ESF in London: a celebration for all and an invitation from few horizontals




SUMMARY




This is a letter written by a few people who have been involved in the 'horizontals' movement for a more democratic and open European Social Forum. We are individuals from socialist, autonomist, anarchist, communist, environmentalist, spiritualist traditions sharing the principles of non-hierarchical, open, democratic organising. We wanted to make a few important points to the movement at large:




1. Following the decision of the European Assembly last weekend, the ESF will now take place in London, October 15-17, 2004.




2. After the organised intervention of UK and other European social forces, there IS space in the European Social Forum for all networks and individuals who want to see a better world.




3. This space needs people to exploit it. Without the involvement of grassroots networks of all types, of course the ESF will be bureaucratic, stale and uninspiring. We urge people to get involved to make the ESF positive and constructive.




4. We call for respect between all involved in the movement. For a brief moment at the European Assembly on March 6th/7th it seemed that this was possible - we want to try to keep open that possibility.




5. Specifically, there is an URGENT need for people trained in facilitation of large meetings using consensus. There is no point in us calling for fair and transparent facilitation if the people who are able to pass on such skills are not involved in the process. The ESF process is our chance to prove that a large-scale event can be organised using a process that moves towards 'another world' - we appeal for all to become involved.




**********************

March 10, 2004




Dear friends in all social movements, networks, NGOs, communities and unions. A group of us involved in the ESF ‘call for democracy’ and who identify with the spirit of what has been referred to as “the horizontals”, have decided to record our reflections on the extraordinary events of last weekend’s European Preparatory Assembly in London, 6-7 March. We want to tell you what happened and indicate some possible ways forward, as a contribution to a collective debate and to continuing to democratise the ESF.




What are we celebrating: the events at the European Preparatory Assembly




Over the past few months, hundreds of activists from a plurality of networks, groups and movements have tried, often in vain, to have their voices heard and respected in the ESF organising process. This process has been an open abuse of the WSF Charter of Principles and the very spirit of the Social Forum movement. Our efforts, and the resistance to them by the Greater London Authority, SWP and several trade union officials – who we have called ‘the verticals’ – has been documented in a log of evidence as well as Indymedia UK




Last weekend, at the European Assembly which would finally either accept or reject the London candidature for ESF 2004, the ‘verticals’ once again attempted to strong-arm activists into accepting their ways of working and organizing the ESF. We are now celebrating our collective dedication and dreams that made it possible to be heard and acknowledged as a political reality, a social force that demands respect. As the horizontals’ background document indicates, this social force is everywhere. Accounts will undoubtedly spring out from our email lists and independent media, so we will not attempt to summarise the events here. But what must be stated clearly is that this time, the tactics of the verticals did not work.




Controlling the meeting’s agenda from the chair did not work; changing the rules of who was allowed to speak did not work; and pointing fingers at people did not work. Accusing people who wanted to have their proposals for democracy and inclusion placed on the agenda as ‘amateur hooligans’ from the chair did not work. From now on, no chair in the ESF process will forget that for their authority to be respected, they have to respect the voices of everyone involved in organising the Forum, not just those wearing suits. And they will have to learn from the Italian trade unionist Luciano Muhlbauer, himself a Trotskyist, who refuted the chair’s assertion that none had been excluded in simple logic: “whenever someone does not feel included, there is exclusion, and that must be dealt with”. On Saturday our struggle for respect and inclusion was stigmatised from the chair as excluding others. Trade unionists should not have difficulty in recognising that this is the same rhetoric used by capitalists demanding their “right to manage” when workers struggle for dignity and go on strike!




For a number of reasons, the attempts to silence our demands for democracy and inclusion did not succeed. One factor was the great help we received from the European delegates. To most of these activists in social movements and trade unions alike, our demands for a fair and participatory process were just common sense. After all, these very principles are contained in the first three points of the WSF charter of principles to which we all subscribe by definition. Incredibly, as each European delegation came to the microphone, their focus was on the question of democracy, inclusion and process and not the GLA-SWP-trade union ‘budget’ and ‘venue’ proposal for London 2004. It became clear that if the proposal was going to be discussed, concessions on the issue of inclusion and democracy would have to be made. This made it immediately obvious that if anyone was going to block the ESF coming to London, it would be those who found democracy and inclusion in a social forum unpalatable.




As is often necessary, a lot of arm twisting and back room lobbying took place in order to get these ‘democracy-blockers’ to recognise the crisis of their own position. In this, we received support from some members of the Organising Committee, who not only enthusiastically endorsed our proposal to convene a process working group to finally deal with the issue of inclusion and democracy, but also helped put pressure onto others. They earned our respect. oOnly in their isolation did the ‘verticals’ reluctantly give up their obstruction.




Indeed, the "hug" between Chris Nineham of SWP/GR and Javier Ruiz from the Indymedia network symbolises our new beginning. To get to that symbolic gesture in front of the European Assembly on Sunday morning, a process working group was held, attended by about 80 people. What a transformation from December 16th when such a workshop was attended by less than 10 people! This demonstrates a valuable lesson: democratic and inclusive processes only become an issue for people when we organise around them. Although this working group did not have the time to address concrete issues of process, it did help to clarify who we – the horizontals - are: many of us are the same people who helped the Dockers of the RMT in their struggles and went to prison with them; many of us are among the 7 million workers represented by the TUC who do not accept such a distant relationship to our official representatives in the context of an open space such as the ESF; many of us organise countless campaigns and actions in loose networks but do not recognise ourselves in traditional organisations, trade unions or NGOs. We have our own ways of doing things, and simply demanded respect.




To move things on more concretely it was agreed that three delegates from the organising committee, three delegates from the call for democracy, and three European delegates, would spend a few hours discussing and amending the Organising Committee’s founding document. Although there was disagreement over whether this text had been originally passed by consensus or not, both sides agreed to disagree and move forward from there. From then on, the discussion was dotted with some difficult moments, but overall, it was a very smooth process. Issues were taken on board, differences were mapped or reconciled, amendments to the text were agreed, "I see your point" types of statements were used. Nobody with some experience in British politics could believe that these two different political worlds could sit down together and find a common way forward. The following day, Chris Nineham and Javier Ruiz "hugged" under some encouragement from the audience before each supported the amended version and hoped that mutual recognition and respect of difference could be a new beginning. Although it was clear to people on both sides that problems will emerge in the future, what seemed obvious was the public commitment to deal with the problems of inclusion and democracy constructively rather than keep procrastinating, thus building resentment and mistrust, instead of community and trust.







Our invitation to all the horizontals everywhere in the UK




Celebration however, is not reason for "de-mobilising" the horizontals. On the contrary, it should give us the spark for a renewed enthusiasm, in which we do what we are best at: fighting war and neoliberal capital through the building of local, national and transnational networks of resistance and the practical realisation of concrete alternatives.




We are inviting all communities, groups, loose networks, and local social forums to affiliate to this ESF process, and find their own ways to engage with others, to earn the respect of those who do not know them, and to meet the needs and desires of all. We made it clear in our meetings with the existing OC that money will not be a criterion of exclusion for any social forum, any social movement, and any network. If you have little money, test this agreement, make sure it is implemented, and certainly stay alert. Make the most of what we got this weekend by replacing cynicism with taking responsibility and commitment, despair with hope, empty and divisive ideological fights with standing up for respect and dignity. Affiliate and feel free to bring your own resources and energies, experience and skills, know how, creativity, enthusiasm and effects. Make the process of making an ESF in London your own responsibility; make the shortcomings of others your own opportunity to learn and to address your own shortcomings. Replace the competitive logic of capital with the co-operative spirit of communities. Help to reshape the meaning of politics through your creative engaging with the other, so the world can be reshaped.


Let all the horizontals, those inside and outside the organisations of the verticals, begin or continue working together. Let all communities, groups, and networks cross-fertilise and contaminate each other. Let us not be put off by the legitimate doubts that always cross the mind of any committed horizontal: "Is there really valuable political space at the ESF event that is available to us?" Maybe not, so you must get organized with others and create those spaces. "Are there enough horizontals able to commit to the whole process so that work done now will see fruition at the end?" Horizontals are everywhere, numbers are not a problem, though we will certainly have to deal with boulders along the journey to the final event. It is in this process of dealing with obstacles and in overcoming them that we reap the fruits of our endeavours. "How will the 'leaders' behave?" we might be wondering. Clearly, we will have to find ways to make them behave so that they respect the diversity of the voices in this movement.




We also invite those networks and movements who would rather stay out of the process to respect the ways and struggles of the many who have decided to affiliate. And vice versa, those networks and communities who have decided to affiliate, respect the ways and struggles of those whose traditions and views prevent them from participating in the process. We hope that those groups and people both inside and those outside the ESF organising process will decide to take part in the days of the ESF in London in October, and will contribute to a constructive articulation between the two, a positive building of their complementarities, and not a divisive, ghettoising and self-defeating relation that will play into the hands of those who want to criminalize our movements and our struggles for alternatives.




Concrete Next Steps


We not only invite. We need also to insist on what we perceive are important priorities we need to address if we want not only to extend our movements and networks, but also to hold together its different parts through mutual respect and enrichment. Dialogue and debate can only exist given skilful, experienced, and impartial facilitation. Chairs of meetings, especially meetings in which decisions are made, have the highest responsibility to find creative ways to include the demands of all. They have the highest responsibility because they have the greatest power to select issues, to move forward or step back, which is effectively to include and exclude, to articulate the diversity of needs and demands of the meeting. To chair in an inclusive way is certainly ridded with difficulty and challenges, and we all have to learn through experience. But what is certain is that it is not compatible with blackmail and manipulation, pushing the agenda no matter what, repeating and reiterating the same patterns of exclusions.




But here already, as horizontals, we are facing a first difficulty. At present, we do not think that in our movement there are enough people trained in the basic skills of proper democratic and inclusive chairing and facilitating that are needed in the upcoming months. The culture gap among different traditions of chairing in this country is reflected in a skills gap. Many people with experience of chairing, however "nice" they are, simply do not know how to facilitate a diverse assembly helping it to search for consensus. It is obvious to us that the traditional chairing of political meetings in this country is geared towards either non-decisional meetings, or decisional meetings structured around voting.




There are a variety of techniques and know-how available, and surely we need to adapt them to our own circumstances. We urge all who have gained this experience to share it with us all, to get in touch with social fora and other networks. We urge you to help organise workshops, and to possibly get yourselves organised in a network and let us all know how to get in touch with you. We urge because we believe it is very urgent. We cannot afford to have created a space of recognition for our ideals, and then be unable to provide the human resources to make those ideals a reality.




We also propose to have a series of meetings in different towns to start a participatory process. The aim of these meetings would be to have a grassroots consultation on what people expect, demand and desire from the ESF, and how they can contribute.

We particularly encourage the participation of groups working on issues that are currently being pushed to the margins of the ESF. These include environmentalism, self-organisation, anti-racism, communications, alternative economics, and free software and technologies.



In the immediate future, we will not only be helping to find the spaces and resources to create ESF 2004, but organizing to ensure that the following principles are actually brought to life in the process:




The friendly separation of the political organizing process from the GLA, in line with the WSF Charter

The holding of organizing meetings in different sites and centres of social struggle to simultaneously include every sector of our movement and show solidarity with them

The reduction of the proposed entrance fees to ESF 2004 to ensure the participation of all

The organisation of a Youth Space

The promotion, within the ESF process, of a culture and a practice of constructive engagement with creative self-organising coming from all sections of the movement




Please do add, complement and engage with these ideas and proposals on our lists and independent media.




In solidarity




Mariangela Casalucci

Massimo De Angelis

Stuart Hodkinson

Javier Ruiz

Matt Sellwood

Laura Sullivan