From the MSC, SETEM Catalunya has joined the organizations Prou Complicitat amb Israel and La Fira en la Mira to denounce the complicity of the Fira de Barcelona with Israeli companies and other corporations complicit in the Mobile World Congress 2025. As part of this effort, an open letter has been launched, signed by around a hundred organizations, demanding that the Fira and the institutions that govern it stop providing space to companies involved in the repression and genocide of the Palestinian people.
Technology in Service of Apartheid
Over the past year, the Fira de Barcelona, a consortium formed by the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Chamber of Commerce, has strengthened its collaboration with Israeli apartheid by allowing the presence of companies directly involved in violence against the Palestinian people. Far from being an isolated case, this complicity has become a recurring feature in events it has hosted in recent months. In February 2024, during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the Fira welcomed a delegation of more than 30 Israeli technology companies with close ties to the Israeli military industry, which contributes to attacks on Gaza. Among these was Xtend, a defense drone company powered by artificial intelligence, currently being used in Gaza.
The connection between technology and Israeli apartheid is undeniable. The tech sector has become a key component in the oppression of the Palestinian people, whether through mass surveillance, drone use in military operations, or artificial intelligence applied to repressive systems. This is a sector that profits from the occupation, having turned it into a lucrative business.
This year, for the Mobile World Congress 2025, a new Israeli pavilion will be present once again, along with major Big Tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Dell, HP, and Intel, which provide services to the Israeli military and enable the use of technology in support of genocide.
The Mobile Social Congress 20SC25 focuses on the role of the Fira de Barcelona, the Mobile World Congress, and the GSMA (the company that organizes the MWC) as a facilitator of the connection between the technology industry and the Israeli war machine, making our city an epicenter of innovation at the service of apartheid. We demand an end to this complicity and insist that Barcelona must not serve as a platform for the war industry.
Panel Discussion – Wednesday, March 5 at 19:45 – CCCB, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona
As part of the MSC25 program, a panel discussion has been organized to address these issues. It will include the participation of No Tech For Apartheid – an international campaign led by workers in the technology sector, working to put an end to Project Nimbus, a contract between Google, Amazon and Israel-; the Mediterranean Human Rights and Business Observatory (ODHE), which will present its latest report on the use of surveillance technologies in occupied territories; and NOVACT, the International Institute for Nonviolence, member of the Prou Complicitat amb Israel Coalition, and promoter of the advocacy process towards the Fira, the City Council and the Generalitat.
Check the full program and sign up!
Press Conference
On Monday, February 10, MSC, in collaboration with Prou Complicitat, La Fira en la Mira, and the Palestinian Community in Catalonia, held a press conference in front of Barcelona City Hall at Plaça Sant Jaume. The event aimed to publicly reveal the list of organizations that have signed the open letter denouncing Fira’s complicity with Israel’s genocide and occupation.
Despite the importance of this denunciation, no media outlets attended the press conference, highlighting the media’s lack of interest in this issue. So far, neither the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya, nor the Chamber of Commerce have responded to the organizations’ demands.
Gathering Petition Signatures from Organizations
The organizing groups call on Catalan civil society to continue adding support to the letter denouncing the collaboration between Fira de Barcelona and institutions involved with companies complicit in the Palestinian genocide.
Gathering Petition Signatures from Individuals– No Tech For Apartheid
We invite all citizens to participate in the petition led by No Tech for Apartheid, which denounces the complicity of Google and Amazon in the occupation and demands that they sever ties.
Call for Mobilization
To maintain pressure, MSC invites all organizations and citizens to a public demonstration on March 3 at 8:30 AM at Plaça Europa, in front of the Mobile World Congress entrance in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Metro Europa Fira), to visibly oppose the presence of Israeli and complicit companies at the congress.
This protest aims to publicly denounce the presence of tech companies that facilitate violence in Gaza and to demand that Fira de Barcelona stop hosting these companies at future events. It’s time to make noise and show our strength to end the complicity of local institutions in the occupation and genocide of Palestine.
No More Complicity!