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The Planning
of the European Social Forum 2004
PROGRESS REPORT
From: stuart@union.org.za
Date: Sunday 4th Apilr 2004
Subject: [democratisESF] Proposal for Moving Forward Together
Dear
everyone
Apologies, this is quite a long email, but if you have a
moment, please read it and feedback. Its a few thoughts
on how the 'non-authoritarian' forces of the UK movement
might now move forward together in order to achieve the
ESF we want and bady need.
We are now in April 2004. The ESF UK process was launched
in November 2003 - it existed, more secretly, as far back
as June. After five (or ten) months, very little has been
achieved, either politically or practically.
What has been achieved practically:
Dates - October 14-17, Thursday evening (opening ceremony),
Friday/Saturday full days of plenaries, seminars and workshops,
Sunday - assembly of the social movements in the morning,
demonstration in the afternoon
Venue - two sites, Alexandra Palace and Bloomsbury.
Website - we've got a temporary website (www.ukesf.org.uk);
a proper site should be up and running soon
Programme - we seem to have agreed a system for seminars
and workshops to be proposed and a timetable for this to
take place; waiting for the website to start functioning
to take proposals; Friday and Saturday will have four sessions,
each lasting two hours.
Admission Fees - at the moment, the scale (if you
book in advance) appears to be £20 (unwaged)/£30
(waged)/£40 (organisations); and £30/40/50 on
the door.
ESF Guests - some 'big names' have been/are being invited
like Mandela, Naomi Klein, Chomsky, Arundhati Roy
Outreach - an outreach working group has finally
met and is doing some leaflets and posters
Logo - Movement of the Imagination seems to be getting
to do the designs
Politically, the process is disastrous, full of macho-left
politics with 'big' organisations trying to control and
exclude 'small' organisations and behaving in really disgraceful
ways - blackmail is rife. Hardly any groups, networks, organisations,
NGOs, trade unions are involved - there are almost zero
'activists' in any modern sense. And yes, the GLA, SWP and
some union 'officials' have a firm if not complete and at
times mutally incompatible grip on the process, due not
only to their expertise in bureaucratic maneouvring but
also because of the non-participation of others - people,
understandably but regrettably, gave up too soon. It is
important to add that our 'style' of intervening in meetings
hasn't always helped us. I'm not naming names except my
own - I have a 'heckling' habit when confronted with a gross
manipulation of even primitive democracy.
On the lighter side, many activists who loosely identify
with the tag of 'horizontal' to distinguish both their preferred
method of organising and form of human relations (as distinct
from the 'verticals' who are hierarchical and authoritarian)
have been forced together in a positive working relationship
which will endure after the ESF 2004 litter has been picked
up.
Now is not the time for analysis as to why all of this is
the way it is - anyone who has been to any of the meetings
or read the posts on this list, Indymedia newswire or even
the Weekly Worker will know why. Obviously, it is also difficult
to get involved in meetings that take place at 10am on Thursday
mornings in Central London, but ways can be found to decentralise
the process. They need careful thought, planning and execution.
In short, if people accept the need to take part in the
ESF 'process' i.e. organising the ESF 'space' in October
2004, as opposed to 'consuming the ESF', we have to be clear
about what it is that we are trying to achieve and then
be willing to work together to make it happen. This is of
course how the ESF process itself should be - but some partners
are not willing to dance whilst others are dancing to a
very different beat. To have more influence, I think we
need to take a step back and think what it is we are trying
to achieve here.
What are we trying to achieve in the ESF process?
For months now, a small core of "independent activists",
not just the 'horizontals' (people from the London and Manchester
Social Forums, as well as a few kindred spirits from Indymedia)
but those who don't comfortably identify with this tag as
well as our more 'diagonal' friends in the CPGB and, to
a lesser extent, Workers Power, have committed themselves
to the ESF 2004 process and attended as many meetings as
possible.
From my standpoint, it is clear what some groups want to
achieve by doing this. ATTAC UK, for example, quite rightly
wants to raise its low profile in UK progressive politics.
Red Pepper, the independent green-left magazine in which
people like Oscar Reyes and myself are involved, has for
a long time supported the WSF process, albeit critically,
and obviously sees the ESF as a great place to help organise
seminars and workshops with other European activists and
groups. Workers Power has got its heart set on a 'Youth
Space.
However, it is not at all clear what other 'horizontals'
and 'independents' want to get out of the ESF. At the moment,
all we seem to be doing is organising and attending meetings
as some kind of 'counter-hegemonic' force to stop the process
being completely dominated by the SWP, Socialist Action/GLA
and some of the unions.
But why? What do we hope to achieve by doing this? What
is our vision of the ESF? What are our goals for this process?
Unless I've missed something along the line, our objectives
seem to be almost entirely concerned with 'practicalities'
and 'process' in order to keep the 'space' open for ourselves
(and the political views and groups we work with and represent)
and others to participate in. Don't get me wrong, organising
on some of these practicalities is absolutely vital and
if we don't do it, you can be certain that noone else will
given the contempt some groups have so far shown for 'accessibility'.
For example, the entrance fees to the ESF are quite
clearly FAR TOO HIGH if we want to encourage those in poverty
or on low incomes - working class people - to come to the
ESF.
Accommodation - where will people find affordable/free
and adequate places to sleep? Transport - how will 20 to
50,000 people travel between two sites in London without
missing half the ESF stuck in traffic jams or on a tube
that isn't working? Disabled - some parts of the ESF in
Paris were no-go areas for disabled people - is London any
better? Communications - who is going to put the information
out about the ESF, what will this message be?
I could go on and on. These are issues those of us who have
been attending the Organising and Coordinating Committee
meetings have pushed for since the beginning and to be honest,
progress is slow.
And when we do achieve a working group to tackle one of
these issues, all of a sudden, most of the 'horizontals'
disappear. Not because we are lazy but because (a) we can't
afford to keep going to all these meetings (b) there are
simply not enough of us to go round - we are not full-time
party officers or GLA staff. For example, we have been arguing
for months about the need for 'outreach' - to go out and
tell the UK movement about the ESF, how to get involved,
how to submit seminars and workshops etc. Last Thursday,
that outreach group finally met in the evening. Not one
'horizontal' was there - the meeting consisted almost entirely
of the SWP and Socialist Action and we all know what their
definition of outreach is.
To return to my point above, when we organise and fight
to keep the organising process open and avoid domination,
what are we seeking to fill that space with? To be honest,
it is not clear.
One of the things that we have NOT done is any real, obvious
work, to help construct the ESF space outside of trying
to influence the behaviour of the GLA/SWP/Union grouping.
For example, why is it that only the same people attend
all the meetings? What outreach work are WE doing to convince
people to get involved and help share the burden? What events
are WE organising to promote the ESF? What seminars and
workshops are WE thinking of doing? What themes do WE think
the ESF programme should concentrate on? What work are WE
doing to ensure that the programme is organised in such
a way as to enable networking and action-planning to come
out of the ESF? How do WE think the Assembly of the Social
Movements should be organised to transform it from a 'rally'
with a statement conjured up by self-appointed leaders of
the ESF to a genuine 'assembly' in which political actions
are generated by consensus among the European activist community?
My major criticism of 'us' is that we have done very little
constructive outreach work ourselves, leaving a vaccuum
that will be and is being filled by Globalise Resistance
(SWP). If we are really serious about being part of the
ESF process, in spite of the express determination of others
to force us out, then we are going to have to start bringing
a little more into this process than simply good ideas.
A
Possible Way Forward
1. A Face to Face Meeting.
Mariangela has called for a face-to-face
meeting of the 'horizontals' at some point before the final
Organising Committee meeting PRIOR to the next European
Preparatory Assembly in Istanbul. The next Organising Committee
is in the evening of the 13th April, which is a Tuesday.
Given that the European Creative Forum (www.europeancreativeforum.org)
takes place on the 10th April in London, in which many of
us will be participating and has a heavy ESF theme, I PROPOSE
that we meet up here. I'm not sure what space will be available
to have a meeting but we can make arrangements on the day
- it will be a great place to meet new people and hand out
information about the ESF anyway: - The European Creative
Forum, 10th April, Area 10, Eagle Wharf, Peckham Square,
London, SE15 For now, I'll assume that this is ok for
the purposes of the rest of what I say below.
What will this meeting be about?
I don't know, but I've created a Wiki page on the www.esf2004.net
website where people can make up an agenda or propose issues
they want to discuss. http://www.esf2004.net/wakka/HorizontalsEasterMeeting
I've started an agenda - please add/delete/modify
Personally, part of the meeting will need to discuss issues
arising for the next Organising Committee - which will agree
on what the UK ESF process takes to the Istanbul Preparatory
Assembly - and what we should be attempting to achieve in
Istanbul. But it will also hopefully discuss how to take
our own outreach process forward, the issue of an autonomous
space, seminars/workshops and so on.
I really hope that those groups and networks that initially
took part in the ESF process, especially The Wombles and
other direct action and Indymedia activists, will come and
start working with us again in whatever way possible.
Most important is to try and agree on a division of labour
in the process - who is going to attend different working
groups and then how we will feed information back and forth
between each other. Again, doing this has to go beyond reasons
of counter-domination - we need to agree on some kind of
positive shared vision.
2. Outreach
I think we need to start organising positive events to promote
awareness of the ESF 2004 across the country, the current
state of the organising process, what the ESF will mean
for UK politics, European politics and how it could benefit
activist groups, campaigns, struggles, general political
awareness and so on. This can start with the European Creative
Forum. It will be an ideal opportunity to produce some leaflets
and advice on how to get involved, what to watch out for,
who is who, and so on.
I PROPOSE to the UK local social forums that 'you' are centrally
involved in a more general outreach project. Please don't
think I'm telling you what to do and I know that many within
each social forum don't want to spend much time on the ESF
and I understand why. But don't you think these meetings
will be great for your own outreach and evolution?
A simple format might be: a few speakers, a good film, a
few workshops and a real practical guide on how to get involved
in the ESF, either as a producer of seminars and workshops
or a simple participant. These could be good fundraisers
as well for a local campaign or for helping to go into a
solidarity fund to help subsidise low income participants
in the ESF. More ambitiously, we might hold 'local consultas'
- assembly-style meetings in different cities and towns
to find out from people what issues they feel most passionately
about and then help them to propose seminars.
Even more ambitiously, different local social forums might
take responsibility for helping to arrange cheap travel
and accommodation for people going from their area. This
will create goodwill towards you in return.
It doesn't have to be the local social forums doing this
although it makes more sense. But we need to organise a
division of labour on this and find out who is willing to
help and who isn't.
Another theme on which outreach could be built is the ESF
2004 'designs' and 'logos'. At the moment, Noel Douglas
(SWP-GR) from Movement of the Imagination is the only person
to have offered designs for this.
Surely one way to get artists more involved might be to
conduct a 'competition' for best ESF 2004 design - lets
not wait for 'official' permission on this as we won't get
it. Lets contact radical artists and ask them if they want
to do it, give them two weeks and then bring the results
into the ESF organising committee. If they are rejected,
then we will use them for our 'alternative' website and
our own leaflets.
Finally, don't forget that an online UK group directory
to enable us to contact different groups and networks has
been created on a Wiki page and still needs people to keep
adding to it. One part of the proposed meeting on April
10th could be to decide on a division of labour in contacting
these groups, sending an email, fax or, where necessary,
a letter with information.
3.
Programme
Given that July 1st is the proposed 'closing date' for seminar
and workshop proposals, a meeting on June 19/20 for the
local social forums to plan their own ideas for a seminar/workshop
might be a little late.
It would very very interesting to propose some seminars/workshops
in conjunction with the European local social forums on
the theme of social forums as we tried to do in Paris but
found ourselves 'blocked'.
I propose that UK social forum activists get in touch with
their European counterparts now.
Aside from the local social forum issue, what issues/subjects/debates
do we want to see?
There exists on the www.esf2004.org website bulletin boards
dedicated precisely for this kind of task.
4. Autonomous Space(s)
It is absolutely essential that one or more autonomous spaces
are constructed during the ESF that are free, open to all,
ecologically sound, provide a space for activist networking
around different actions, campaigns and struggles, also
provide a social space with music, comedy, cheap vegan/veggie
food, cheap alcohol and so on. Many activists from both
the UK and elsewhere in Europe have already begun communicating
on this issue.
An e-list has been set up. To join it, go to
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/anotheresfispossible
5. Solidarity Fund for Istanbul and Future European
Meetings. The European Preparatory Assembly is where all
decisions are ultimately made regarding the ESF.
At the moment, it is guaranteed that at least seven
people from the GLA-union-SWP grouping will go to Istanbul,
while only four people 'outside' of this triad appear
to be going, although some can't afford it. It is really
essential that a solidarity fund is created where those
who collectively can't afford to go can give a small amount
of money to enable one or two delegates to go on our behalf.
I propose that this is discussed in more detail at the 10th
April meeting.
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So, these are a few thoughts on what we can do to move forward
together. I'm sorry it was so long and looking forward to
some responses. Once again, these are just some proposals
but if we continue in present mode then I think its pointless
- getting a different process requires more participation
of others, ESPECIALLY THE TRADE/ENVIRONMENT NGOS, to create
a more even balance of power. This would also make the threat
of 'mass withdrawal' more credible and more effective a
'blackmail' of our own. At the moment, noone in the UK and
neither probably Europe would care if 'we' - the small,
annoying group of persistent trouble-makers - walked away
as theyy don't think 'we' represent anything, which isn't
true but its a difficult perception to counter.
Best
Stuart
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