathering that was open to the press, the staunchly unilateral position of the American president that breaks with decades of U.S. foreign policy, including his derision of NATO and the United Nations, hung over the meetings.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all see the attacks against the multilateral system, the repeated attempts to undermine international law and the dangerous normalization of the use of force,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe far right is international, so we must be too,\u201d German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil told a crowd of activists.<\/p>\n Trump again lashed out on Saturday on social media at S\u00e1nchez, who has faced Trump\u2019s scorn for not allowing the U.S. to use jointly operated military bases<\/a> in Spain for operations related to the Iran war and for refusing to raise military spending from 2% to 5% of GDP.<\/p>\n \u201cHas anybody looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing. Their financial numbers, despite contributing almost nothing to NATO and their military defense, are absolutely horrendous. Sad to watch!!!\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social.<\/p>\n Spain, like the U.S. and other developed countries, is in debt, but it has one of the world\u2019s leading economies<\/a> under S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva<\/a>, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and other leaders and officials were in attendance at the IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy. Later in the day, S\u00e1nchez, Lula and Ramaphosa stayed put at the convention center to attend the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilization, where some 3,000 left-leaning elected officials, policy analysts and activists exchanged ideas.<\/p>\n Former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent a short video message to the rally, saying \u201cwe can shape a better future no matter what the odds may be against that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n Reforming the U.N.<\/p>\n Ramaphosa said South Africa will present a draft resolution to establish an International Panel on Inequality, aiming to tackle the growing wealth gap both within and between nations, to the U.N. General Assembly in September.<\/p>\n He also urged a rethink of the Security Council of the U.N., pointing to the wars started by permanent Security Council members \u2014 Russia against Ukraine, and the U.S. against Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United Nations has now become a toothless organization because those who are members of the Security Council are the ones who continue to violate all the laws and the rights,\u201d Ramaphosa said at the gathering of socialists and progressives.<\/p>\n More trees, less inequality<\/p>\n Among concrete proposals, Sheinbaum plugged her idea that governments commit to spending the equivalent of 10% of their military budgets on reforestation projects.<\/p>\n \u201cEach year, instead of planting the seeds of war, we will plant the seeds of life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Sheinbaum also said she wants to propose a declaration, without specifying if she referred to the U.N., against a military intervention in Cuba. Trump has said that he believes he will \u201c have the honor<\/a> of taking Cuba\u201d soon, though it wasn\u2019t clear exactly what he meant.<\/p>\n S\u00e1nchez argued for the importance of regulating social media to stop the spread of hate speech and disinformation. His government also said that it is working with Brazil on a tax for the ultrarich.<\/p>\n Defending core values<\/p>\n