The effects of the United States’ new policies under President Donald Trump, which oppose diversity initiatives, have now reached Barcelona.
Barcelona City Council recently received a request from the US Embassy in Madrid, asking them not to apply diversity policies at a cultural and language programme at the Ignasi Iglésias Library in Can Fabra, located in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona.
According to Spanish media, the embassy is demanding that the library enforce Trump’s Executive Order 14173, titled ‘Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity’.
US federal law now requires that no funds are to be used for initiatives or programmes that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Since 2016, the library has hosted American Space Barcelona (ASB), a cultural exchange initiative between the city and the United States, which provides partial funding for the programme.
According to the city council’s website, ASB is aimed at ‘children, young people and the general public, as well as schools (primary and secondary), students and teachers’ and is ‘designed for learning English informally in a fun, collaborative environment’.
In the past nine years, the ASB has hosted some 2,000 activities with more than 77,000 attendees.
Barcelona City Council has already rejected the request to end its DEI polices, insisting that president Trump’s executive order holds no legal authority beyond the United States.
Barcelona’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, estimated that the US government contributes approximately €20,000 to the ASB’s programme.
The socialist mayor said that Trump’s order carries ‘no legal validity’ in Barcelona and lacks any ‘democratic or political legitimacy’. He assured that the American Space programme would continue operating at the library.
Collboni also stressed that the city council would not ‘take a step back’ in its commitment to gender equality and inclusion policies, while also condemning the US president’s stance, which he argued contradicts values that are ‘inseparable’ from Barcelona’s identity.
The issue at the Barcelona library comes just weeks after the US Embassy in Spain also demanded that its Spanish suppliers prove they don’t have DEI policies at their companies.
On 20 February, the embassy publicly confirmed its anti-diversity demands.
‘The US Embassy in Spain, like all our embassies around the world, is informing our local suppliers of products and services about the new framework based on the recent executive orders signed by President Trump,’ said a spokesperson for the US diplomatic office in Spain.
‘We want to ensure that our contracts comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws and that suppliers do not operate programmes promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion that violate existing federal laws,’ he added.
Several Spanish ministers voiced their opposition to the US’s anti-diversity demands, including deputy PM Yolanda Díaz, who responded by saying that: ‘In Spain, it’s Spanish men and women who are in charge.’
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
Please support Spain in English with a donation.
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.
Click here for further details on how to ADVERTISE with us.
