By Victoria Waldersee and Joan Faus
BARCELONA, April 19 (Reuters) - From reforming the UN Security Council to taxing billionaires, thousands of leftists gathered in Barcelona over the weekend to brainstorm ways to halt the rise of authoritarianism and win back voters who have drifted rightwards.
The gathering, which drew more than 6,000 people from over 40 countries, comes as far-right and nationalist forces have gained ground globally, eclipsing the left with messaging that pins cost-of-living concerns
on immigration, outdated institutions and out-of-touch political elites.
Spearheaded by Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose outspoken opposition to U.S. President Trump’s foreign policy has boosted his image, the summit was buoyed by hopes that the far-right surge may have peaked, with Trump's polling numbers falling, Hungary's Victor Orban ousted after 16 years in government and the French far-right underperforming in last month's municipal elections.
Leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rallied the crowd with calls to reform international organizations and cement new left-leaning alliances, as the shadow of Trump’s attacks on multilateral institutions loomed large.
“To be progressive is to defend a reformed multilateralism, where the rules work for everyone,” said Lula da Silva, addressing a packed closing plenary of supporters waving red flags, sporting ‘Make Science Great Again’ caps and periodically chanting Spanish anti-fascist anthems.
COST OF LIVING CONCERNS
Left-wing parties hoping for a resurgence need to address kitchen table issues such as the cost of living, said Marcus Roberts, CEO of political strategy consultancy Mandate Research.
A 30-country Ipsos survey published last month showed voters were far more worried about unemployment, inflation, poverty and inequality than the rise of extremism or moral decline.
Indeed, anger at rising fuel prices due to the war in the Middle East has seen Trump’s approval ratings tank, polls show, in what Democrat strategists have described as a window of opportunity to make convincing arguments on the economy ahead of midterm elections in November.
Economist Gabriel Zucman took the stage to advocate for higher wealth taxes on millionaires and billionaires, a policy which is hugely popular in polls across Europe and the U.S. but was rejected by lawmakers in his native France.
"It's hard for people who can't afford eggs to be concerned about democracy," said Neera Tanden, former advisor in Joe Biden, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama's administrations and director of the Center for American Progress think tank.
Isabel Allende, former Senate president of Chile and daughter of Salvador Allende, Latin America’s first Marxist leader who was ousted in 1973 by a U.S.-led military coup, warned that the left had become disconnected from citizens' concerns.
“It’s unimaginable to fight against the right if we can’t get closer to ordinary people,” she said.
REFORMING GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS
Attendees returning from the Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank said discussions in Barcelona reflected a similar urgency for reforming the balance of power in global institutions, though specifics on what would come next remained unclear.
“The institutions are still standing but the logic inside them is shifting,” said Mariana Mazzucato, a professor of economics advising governments and policymakers on how states can use public investment to foster growth.
“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 said.
Studies like Freedom House’s "Freedom in the World" index show the number of authoritarian governments swelling in the past two decades, as a rise in conflicts, coups, and crackdowns on freedoms has coincided with a pivot away from foreign aid programs by wealthy democracies, whose populaces have grown weary of sending funding abroad while facing cost-of-living challenges at home.
While organizers were adamant the event, hosted by several left-wing political networks and Spain’s Socialist Party, was not a mobilisation against Trump, they also said the left could not afford to sit tight and wait for a new U.S. administration, with many echoing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s call for "middle powers" to coalesce.
“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,” Lars Klingbeil, vice-chancellor of Germany and head of the German Social Democrats, told reporters on the sidelines.
The American left and centre-left featured heavily in the closing plenary of the two-day gathering, with former vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz urging crowds not to give up on Democrats and voices from Bernie Sanders to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Hilary Clinton sending video messages in support.
“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 and Foreign Relations Committee member Chris Murphy said in an interview with Reuters.
"We need to share experiences to understand how we can fight back,” he said.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Joan Faus in Barcelona; editing by Charlie Devereux and Christina Fincher)
