Barcelona GPM 2026: The Future of Human Mobility

As the world faces critical turmoil, the Global Progressive Mobilisation (GPM) offers a necessary alternative to conservative and far-right forces. This platform aims to make progressive solutions visible and credible, proving they are the key to humanity’s prosperity. By uniting regions and generations, we will defend democracy and advance social justice. That is why we will come together in Barcelona, Spain, on 17–18 April 2026 for the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilisation — to turn conviction into action and ambition into results.

The Future of Human Mobility: Spain’s Example and the Path to a Progressive Migration Agenda

When and where

Saturday 18 April 2026, 11:00–12:00 · room Dolores Huerta.

Migration remains one of the defining political and moral challenges of the 2020s. Across continents, the far right has weaponized the issue to erode democratic norms and advance exclusionary agendas—from the mass deportations of the Trump era in the United States to the rise of populist movements in Europe. Too often, progressive voices have found themselves reacting within frames set by their opponents rather than advancing a confident, alternative vision.

This conversation aims to chart a new course. Progressives must move beyond the false binary of “compassion versus control” and instead articulate a migration governance agenda that stands on both rights and responsibility, regularity and integration, labor market pragmatism and humanitarian commitment.

Spain’s recent initiative to regularize approximately 500,000 undocumented people, framed around human rights, integration, coexistence, and economic growth, has resonated globally. It shows that bold, values-based migration reforms are both possible and broadly supported when paired with clear communication and credible policy design.

The discussion will bring together perspectives from both origin and destination countries across the Atlantic to explore:

Reframing the narrative: How can progressives communicate on migration without ceding ground to the far right? What lessons from the 2024 U.S. elections can inform this effort globally?
Policy innovation: From Spain’s reformed migration framework to Canada’s refugee resettlement tradition, what policy models best combine regularity, integration, and shared prosperity?
Global South perspective: How do origin and transit countries view current European and North American debates? What does genuine partnership look like beyond enforcement-first externalization?

Speakers

Elma Saiz Delgado, Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations (Spain)
Beatriz Paredes Rangel, former President, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) (Mexico)
Beth Gardiner-Smith, Senior Policy Associate, Future Governance Forum; Councillor for Romsey, Cambridge City Council (United Kingdom)
Marshall Fitz, Managing Director of Immigration, Emerson Collective (United States)
Manos Moschopoulos, Executive Director, LeftForward; Senior Advisor, Mediterranean Migration and Asylum Policy Hub (Greece)
Frank Sharry, Founder and Executive Director, America’s Voice; advisor to the Biden and Harris presidential campaigns (United States)

How to attend

This session is part of the official GPM programme in Barcelona; there is no separate registration for this panel. For the full programme, see globalprogressivemobilisation.org.

Full context and both LeftForward panels: LeftForward at the Global Progressive Mobilisation.