Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Changes Must be Made for the Next ESF - Greece 2006.

Harry Hamlet | 17.10.2004 18:35 | European Social Forum | Analysis

What is needed more than anything is unity, and participation of all groups, in an honest and open organising process. Deliberate sabotage should not be tolerated. That those who destroyed the organising process may have had a hand in police arresting activists who were only trying to seek a voice and be heard within the ESF is shocking.

The latest reports from today's demonstration are disturbing. If demo-stewards have colluded with the police to cause the arrest of at least 12 activists (Radio Rampart) it marks a low point in the ESF process.

It also highlights the huge difference in consciousness and politics between centralist bureaucrats and their supporters and grass-roots anti-authoritarians.

That the billed organisers of the demonstration were, according to today's news reports BBC, Stop the War and CND, and not, instead of the ESF, exemplifies how centrists high-jacked the event for their own purposes.

The organising process conspired to exclude anti-authoritarians, and genuine activists who opposed the controlling click. Those in this clique have been motivated to boost there own long-failing and shrinking organisations. The irony of all this is that as groups become smaller they will become more aggressive in trying to hold on to bureaucratic power.

Sadly, this ruling clique became minions to the GLA when they gave a 400,000 grant. This meant eh event took ’a more commercial footing’ and booked commercial services. A correct model for the organisation of the would be for the participants to provide services where possible. This of course requires unity in the organising process, which the centrists deliberately sabotaged to gain control

Capitalism must be kept out of future ESF, and an inclusive and participatory approach must be followed, otherwise ESF will just become a social democratic political party, and they have failed.

Can anything be done to change the process, which is strangling a burgeoning movement. The answer is yes, and the actions of anti-authoritarians, in their protest on Saturday evening 'storming the place' and today's on the demonstration will surely, help.

The current rules of the ESF could be enforced, but they are being flouted. Rules about the power of sponsors need clarifying, and the numbers of anyone organisation, in any decision making process, needs to be limited. What sort of democracy is it when 50 members of the SWP turn up at a meeting to turn voting, that shouldn't even be taking place, this way or that.

The lesson for Greece in 2006 is: What is needed more than anything is unity, and participation of all groups, in an honest and open organising process. Deliberate sabotage should not be tolerated. That some of those who destroyed the organising process may have had a hand in police arresting activists who were only trying to seek a voice and be heard within the ESF is shocking.

Harry Hamlet

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Voting!

17.10.2004 21:35

You dont mean that they actually allowed SWP members to vote do you? That is shocking, imagine if that continued we might be exposed for the tiny pathetic bunch we are. Better keep anyone from voting unless they agree with us, thats real democracy!

Sonic


Funding

18.10.2004 00:38

I'm sorry, but I don't get this fuss about the GLA's £500,000 funding for the ESF. Both Florence and Paris were funded by their respective local authorities - Paris, notably by six times the amount of London.

This 'purist' notion of what the ESF should have been troubles me - surely the whole point of such forums is bringing the widest range of progressives together to debate with each other and build alliances? But then, I never 'got' the anarcists anyway. Mind you, that's probably because the only ones I've met were smacked-out fourty-something crusties sharking drunk fifteen year olds in Bradford nightclubs.

As for vertical/horizontal differences, I have no problem with both groups existing and expressing ideas - it would be a poorer place without them. The Left in this country has been involved in pointless doctrinaire infighting for over fifty years - and look where that has got us. But since the Social Forum movement has started, that is (very) slowly changing.

Kid Penfold


Comment

18.10.2004 00:54

The 12 people possibly arrested were trying to disrup the speakers, I personally would have been quite happy to let the police arrest these brainless assholes

Tonga


Comment missies the point

18.10.2004 11:35

Penfold's comment misses the point.

The problem with the GLA's £500,000 funding for the ESF is not the amount but what it bought them: the autocratic management of the event, which is the way the Ken's Socialist Action assiatants do things for him. They took charge of the organising process with the agreement of a large faction. It also allowed them to place speakers at Plenary events, and give a slice of the action to the SWP who danced to their tune. Consensus was ignored, minorities were alienated and excluded.

The grants given in Paris, and Florence were in comparison given unconditionally, so previous ESF's were orgainised and controlled by the movement itself.

How this effected the event itself will we determined by the reports of those who attended.

Pete


London an inclusive European Social Forum

18.10.2004 13:03

This has been an inclusive and well attended European Social Forum.

The ESF Solidarity Fund enabled many delegates to attend from Eastern Europe and the Global South.

Refugees and Asylum Seekers were able to attend for free.

20,000 delegates were able to travel for free in London.

The Wombles chose to walk away from the ESF after Alaxandra Palace had been provisionaly booked.

SWP members are activists in their workplace, union, community and campaigns.

Lets work together to build on the success of the European Social Forum in London.

trade unionist


Florence - Paris - London

18.10.2004 15:11

I was in Florence and in Paris and i did'nt come to London,
because i felt it would be worse than in Paris...

In Firenze it was a special moment on unity,because:
- the antiwar mouvement against Bush had to be born there and

- It was also a cultural fight against Berlusconi inwhich all
the italian center to radical left was of one mind. There
were old people thanking us, like some kind of common
antifascist partisans. In the final concert we saw all the
sponsors e.g. from old wealthy families of the region,
millionäres beeing proud for enabling this event to happen
and thus making it possible to show,that the death of Carlo Guliani
had nothing to do with the denouncing propaganda lies of
berlusconi against the mouvement.

In Paris allready the local activists which we interviewed
befor ethe ESF were quite against the whole thing, telling
us that this was election propaganda of the left parties
against the Chirac UDF,for those parties ( socialist and
communists) were in the local governements of the quarters
where the 2. ESF was held.They were so much mistrusting
any action coming from the ESF, that they even did not
believe in the honesty of the squating that was spontanously
organised out of the GLAD space "soit disant" for the
local sans papiers.

As i heared how the decision for London was made, i knew
that i would not want to be in the 3. ESF.

It is shurely nessecary to find better ways, but such a
mass event in a big city in the capitalist system is
not possible without thinking about money and as
somebody said : "when money talks bullshit walks",
or shall we meet i summer somewhere, where we halftime
work together for the finances? where is this ?

I would have loved if there could have been a decision
for a European action day against the destruction of
the social rights all over and also against the ongoing
war....but this was not possible it seems. I knew i would
not be able to change this by coming to London.

greetings from berlin

Ruth

Ruth Luschnat


Hurrah!!!!!

18.10.2004 20:16

"This has been an inclusive and well attended European Social Forum."

Hurrah!!!!! It was so inclusive that a group of grass roots activists invaded it ....... Heh, and the cops were there in numbers too, thats inclusive........

"The ESF Solidarity Fund enabled many delegates to attend from Eastern Europe and the Global South."

Hurrah!!!!! And then some of them got turned away at border posts, along with Babels volunteers........

"Refugees and Asylum Seekers were able to attend for free."

Hurrah!!!! Except of course for the £10 they had to pay at registration.

"20,000 delegates were able to travel for free in London."

Hurrah!!!!!There were only 19,000 and as it goes, their travelcards cost them either £30, £20 or £10 ....... free used to mean "for no money"

"The Wombles chose to walk away from the ESF after Alaxandra Palace had been provisionaly booked."

Hurrah!!!!!The organisers chose to impose their corporate, trot agenda on the proceedings, thus alienating many groups including the wombles.......



"SWP members are activists in their workplace, union, community and campaigns."

Hurrah!!!! But mostly they sell dodgy literature outside supermarkets on a Saturday morning. And sometimes they get a nice green vest and get to be psuedo-pigs for the day at SWP dominated A-B marches

"Lets work together to build on the success of the European Social Forum in London."

Hurrah!!!!Indeed, lets show just how removed grass root activists are from the deluded SWaPpies that rant on, and on, and on , and on, - If you think tthe ESF was a success, I hate to think what it would have had to be, to be a failure.

ftp


*sigh

18.10.2004 23:32



"Hurrah!!!!! It was so inclusive that a group of grass roots activists invaded it .......

Nice one, you invading it shows it was not inclusive, nice circular logic there.


"Hurrah!!!!! And then some of them got turned away at border posts, along with Babels volunteers........"

The SWP control the UK borders, now that is news.

.

"20,000 delegates were able to travel for free in London."

"Hurrah!!!!!There were only 19,000"

Wow a whole thousand out, thanks for pointing out that dangerous misinformation there.



"Hurrah!!!!!The organisers chose to impose their corporate, trot agenda on the proceedings, thus alienating many groups including the wombles"

You were always going to walk out, your lot did the same at the 1st ESF in Florence (although then the big bad wolves were RF, and the second one in Paris (French CP to blame) dont pretend that you were ever going to particpate.

Its amusing that there are no reports or numbers on your little event, I wonder why?

Sonic


Such bitchiness

22.10.2004 12:43

god, what's up with you lot? some people are trying to make rational observations of the event, others are into justifying their unions participation in the proceedings, and others are simply hacking others down. Me, i'll throw down the gauntlet by simply saying i was disappointed by the lack of new radical groups at the forum - i understand why people like the Wombles chose to boycott the event, but not sure i agree - being present at the same evvnt as Red Ken does not necessarily mean you agree with him. As for the old Marxist left (SWP etc), they're alwasy to be expected at any sort of event where they might get new members, which as far as i can see is all they do. i've never seen or heard or know of them fighting in unions, in councils or anywhere for labour rights etc. and to clear up a small understanding about the cost of transport - all weekend delegates received a free weekend travel-card for London. so once you made it to alexandria palace, transport was free from then. if i was going to complain, i'd make remarks about some of the shoddy translators. but like someone said, i'll see you all at the g8. may you live in interesting times. over and out

tylermb


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech