European Social Forum

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The European Social Forum (ESF) is an annual conference held by members of the alter-globalization movement (also known as the Global Justice Movement). It aims to allow social movements, trade unions, NGOs, refugees, peace and anti-imperialist groups, anti-racist movements, environmental movements, networks of the excluded and community campaigns from Europe and the world to come together and discuss themes linked to major European and global issues. In order to coordinate campaigns, share ideas and refine organizing strategies. It is emerged from the World Social Forum and follows its charter of principles.

1 First ESF
2 Second ESF
3 Third ESF
4 Fourth ESF
5 References
6 External links

[edit] First ESF

The first forum was held in Florence in November 2002. The slogan was "Against war, racism and neo-liberalism", with specific reference to George W. Bush's plan for regime change in Iraq.

Before its opening the ESF raised a large political polemy between Tuscan local authorities (The President of the Region Claudio Martini, although criticised on some points by no-global activists, had been a supporter of the movement since the time of the Genoa Group of Eight Summit protest) on one side and the right-wing Italian government on the other. People feared that the ESF could provoke riots and accidents as those of the Genoa Group of Eight Summit protest, from July 18 to July 22, 2001. Florentine individuals such as the controversial journalist Oriana Fallaci intervened in the polemics. Fallaci invited the people of Florence to shut up every shop and stay in the houses and compared the ESF to the nazi occupation of Florence. Others opponents of the ESF were the political scientist Giovanni Sartori, a liberal critic of Silvio Berlusconi's government but an admirer of the United States and the film-maker Franco Zeffirelli, whose right-wing political views were already well-known. Another group of intellectuals of various political provenance defended the ESF and signed an appeal favourable to the meeting. Between them there were the journalist Tiziano Terzani and the organizers of the "professors' movement" (a group of university professors that had organized a demonstration and groups of discussion against Berlusconi's policies).

But in fact the European Social Forum, which occupied the historical Fortezza da Basso and other conference buildings with its 60.000 delegates didn't provoke any accidents and it ended with a huge demonstration against the war which saw the participation of 1.000.000 people according to the organizers. The debate on peace and pacifism was felt as paramount, even if the programme of the Forum included a large spectre of issues (immigration, European Union's constitution, Tobin Tax and many others). Gino Strada, president of Emergency, the Italian association that helps civil victims of armed conflicts, a leader of the pacifist movement, was one of the most popular orators. Big NGOs such as Amnesty International joined the ESF, together with no-global organization such as ATTAC, left-wing parliamentaries etc. At the end of the meeting even pro-globalists such as the then president of the European Commission Romano Prodi showed sympathy for the moderation of the movement and for its pacifist issues.

In the final assembly the call was launched for a Europe-wide day of action on what would become the February 15 Global day of action against the war. (Stop the War:The story of Britain's biggest mass movement, Andrew Murray and Lindsey German, ISBN 1-905192-00-2, p.107)

A network of volunteer translators, Babels, was set up to interpret the event into the various languages of the people attending.

[edit] Second ESF

The second European Social Forum was held in Paris in November 2003. Organisers claim that over 50,000 people attended and that around 150,000 marched on the demonstration that was held on the last day. In France there has been some criticism of the organization for not being open enough. The participation of the French Socialist Party, the Parti Socialiste, also raised a lot of critical voices, since the party has been one of the proponents of liberalization of markets in the 1990s, but the most prominent group at the event was the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire. Some anarchist groups organised a rival event in the city, at the same time, while a women's forum was held in the days preceding the social forum, in order to counteract the perceived under representation of women at the first ESF it is claimed that over 3,000 women attended.

[edit] Third ESF

One of many packed meetings at the ESF 2004

The third European Social Forum was held in London, mostly at Alexandra Palace, but also with events throughout the Bloomsbury area of London on the 15th - 17th October 2004.

The organisers claimed that approximately 25,000 people took part in 500 plenaries, seminars, workshops, and cultural events, which were addressed by over 2,500 speakers. Participants came from across the continent and even from beyond the boundaries of European Union.

There was also a marked increased in participation from minority groups such as black, Asian, Muslim, and refugee networks. More women were represented on the speaker platforms than in previous forums. The forum also included for the first time a three day cultural programme [1] organised through open submission through the ESF website.

Well known participants and speakers included Ahmed Ben Bella, the leader of the Algerian resistance to French rule, Dr Aleida Guevara, daughter of Che, George Galloway, a leader of the UK anti-war movement, and Dr Mustapha Barghouti from Palestine. Activist writers such as Susan George, John Pilger and George Monbiot were prominent, and Gerry Adams was one of many Irish figures speaking. The Forum opened with a rally in Southwark Cathedral.

Unlike the Paris forum, in London there was initially no money provided to pay for events. Funding eventually came from the Greater London Authority and the Mayor's office (Ken Livingstone and his officers many of whom are in Socialist Action), several Trade Unions such as NATFHE (the college lecturer's union), AMICUS (a largely technical and industrial union), the Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) and Unison (the UK's largest public sector union), who provided funds, office space, subsidised tickets for unemployed and asylum seeker attendees and paid for some of the meeting space at Alexandra Palace.

The Socialist Workers Party, Globalise Resistance, the Tobin Tax Network and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament were central to bringing the event to London.

Other groups, for instance the London Social Forum, felt that the main organising approach was too top-down and instead set up "horizontally" organised fringe events. These were known as the 'autonomous' or 'beyond' ESF events and participants ranged from non-governmental organisations, political parties such as the Green Party, to unaligned anarchists and socialists.

The Millennium Dome was turned into a giant hostel for over 5,000 participants to sleep in during the course of the event.

Jean Lambert MEP (Green, London) inter alios at the School of Oriental and African Studies during a fringe meeting of the ESF on the situation in Aceh, October 15, 2004. An Italian Senator Francesco Martone from the Greens was also in the audience (not shown).

Subhi al Mashadani, the leader of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, was due to speak in a meeting on the Iraq war, but never got to speak. He was shouted down by some members of the audience who felt he was collaborating with the occupation and surged towards the stage when he attempted to address the 2,000 strong audience. The ESF's security took no chances and dragged a furious Mashadani from the stage for his own protection. The "End the Occupation" session was stopped, a first in the history of the ESF.

Later in the day an intervention was made by some of those who had been involved with the autonomous spaces during a meeting on anti-fascism. They intended to invade the stage while the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone (who opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003 but is a member of the Labour Party which supported it) gave a speech. In fact, Ken Livingstone had already decided not to speak at the event, this being attributed by the National Assembly Against racism to threats from anarchists ^[1] but the intervention went ahead. Weyman Bennett, a steering member of Unite against Fascism and chair of the meeting claimed that he was assaulted by an anarchist. A banner was hung up stating "Ken's Party > War Party" and the stage was turned into an open-microphone event with speeches against the 'vertical' organisation of the ESF, the war in Iraq, and recent attacks on freedom of speech by the FBI (such as taking Indymedia servers down with international articles). After the intervention, the originally planned meeting about anti-fascism went ahead but with a reduced audience. This echoed attempts by anarchists to attack French Socialist Party speakers in the Paris forum, an attack that was stopped by security.

The end of the forum saw a massive international demonstration through central London and a rally at Trafalgar Square. However the Metropolitan Police arrested a number of anarchists on their way to this event. Also Javier Ruis was arrested at the Rally itself. He subsequently claimed that the West Essex Zapatista were responsible for the threats against Ken Livingstone, explaing that this was an example of Neoist Invisible Theatre ^[2]. The size of the rally was seen as a sign of its success as an event, though many European critics noted that all of the speakers were British and chosen by the British organisers. Estimations of the numbers present ranged from 70,000 to 100,000 people. Speakers called for an end to war, racism and privatisation. They advocated peace and social justice for Europe.

[edit] Fourth ESF

Athens ESF poster

The fourth European Social Forum was held in Athens, Greece on 4 - 7 May 2006. According to the organizers, more than 35,000 registered. The demonstration on 7 May, Saturday afternoon, was announced by the media to have a participation of 80,000 demonstrators, a record in Athens since the anti-war mobilisation on February 15, 2003. The demonstration showed that there was a contact between the global justice activists and the population of Athens.

In spite of widespread apprehension beforehand in the global justice movement, the Athens forum did not show that the process of the European Social Forum was running out of steam. The ESF in Athens was a success both for the Greek organizers and for the European global justice movement.