European Social Forum looks east (anti-capitalist, anti-war confab in Paris is gaga for intifada)

European Social Forum looks east
by Arthur Neslen in Paris
Friday 14 November 2003 3:43 PM GMT

From all over Europe they came, idealists, activists, dreamers and revolutionaries, but their sights were set on events in the Middle East.

Iraq and Palestine dominated debate among the 50,000 delegates at the European Social Forum (ESF) in Paris, as the gathering spontaneously caught fire on its second day.

“This forum is creating a space for the Palestinian narrative that is not available in the mainstream,” the Palestinian civil society spokesman Mustafa Barghouti told AlJazeera.net.

“With the efforts of the ESF to re-energize it, the international solidarity movement will soon regain its momentum.”

The forum, which is fast becoming the global protest movement’s collective think tank, saw hundreds of delegates queuing in the road, unable to get into packed meetings on the Palestinian struggle.

In one, Barghouti told a rapt audience that the Intifada was taking on a new urgency because the Separation Wall and settlement expansions were imperilling the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.

“This is not just another year in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or a ‘lets come back and discuss it next year’ situation,” he implored. “This is a crucial moment in our history and we need your presence on every check-point”.

The futuristic La Villette conference hall may be a world away from the streets of Ramallah, but it was through the ESF that Barghouti’s proposal for the recent November 9th day of action against the Separation Wall was organised.

This year’s debates, and the links that activists make here, will almost certainly inspire more such actions, and more campaigners to make the journey to the occupied territories.

In the next week though, thousands of Europeans at the forum are first booking their places on coaches to London for a state visit by President Bush.

With up to 100,000 protestors expected to jam the capital’s streets, the demonstration is fast becoming a trial of strength for the British – and European – anti-war movements.

After initially declaring a London-wide exclusion zone, under pressure from US security services, the British authorities have now agreed to allow the protest, which includes the toppling of an 18ft high statue of Bush, to take place in Trafalgar Square.

But protestors will still be barred from Westminster Bridge, Parliament Square and Whitehall.

Stop the War Coalition spokesman John Rees told Al Jazeera.net that demonstrators would not accept such restrictions. “It is in the best interests of public order that an effective demonstration is allowed to take place,” he said. “The current impasse between our groups and the police is the government’s fault.”

Rees later told a meeting that the anti-war message would be pressed home to Bush “with enormous force” next Thursday. Anti-war activists may hope London’s notoriously fickle skies stay clear on the day.

But while the continuing Iraqi resistance and ‘Vietnamisation’ affecting US forces enthused most delegates, some American activists were frustrated that they had been unable stop the conflict.

“We could mobilise hundreds of thousands in New York before the war started,” one complained, “but at the last protest there were barely 20,000.”

“Our movement was unique because it was pre-emptive,” another agreed. “We took a huge hit to our morale when the war started and we want to know how we can keep the momentum going now.” The consensus, eventually, was that the battle would be a long one.

“With every bomb that is dropped on my country, my heart leaks blood,” an Iraqi delegate told the hall. “I ask you to support the Iraqi people in uniting to save Iraq.”

Meanwhile, the activists streamed by outside on their way to workshops that ranged from ‘Muslims, Socialists and the anti-war movement: an unholy alliance?’ to ‘Sharing alphabets’ to ‘Can a healthy model of society emerge from a society mainly made up of neurotic people?’

Some found the wildly diverse mix of dissent and debate inspiring, others looked bewildered. All were intoxicated by the brew.

Significantly, the gnarly ‘reform versus revolution’ question that has vexed dissidents for centuries began to emerge from the shadows of past forums into open debate. The issue was posed in terms of ‘taking power’ or becoming a ‘counter-power’

At the ‘Perspectives for the anti-globalisation movement’ debate, Chris Nineham of Globalise Resistance and the UK’s Socialist Workers Party said the time was right to begin discussing the issue of state power.

“Neo-liberalism is now so discredited that we can start to talk about strikes for nationalisation,” he said, “but we have to go further and begin discussing new and more democratic models of organising the workplace that are rooted in struggle. ”

However, Pierre Khalfa of the French group ATTAC warned that the ESF had traditionally been a space for debate and abandoning that position could be divisive. “We don’t intend to occupy power and this enables us to have a space in civil society. If we try to take power we will cause a rift within ourselves.”

Another Europe may indeed be possible, as the ESF slogan says, but what it might look like is still being fought out in the bars, cafes and conference centres of northern Paris.

Leftist protests jam Paris streets
by Arthur Neslen in Paris
Sunday 16 November 2003 7:41 AM GMT

The streets of Paris were brought to a halt in a blaze of colour, music and optimism as 100,000 people demonstrated against capitalist globalisation at the end of the second European Social Forum.

“The message of our protest is that we want a Europe that has rights for all its citizens in a world without war,” Pierre Khalfa, a march organiser told Aljazeera.net on Saturday.

But there were clashes between members of the French Socialist Party and an Anarchist block on the demonstration, in which tomatoes, eggs, fists and bottles were thrown.

Pierre Khalfa played down its significance. “There were some little incidents between uncontrolled elements and the Socialist Party,” he said, “but no real problems”.

Tensions remain high between traditional leftwing groups and "direct action" activists who believe that an anti-globalisation movement they kick-started is now being taken over by institutional parties.

Confrontations

The three-day European Social Forum, which preceded the demonstration, saw confrontations between stewards and autonomists, and activists said there were several high profile actions against unpopular targets.

Protesters outraged by the involvement of French air lines in deporting asylum seekers occupied the offices of Air France, leading to three arrests, and it took riot police firing tear gas to break up a demonstration outside Olympic Airlines.

At one point, the Greek embassy was also occupied for three hours in a protest supporting Simon Chapman, a British anti-globalisation activist on hunger strike in Athens.

The vast majority of the march through Paris, though, took place in a carnival-like atmosphere. Giant puppets, earth-shaped balloons and a huge inflatable GM corn-on-the-cob cut a swathe through the Parisian boulevards as demonstrators from across Europe vented their anger over a range of issues.

Marching for Palestine

One section of the march carried 30m-high grey polystyrene blocks in a representation of the so-called apartheid wall being built by Israel across the West Bank.

“The wall is cutting off the lives of Palestinians,” said Haima, a 23-year-old Parisian student, holding up one block. “To see the reality of the wall has more meaning for people than to read about it in the papers.”

Lina Jamol, a 25-year-old researcher of Syrian origin who lives in London, said she was also marching for Palestine.

“I want our governments to impose sanctions on Israel, enforce the Israel-EU trade agreement, which states that goods from the occupied territories must be labelled, and end the arms embargo against the Palestinians,” she said.

“I would also like to think that people in the Arab world will be excited when they see demonstrations like this, because it shows that Western people aren’t turning a blind eye to the Palestinians, even if their governments are.”

Western hypocrisy

However, some voices on the march were frustrated by what they felt was the hypocrisy of Western liberal societies, particularly their treatment of Muslim women.

“Power is power and there are hierarchies even here,” said Zana, a 24-year-old Kurdish PhD student from Turkey. “France is a racist society masked by sweet patriotism.”

“They wear a nice mask but they will still not allow women wearing a veil to enter state institutions. To me, the European model is pure fascism.”

For Zana, the march was about asserting his own cultural and sexual identity. “Although I’m a Turkish citizen, I’m also Kurdish and I came here today because I’m afraid that Kurdistan could become the next Israel.”

“But I’m also here because I’m gay and the equal treatment of sexual minorities is a meaningful topic for me.”

Diversity

To those outside it, the sheer diversity of the movement can sometimes make it seem unfocussed but to the protesters in Paris, the issues were straightforward.

“The message of the march is peace,” said Anu, a volunteer with a group called Mother Earth who had travelled from Paris. “It feels as if there’s something special in the air”.

Andy, a 35-year-old railway worker from London agreed. “It’s an air of possibility,” he said. When I asked him to be more specific, he paused for thought.

“George Bush couldn’t have picked a worse time to come to London,” he said.

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European Social Forum puts pressure on Europe's power elite (100,000 commies on parade in Paris) ^
			Posted by Stultis On 11/16/2003 7:41 AM CST with 5 comments AFP via TerraDaily ^ \| 15 November 2003 European Social Forum puts pressure on Europe's power elite PARIS (AFP) Nov 15, 2003 Tens of thousands of opponents of war, discrimination and corporate greed from more than 60 countries paraded through Paris Saturday in a show of grassroots force to Europe's power elite. Winding up a four-day European Social Forum that drew some 50,000 participants and more than 200 organizations, according to organizers, the marchers blew whistles, sang and played music under the banner of "For a Europe of rights in a war-free world". The purpose of the ESF was to focus public debate, particularly on