ESF news: ESF Day 1
After a few initial hesitations, delays in registrations, computer problems, (very) long queues and stalls still being set up, the 4th ESF has now taken full speed this afternoon. A working atmosphere for those involved in seminars and workshops, joyful celebrations for old activist friends meeting each other again after one and a half year (the last one was in London in October 2004), campaigners’ optimism for others. As usual, all kinds of papers can be found everywhere n the forum, for people try to promote the best they can their organisation and their activities. The result is that most people usually throw these papers away, anywhere, and without reading them (because they had been forced to take them). This obviously creates massive waste, which I am not sure it does actually go in the recycle bin as the environmental management of the forum does not seem so successful.
This is not new: radical leftist groups are this year again very present. This is obvious as soon as you enter the ESF site: revolution is everywhere. It is also very much reflected in the programme of the forum itself. Green organisations and pluralistic or apolitical NGOs are clearly a minority at this forum. The risk of this trend is that the ESF process be more and more associated with the political ideology of radical socialism, when in fact the original idea of the social fora was to propose a space for free speech and constructive dialogue to different groups, networks and initiatives of civil society. A large part of that risk lies in the probable simplistic treatment that the media will make of such an information.
Today, Friends of the Earth Europe have directly been involved in one workshop on the WTO’s Non-Agricultural Market Access Negotiations (NAMA). The workshop was successful, approximately 10 very "participative participants" attended and the discussion was lively, thanks notably to the great input of Andrea Baranes from Campagna Riforma Banca Mondiale and Mary Lou Malig from Focus on the Global South. Pictures of the event and Charly’s own presentation (the impact of NAMA on natural resources) will be posted separately.
Other activities organised today by the Seattle to Brussels (S2B) Network included seminars on a) trade negotiations in services, Bolkestein and public services and b) EU Regional Trade Agreements. Reports of these activities will be sent tomorrow if available.
The S2B network will again have an internal meeting tomorrow at lunchtime (we had a first meeting today) to discuss its participation and its input in the “public services pool” (a sort of new network of organisations concerned by public services) and in the “assembly of social movements” (a process traditionally linked to the ESF where joint international campaigns or actions are being discussed and decided upon).
This is not new: radical leftist groups are this year again very present. This is obvious as soon as you enter the ESF site: revolution is everywhere. It is also very much reflected in the programme of the forum itself. Green organisations and pluralistic or apolitical NGOs are clearly a minority at this forum. The risk of this trend is that the ESF process be more and more associated with the political ideology of radical socialism, when in fact the original idea of the social fora was to propose a space for free speech and constructive dialogue to different groups, networks and initiatives of civil society. A large part of that risk lies in the probable simplistic treatment that the media will make of such an information.
Today, Friends of the Earth Europe have directly been involved in one workshop on the WTO’s Non-Agricultural Market Access Negotiations (NAMA). The workshop was successful, approximately 10 very "participative participants" attended and the discussion was lively, thanks notably to the great input of Andrea Baranes from Campagna Riforma Banca Mondiale and Mary Lou Malig from Focus on the Global South. Pictures of the event and Charly’s own presentation (the impact of NAMA on natural resources) will be posted separately.
Other activities organised today by the Seattle to Brussels (S2B) Network included seminars on a) trade negotiations in services, Bolkestein and public services and b) EU Regional Trade Agreements. Reports of these activities will be sent tomorrow if available.
The S2B network will again have an internal meeting tomorrow at lunchtime (we had a first meeting today) to discuss its participation and its input in the “public services pool” (a sort of new network of organisations concerned by public services) and in the “assembly of social movements” (a process traditionally linked to the ESF where joint international campaigns or actions are being discussed and decided upon).
posted by Charly @ 00:35
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