- The protest, organized by SETEM Catalunya, Prou Complicitat amb Israel, and La Fira en la Mira, denounces that the State of Israel will be represented at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) by 46 companies and will have its own pavilion, despite being declared guilty of genocide and apartheid by the International Court of Justice and the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders by the International Criminal Court.
- This protest marks the start of the 10th edition of the Mobile Social Congress (MSC), the annual event that reflects on responsible technology use and serves as a critical alternative to the Mobile World Congress.
On the opening day of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), more than 60 people gathered in front of La Fira to express their rejection of Israel’s presence at the congress. Forty-six Israeli companies will participate in MWC 2025, even though Israel has been declared guilty of genocide and apartheid by the International Court of Justice, with arrest warrants issued against its leaders by the International Criminal Court, and rulings from multiple organizations, such as Amnesty International, concluding that Israel is guilty of genocide.
SETEM Catalunya, along with Prou Complicitat amb Israel and La Fira en la Mira, denounce that this collaboration and commercial commitment by the MWC and La Fira de Barcelona—a consortium formed by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council, and the Chamber of Commerce—legitimizes the actions of the genocidal government, which maintains close ties with the Israeli technology sector and has used technological knowledge and tools in the development of military strategies against the Palestinian people.
“We are here to send a very clear message: genocidal regimes are not welcome in Barcelona, our city. And it is a terrible shame that La Fira and the Mobile World Congress are once again complicit in a system of apartheid, colonization, genocide, and occupation against the Palestinian people. We demand that they stop,” says Alys Samson, spokesperson for the Prou Complicitat amb Israel Coalition.
“Israel’s presence at the MWC symbolizes the capitalization of death and destruction, as the technology developed is used to surveil and attack the Palestinian people. Furthermore, workers worldwide are exploited for the extraction of materials and the production of devices,” explains Clàudia Bosch, coordinator of the Fair Electronics campaign led by SETEM Catalunya.
“For this reason, we call on organizations and individuals to pressure La Fira wherever they can, by organizing events in other venues or choosing not to attend. We cannot allow this complicity, not in our name,” states Leila Benali from the Prou Complicitat amb Israel Coalition.
On February 10, the organizations Prou Complicitat amb Israel, Comunitat Palestina de Catalunya, Setem, and La Fira en la Mira published a list of groups condemning La Fira de Barcelona’s complicity in the genocide and occupation of the Palestinian people and territory by Israel. Over 100 organizations have signed this open letter of denunciation, including major Catalan labor unions, federations, and dozens of civil society organizations, demanding a response from the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council, and the Chamber of Commerce, which oversee La Fira de Barcelona.
