Mobilising for the European Social forum

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday July 04, 2002 16:23 by Nora Geraghty - Globalise Resistance

Report on meeting 2nd July 2002

The European Social Forum runs from the 7th-10th November 2002, in Florence, Italy, with a demonstration in support of immigrants organised for the 6th, the day before the Forum begins. On Tuesday 2nd July the first meeting to mobilise an Irish contingent for this event was held in the Teachers Club.

A broad group of people came together on Tuesday last to discuss mobilising for the European Social Forum. At a glance around the room the variety was encouraging. Apart from Globalise Resistance (who organised the meeting) the attendance included members of the Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Labour Party, Green Party, SIPTU, the NUJ, the Irish Anti-War Movement and the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Group. What was even more encouraging was that as the meeting went on it became apparent that we were in agreement with each other for the most part, and that those points on which there was some dissension were not going to get in the way of our common enthusiasm for the European Social Forum and all it represents to us.

The meeting kicked off at around 7.45pm with Joe Carolan speaking of the need to bring together the different strands of the global movement in the spirit of the World Social Forum, which took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February. 60,000 people came together at Porto Alegre to discuss how best to organise against the corporations that are wrecking our public services and our planet, how to tackle the third world debt and how to combat the desperate inequality that is being created by neo-liberal economic policies around the world.

In the aftermath of this meeting it was decided that, as many Europeans could not afford to go to Brazil, a European version should be held in Florence, Italy, where the Anti-Capitalist Movement is very strong. In preparation for this event two huge halls have been booked, each with a capacity to hold 9000 people, and 24 smaller rooms each with a capacity for 2-3000.

In the mornings there will be huge conferences focusing on issues such as fascism and the rise of the right-wing throughout Europe; war and the struggle for peace; refugees and human rights abuses, and environmental issues. In the late afternoons there will be public demonstrations on a range of issues and in the evenings there will be cultural events, world music and showing of films. The European Social Forum will run from the 7th to the 10th of November 2002, .

The discussion was slow to begin, but when it did it was lively and interesting with many people speaking eloquently about their ideas and concerns. All seemed to agree that the time has come for us to unite under the banner of a broad movement and fight against the forces that are wrecking our world, and that in order to do that it will be necessary for us to put aside minor differences and open up a dialogue between left-wing groups, environmentalists, trade unions, peace activists and concerned individuals.

The only real point of dissension was the Nice Treaty, as many people take very different standpoints on this for their own reasons. However, it was agreed that whatever your opinion on the treaty, the issues involved will soon become live issues in Ireland as the second referendum is scheduled for the autumn.

The main focus of this meeting, of course, was to organise a planning strategy for bringing together groups and individuals, getting the word out there, organising sponsorship, transport and accommodation. Volunteers were soon found to do the various jobs which need to be done, and it was agreed that another meeting should be held in about a months time to see how far we’ve come.

We fervently hope that the next meeting will attract a much bigger crowd, and that we can go to the European Social forum in November as a large Irish contingent. It has to be said that Ireland is lagging far behind some of its European neighbours when it comes to mobilising large numbers of people against the wrongs being inflicted on them and their brothers and sisters in other countries. Perhaps the European Social Forum can provide a focus which we in Ireland can use to work together and to learn to tolerate our traditional differences with a view to presenting real opposition to our common enemies.