OFFICIAL MIUTES START

Please find attached

1 - minutes of UK Organising Committee meeting of 12 February

and the attachments referred to in the minutes:

2 - Amended UK ESF Organising Committee Statement

3 - Kurdish Federation Paper



1 -

Minutes of the ESF UK Organising Committee

12 February, City Hall 5.30-8pm



The meeting was chaired by Maureen O’Mara (NATFHE) and Alex Gordon (RMT). The

proposed agenda was agreed.

There were around 50 “representatives” present, an attendance list was circulated and should be attached to the minutes but never is. The meeting sat round a square table with co-chairs and Redmond O`Neil + GLA officers also, Anna T(G.W. Strike) managed to insert herself between these and Workers Power + also managed to get a top spot.

The meeting was chaired in a style which allowed a certain amount of free debate, whilst pushing through items that seemed to have been previously agreed beforehand.

It is difficult to summarise the “forces” in the room, but I would estimate around 1/3 of attendees were SWP in various guises, GR/MAR/NUS/MoI/Culture Group/attac Birmingham?/Kurdish Rep/, around 1/3 were from Unions divided HQ/some branch delegations e.g. London Unison who were making some interesting but disregarded points. Last 1/3 others, NGOs (FoE/CND/WDM) + Workers Power/CPGB who held a strong voice and others, independant voices who were allowed to make some interesting points in debate before being disregarded.



1 Minutes of the previous meeting (5 February) and matters arising

Bank a/c

It was noted that the application form for the bank a/c would be sent to the

Co-op Bank on 13 February.



(Comment, this means that no one has paid affiliation fees at present and thus probably legally and constitutionally structureless at present)



Affiliation fees

It was agreed that affiliation fees should be defined according to size and

membership of the organisations and that the Co-ordinating Committee would

develop a proposal for the next UKOC meeting.



(This arose from a discussion where a number of people were asking for clarification and how to affiliate as a local/poor organisation seeking dispensation from the £50)



UK ESF Organising Committee Statement

It was suggested that the statement be re-circulated following the agreed

amendments at the previous meeting.



Logo

Noel Douglas (Movement of the Imagination) will have different possible

designs ready to be presented to the Organising Committee in two weeks time.



There was no debate or discussion about this, many of us couldn`t be bothered, (we could for example argue for a collective effort, project, brainstorming etc) No the “job” is going/”being procured” apparently from the SWP. Logo etc will of course be reproduced on everything and maybe even “official” poster etc. The SWP have sought and presently won control over the ESF visual aesthetic.



Legal structure

Proposals for a legal structure are currently being considered by lawyers. A

report will be made at the next meeting.



Kurdish Federation Paper

The Kurdish Federation paper referred to in the minutes of the meeting of 5th

February will be circulated.



Establishment of Co-ordinating Committee

Jeremy Dewar proposed a constitution for the Co-ordinating Committee. It was

agreed this would be discussed at the next meeting.



Right of exclusion

It was agreed that the Co-ordinating Committee would propose a code of

practice and present it to the next Organising Committee meeting for approval.



There was a long and acrimonious discussion (45 minutes?) about the previous days Coordinating Committee where GLA/some unions/SWP had sought to get certain journalists excluded from the meeting, (all the meeting for SWP, only sensitive matters for the others) It was agreed that two journalists and members of CPGB/WP) should be excluded after an interesting debate where some were arguing for trust to be developed, others that information will circulate freely anyway so exclusion is ludicrous, others that this was a disguised attempt to silence some political parties.

Eventually Tina/Jeremy were excluded (alun left in Solidarity) for the fundraising item.

So the outcome of the debate in the OC was an agreement that a Code of Practice specifying when non affliates or journalists could be excluded should be developed.



Matters Arising Web Site

There was a longish discussion about this but nothing is minuted. Briefly the GLA had received the communication from Babels and Paris ESF Web developers/Mumbai and had been forced to agree to look at open source solution and will have a meeting around the March Euro ESF meeting with the web developers.



2. Venue

A number of options were discussed with availability dependent on the date of

the ESF being agreed by the nest European Preparatory Assembly. It was agreed

that a preferred option on venue and date would be decided upon once the

Alexandra Palace feasibility study has been completed and presented to the

Organising Committee.





A long debate where various options were discussed, I can`t remember all the details but an interesting intiative coming from Movement of the Imagination/SWP LSF and culture group (SWP) for a second site or alternative site in Bloomsbury using Univ + buildings/open spaces as this is more conducive to a cultural festival at the same time. The GLA are organising a feasibility study I think from Workers beer Company which is being paid for. The SWP are putting a lot of effort into venue discussions and research.

Can other people fill in other info, comments



3. Fundraising and 4. Registration

A discussion took place regarding differing registration levels. It was

agreed that the Co-ordinating Committee will develop proposals for

registration fees and that all members will consult their organisations over

the appropriate levels.



A number of issues were discussed in relation to ensuring accessibility to the

ESF, including negotiating for reduced price transport passes, disabled access

and childcare. It was agreed that these issues would need to be addressed by

future meetings of the Organising Committee.



A long discussion about money, still none forthcoming from the unions so priority is now being given to the registration fees to fund a big proportion of the ESF. (A figure between £30-£40 (€45 – 60) i.e. Three to four times the Paris entrance fee) is being put forward. The GLA/Unions/SWP expressed concern about the levels of discretionary fees given in France where apparently 60% of delegates got a reduction. Various, some xenophobic comments were made about this issue, “The Italians/French haven`t got a Glastonbury culture, £75 for the weekend, too used to free local government/state funded support, they will need to learn to pay.” There was some acceptance that reductions needed to be offered but that the traditional 20% would be sufficient, and a long discussion about not excluding making the ESF affordable. Other people will have additions.



5. Involvement of Political Party Representatives



It was noted that World Social Forum Charter of principles excludes

representatives of political parties from participation in the process. The UK

ESF Organising Committee is based upon acceptance of the WSF Charter of

Principles. Representatives of political parties therefore cannot be delegates

to the UK ESF Organising Committee.



Roberto Ferdinand from the Brazilian Council of the World Social Forum spoke

of the purpose of the WSF process and clarified that any change to the WSF

Charter of Principles would have to be agreed by the next WSF. He clarified

that the WSF is a process involving organisations and social movements of

civil society not delegates from political parties or governments. Members of

parties can participate as representatives of organisations and social

movements of civil society.



It was noted that the WSF website states that “the governments that host the

WSF events can be partners in organising them. Members of governments and

parliaments may be invited to take part in a personal capacity, providing they

agree to abide by the Charter of Principles.”

[ http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.asp?id_menu=15&cd_language=2]

In that context, it was agreed to invite the Greater London Authority to

participate as a partner in organising the ESF in London.



There was a long discussion about this with the GLA (Redmond O`Neil) and SWP very involved. In fact Roberto Ferdinand spelled out very clearly that this wasn`t a movement for Government or Parties, he went as far as to very strongly say we shouldn`t be even meeting in the GLA building. There was no, absolutely no debate about the role of the GLA and the agreement to ask the GLA to formally partner was pushed through while nobody noticed. A very Sad moment for the movement.



6. Programme Group Meeting 16 February

It was noted that no consensus was reached at the final meeting of group set

up on 12/13 December on proposals for ground rules and structure of the new

programme group, which will hold its first meeting on 16 February at 5.30pm at

Unison headquarters. It was agreed to refer the written report of the work of

the previous group to that meeting.



The meeting was running out of time at this point so this was not discussed.

There was absolutely no discussion of the role of the Culture Group.



7. UK ESF Organising Committee meeting 29 February

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Organising Committee will take

place on Sunday 29 February at City Hall 12 – 4 pm. The purpose of the

meeting will be to agree the proposal that to be presented to the European

preparatory meeting.



A proposal to hold a future meeting of the UK ESF OC in Birmingham will be put

to the 29 February meeting.



A number of people pleaded to be more inclusive by holding meetings outside of London, Tyneside was mentioned, and away from oppressive GLA building



8. European preparatory meeting 6 & 7 March

It was agreed that the meeting will be held at City Hall, The Queen’s Walk,

London SE1 2AA from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday 6th March and from 10 am to 1 pm on Sunday 7th March 2004.



This was not discussed or agreed, or if it was it was agreed after the meeting when people were getting ready to leave and putting their coats and hats on .In other words as well as manipulating meetings the GLA/SWP/some Unions are now going as far as falsifying minutes!



It was agreed that organisations will look into alternative venues for future

meetings and send practical proposals, including capacity, cost, etc to the Co-

ordinating Committee.

_________________________________________________________________________