Invitation to participate in the European Social Forum

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday June 04, 2002 20:48 by Globalise Resistance globalise_resistance at yahoo dot com 086 4098186

Mobilising from Ireland for the ESF

Below is the text of a letter and a leaflet that Globalise Resistance are circulating among groups and individuals in Ireland to initiate some discussion on mobilising for the European Social Forum from Ireland. A Planning Meeting is organised for: The Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Sq., Dublin 1. 7.30pm Tuesday july 2nd

Below is the text of a letter and a leaflet that Globalise Resistance are circulating among groups and individuals in Ireland to initiate some discussion on mobilising for the European Social Forum from Ireland.

A Planning Meeting is organised for:

The Teachers Club,
36 Parnell Sq., Dublin 1.
7.30pm Tuesday july 2nd

Everyone is welcome to attend. We hope it will be an opportunity to bring together the increasingly diverse groups opposing corporate globalisation in Ireland and build our links with the movement internationally.

This is the letter written by Joe Carolan from Globalise Resistance and we encourage everyone who is interested to distribute this invitation as widely as possible:

Invitation to participate in the
European Social Forum

Dear Friend,

Everyone has heard the term globalisation. It has become a code word through which the world has been opened up for the benefit of the big corporations. In its name we face a constant pressure to privatise our public services, to show more 'flexibility' at work, to pay for services we previously got for free. Up to now many people felt that nothing could be done about all these changes.
But in February 2002 the World Social Forum was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil. A staggering 60,000 people attended the forum and it became the focus for the growing global movement which wants to put people before profit and oppose racism and war. Out of Porto Alegre came the call for a European Social Forum to be held in Florence, Italy, from November 7th to 10th 2002.
This forum will be attended by tens of thousands of trade unionists, environmentalists, Third World debt campaigners and anti-capitalist activists. We expect that hundreds of people will join a large and lively Irish delegation.
We are writing to you because we need your help to make the European Social Forum meeting in Florence so large that its voice cannot go unnoticed by the people, press and politicians of Europe.
The Call of the Social Movements issued at Porto Alegre provides a general reference point for the ESF (See accompanying document).
The ESF will operate in an inclusive way by being open, all-embracing and transparent without having bureaucracies and committees and strives for agreement through consensus.
We want to get as many people as possible from Ireland to Florence. From all walks of life: trade unionists, anti war activists, environmentalists, small farmers, greens, socialists, people who care about the developing world, and individuals who are not part of a group but want to play their part.
On behalf of Globalise Resistance, I attended a planning meeting for the European Sopcial Forum in Vienna in May. I undertook to report back from this meeting and to help establish a broad Irish Mobilising Committee for the ESF. I would therefore like to invite every interested group or individual to come to a meeting on July 2nd to discuss organising the Irish ESF mobilisation.

Best regards, Joe Carolan

mobilising for the European Social Forum:
Planning Meeting:

Teachers Club,
36 Parnell Sq., Dublin 1.
7.30pm Tuesday july 2nd

Below is the text of a leaflet produced which includes a synopsis of the Porto Alegre Call of the Social Movements ( available in full on www.worldsocialforum.org)

What is the European Social Forum?

The European Social Forum will bring together thousands of people in Florence this autumn to oppose the free market and militarism, the policies which dominate the mainstream political agenda across Europe.
The idea for a European Social Forum was proposed at the World Social Forum (www.worldsocialforum.org) that took place in February in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
An incredible 60,000 people came together at Porto Alegre. They discussed how best to organise against the corporations that are wrecking our public services and our planet, how to tackle the nightmare of Third World Debt and how to end the desperate inequality that is being created by neo-liberal economic policies around the world.
The aim of the World Social Forum is to build a global movement that can stop militarism and the drive to war, and point the way towards a world in which people come before profit.
The European Social Forum will be based on the call of the social movements issued at Porto Alegre (a shortened version is reprinted overleaf). The first European wide planning meeting in Brussels issued an invitation to all trade unionsts, campaigning groups, peace activists and concerned individuals who agree with that call to get involved in organising the ESF.

The European Social Forum will be held in the Italian city of Florence from 7 to 10 November this year.
In the mornings there will be huge conferences. They will focus on issues like fascism, war and refugees. In the afternoons a broad range of organisations and networks will have their own forums and events.
Every evening will be filled with cultural events, music and film. There will also be demonstrations through Florence.
One demonstration in support of immigrants has been organised for the day before the forum begins, 6 November. There are plans to hold another demonstration against neo-liberalism and war.
The forum will be an opportunity to plan Europe-wide actions against war and in solidarity with Palestine. Preparations will also be made to protest against the meeting of the G8 which will take place in Paris in the summer of 2003.

Mobilising for the ESF in Ireland:

From Ireland a broad range of organisations are united in opposition to the corporate and military take-over of our world. The Irish Anti-war Movement; Human rights groups including AFRI, the Latin America Solidarity Campaign and One World Society; Environmental campaigners in Earthwatch; Prominent trade unionists like Pat Cahill, new vice-president of the ASTI and Jimmy Kelly, executive member of the ATGWU; political groups including the SWP, Socialist Party and Labour Youth, and many more, are already supporting the World Social Forum “call of the social movements”.
Globalise Resistance is helping to initiate the Irish delegation to Florence, and asks activists to forward and distribute widely the invitation to get involved in that delegation, to community groups, trade and student unions, environmental, social and human rights campaigning organisations, political groups and NGOs throughout Ireland.

Support the European Social Forum -
pass this resolution:
Get your organisation/trade union to pass this motion:
We welcome the organisation of a European Social Forum in Italy in November 2002.
We believe the ESF will be a unique chance for activists and trade unionists from across Europe to come together and discuss how to organise against free market policies and war.
We support the Call of the Social Movements issued by the second World Social Forum in Porto Allegre, Brazil earlier this year.
We will send a delegation to the European Social Forum in Italy.
We donate £______ to be split between the ESF and Globalise Resistance who are mobilising for the ESF from Ireland.
Please lodge any donations to Globalise Resistance, Bank of Ireland, 34 College Green, Account: 3524 7134, Sort code: 90 07 89