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news report
 Sunday November 10, 2002 16:16 by Nora Geraghty - Globalise Resistance
 The European Social Forum has been a resounding success, achieving 3 times the expected turnout for the conference itself, and 5 times the expected turnout for the Anti-War demonstration on Saturday. When we arrived in Florence on Wednesday, we were informed at the registration desk that there were already 27,000 people registered. The estimated number was around 20,000 for the entire weekend. By the evening of the second day there were 40,000 registered. It seemed that almost all of them were present at a rally held that night in the open air when we sang Banderia Rossa and the Internationale, under a sea of waving red flags, as the sun went down. A very emotional scene that reflected the mood of everyone there. Friday saw a massive gathering of Globalise Resistance activists from all over the globe, including a moving speech by Micheal Albert from the USA, who spoke of a world where children are no longer brought up to be afraid of everything by the time they are 3 years old, a world that we could all imagine becoming reality, as we sat there united in our determination. Brid Smith spoke for the Irish contingent, and extended an open invitation to everyone to come to Dublin in 2004, when the Irish will be hosting the EU summit. On Friday evening, as we sat in one of the main conference halls with 10,000 other people from everywhere, a huge cheer went up as the news came through the translators that there were now 55,000 people registered as delegates. By Saturday morning there were 60,000. Florence was completely blocked off as the people came from all over Italy and the world to join the delegates in an Anti-War march through the city. The numbers swelled to 1 million by 3pm. This far exceeded the hopes of the organisers, who had expected maybe 150-200,000. The spirit was one of wonder and joy as we started to realise the potential power to change the world. There we were, from all different social and political backrounds, all talking along the same lines. Un Altro Mundo e possible! (another World is possible) Was heard loud and clear throughout the city all day long. And it wasn't just the people marching, all the way along the 2 hour route, every time we turned another corner, there were more people lining the streets, cheering from balconies and hanging out of windows with banners made of bedsheets and curtains, saying "PACE" and "Fermiamo questo guerra" and so forth, one woman started crying as the Irish contingent approached singing Banderia Rossa. It was one of the most touching moments of the march. Many people feel that something has changed in the air, that the atmosphere has turned from one of gloom and war to one of "let them try!" If we can mobilise that many people in one city, we can do it again in every major city in Europe and the world and bring society to a standstill until our voices are heard and respected. Although the conference officially concluded on Saturday evening, there was a huge debate today, Sunday morning, not far from the official conference centre. The motions were passed that we should now build Europe-wide campaigns against war, racism and privatisation. A massive network of translators has been established and thousands upon thousands of people exchanged e-mail addresses and goodwill! The assembly adopted the slogan "contra la guerra di capitale, schopero, schopero generale!" (Against the war of capital, general strike now!" A large portion of the Irish contingent from many different organisations and social movements will be returning to Dublin tomorrow at 1.30pm, we hope to be met by press and supporters. Report back meetings will be held all over the country over the next couple of weeks. all those who have any interest in standing up for the rights of ordinary people to have a say in their involvement in war and other forms of social injustice should attend one of these meetings. Dublin -Liberty Hall Sat 16th 4pm The rest have yet to have times and venues confirmed, but here is a list of places and days: Further details will be posted as they come in. |
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Comments (18 of 18)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18Ciao, I am in Florence at the moment. The ESF was great and really lived up to its name. It was a great coming together of DEMOCRATIC europeans. Unfortunatley Globalise Resistance or SWP did not represent this. This mornings summary conference was totally hijacked by Globalise Resiatance, waving a load of flags which blocked the translation of the monotone speeches. i might point out that all the continental europeans payed little or no attention to the clap trap going on from the SWP. The meeting was meant to represent what to do after this event not talk about, repeatedley drive at the same points and allow for some people to shout into microphones. The march yeasterday was a fantastic coming together, a new energy and a new hope for a more equal, peaceful and sustainable world.
However i hope that those who all have a desire to change things can work together, learn, co operate. We need quick decisions on issues whch are moving very fast such as GATTS and Environmental Degredation. Please allow for a World of Democracy by being democratic in your approach. PACE.
JOIN THE SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY, SELL SOCIALIST WORKER. WE ARE YOUR LEADERS.
now that s just as pointless as those who attack republicans because... republicans are republicans.
there is plenty to criticise gr & swp about POLITICALLY. polemicise against policies & actions; don't tilt against men of straw.
The ESF was a fantastic event, it was wonderful to see so many people from so many diverse organisations getting together. If the Italian communists, trade unions, environmental groups, political parties etc can all come together to organise such an event and the amazing anti-war demo, why the hell can the handful of Irish activists not do the same and STOP 1- Trying to hijack events ( we all have a common purpose!!)
2- Bitching incessantly about GR/SWP. ( I am not a member of either, but I broadly agree with their political philosophies)
If people have problems with them, why don't they bring them up at meetings/gatherings in a non-confrontational way that will ultimately be useful to all of us in organising ourselves.
I was stunned to find out that there are two anti-war actions planned for the same weekend in December at opposite sides of the country. If we can only muster a few hundred people for these demos is it not insane to split the movement in two, as not many people will be able to make it to both events? The Italians might be a bit disorganised and enjoy icecream and wine as much as political discussion, but at least they are united when it's necessary as we saw so clearly at the march on Saturday.
Remember that it's only a "pueblo unido" that can really change anything.
PACE A TUTTI.
If we can only muster a few hundred people for these demos is it not insane to split the movement in two, as not many people will be able to make it to both events?
That's right. The IAWM should cancel its demo and join the protest at Shannon.
Aisling,
I'm sure the ESF was fantastic from your point of view, but there are many activists who have their own views about politics, their own ideologies, and their own reasons for not attending.
Many of these people believe that the ESF was merely a tourist attraction, supported by the Italian authorities because of its contribution to the local economy.
Many people also believe that demonstrations and marches are pointless, because they are simply ignored by our "leaders", who do what they want, when they want, regardless.
You praise the unity of the Italians and say a "pueblo unido" can change things. Are you forgetting that Silvio Berlusconi is the prime minister (or is that president) of your "united" Italy?
Also,
... I also think it's a little naive to think that what happened in Firenze is going to make any difference. The powers that be have universities throughout the world training the next generation of "rulers". A talking shop like the ESF can never challenge this.
Iraq will be bombed sometime next year, even if every one of the earth's 1bn population writes a personal letter to Bush urging the opposite.
I personally don't care that 40,000 people attended the ESF and I don't want to criticise them. They're not doing any harm, so to me, it's like watching people going to mass.
But I do think you're deluding yourselves if you think that the ESF is going to change anything.
I have one question to ask: Does anyone on the left really think that the global situation, or even the European situation, is going to improve one jot because of what happened in Florence this weekend?
In one year's time, will the ESF delegates be able to tell me how the forum managed to change, alter or overcome the immense power of the conservative, right-wing which currently rules the world?
The consensus across the italian press is a million marched on Saturday.
The march was a huge showing of unity from the social movements across Europe and the world. Their were substantial delegations from Russia, Palestine, Argentina and other countries at the sharp end of crisis and struggle in the world.
Their were sections of the march formed by lesbuans and gays against the war, disabled people aggainsy the war and so on. The march was stewarded by cgil a major italian trade union with millions of members remarkable diversity on a scale not seen in europe since the 1960s. I think it prefigures a major upturn in social struggles in Europe as all of the people there have experienced something utterly amazing.
It is a pity that some cynics see nothing positive in the largest anti-war and anti-capitalist march we have seen since seattle. Remember how delighted we all were when 40,000 marched there.
It is a pity also that the petty sectarianism of unimondo above means he has nothing positive to say about GR who organised thouands from britain and were the only ones seriously building for this historical event in Ireland. The GR contingent from Ireland include swp, green party, friends of the earth, a group of community workers from dublin who held a workshop, comhlamh, and the irish antiwar movement and other independent activists. If their is a broader group on the irish left i woulkd like to hear about it. All of us got on and had very fruitful and productive discussions without descending into paranoid rantings which unfortunately charactreride a lot of the swp bashing on indymedia. GR also helped to organise the social forum and the protests and have very good relations with the different components of the italian movement. To call a bit of chanting and flagwaving hijacking is paranoia . Maybe unimondo would prefer that people who don't agree with his politics should keep their mouth shut and sit quietly.
Lets work for unity and diversity in our movement and give all of its parts a chance to say their piece without dismissing them because you don't agree with them. The italian left with a history far more fractious than the irish has managed to pull together in the face of a rising mass movement. Thats why a million peiople turned out ton saturday. We can do the same in ireland if we drop the bull.
www.swp.ie
"There we were, from all different social and political backrounds, all talking along the same lines."- Nora Geraghty
Well I thin we need to have a sober assessment of the ESF. I think that the anti-capitalist movement is an excellent development. It shows that there are layers of youth around the world moving against capitalism.
However what is the alternative they propose? Is it the neo-liberal institutionalism of George Momboit? is it the 'more social' Europe of the Trade Union bureaucrats?
In my opinion it's about time there was a serious debate about the alternative to capitalism. What's the point in saying we're just opposed to it? that's what the movement has been doing for the past few years.
Why are the SWP not raising socialism as the alternative? They simply do not do this. Instead they run around oportunisticly from demo to demo recruiting people that do not really know they are joining a socialist Party.
Nora, why dont you realise that all people do not just agree with each other. GR is a SWP covergroup so that they can sell papers and recruit, they have nothing more than that in mind unfortunatly.
"It is a pity that some cynics see nothing positive in the largest anti-war and anti-capitalist march we have seen since seattle. Remember how delighted we all were when 40,000 marched there"
They didn't just march - they blockaded a summit. Rather large difference.
Interesting that Dave now refers to all those who travelled to Florence as part of the Irish mobilisation as the Globalise Resistance contingent. Is he just getting his covernames mixed up or is making a serious claim that the likes of comhlamh have been stupid enough to rejoin GR/SWP?
While we are talking about "hijacking", would Dave also like to commentt on the attempts by the British SWP to pass off one of their members as an absent Communication Workers Union representative who was due to speak at one of the main sessions?
1 million marched -- and hardly a sign of the anarchist messers and sectarian wankers who foul this website.
They're all piss and wind.
By the way George W Bush is launching a war in the next few weeks with the backing of the Irish government in case you hadn't noticed.
Just as well Nora and her collegues are busy building and not listening to the moany holes.
Keep it up IAWM, GR, SWP and everybody else who is putting their back into fighting capitalism! You've given them their answer!
So what are you going to do about the demo at Shannon?
I did be marchin' marchin' marchin' an' I done vote for the People's Representative and I wuz there with the comrades in Florence. Millions of us! And still there's going to be bombs dropped and noone gives a flying fuck what we do. Maybe we're doing something wrong? No. That couldn't be. We still have Nora singin' the oul songs, and as yez all know dere de best! Sure the fiddles great, but the voice came first!
Street Marching Man (tactical pedestrian commissar of the SWP)
Comhlamh are NOT involved in Globalise Resistance although individual members can join who they like.
Comhlamh DID participate in the Ireland 2 ESF mobilising committee and were represented at Florence.
The esf was a success, no it won't change the world but no one claimed it would. A million people on the streets will make a huge difference and will build support for strike action against italian involvement in the oncoming war in iraq. I don't think even our most hardened anarchists would deny striking against war would have no effect and mass protests across the country do have an effect as the last two general strikes and mass protests have shown. The government has still failed to get its employment "reforms".
The ESF is the ESF, organised mainly by the rifondazione communista and the social forums in Italy. As a party the RC aren't perfect either, they've shared in local and national governments and brought in neo liberal cuts and policies in both cases. But I know of no other mass party in Europe that always oppose imperial wars and always support workers in struggle. Compared to our so called labour party anyway. The social forums have many contradictions too, but again they have to be taken as something more positive than negative, especially for those who do not want to join any particular party or ideology (including anarchism).
AS for GR and the swpers, they did the work and got people over there. For this they have to be commended. In the case of Italian left unity, theres more divisions amongst italian groups than irish and much more groups.
Is "Charlie", our SWP representative in the thread, now claiming that the SWP were responsible for the huge march in Florence?
If not what the hell does that have to do with any of the views in this thread?
The brothers and sisters of the Revolutionary (while also state reformist) Socialist (bowel) Movement call upon all other groups to cease their criticism!
NO SPLITTERS!
The RSbM have been succesful in mobilising well over a million youth in Firenze (according to a special accounting procedure similar to the ones used under Stalin to estimate tractor-productivity on the people's gulags of the Ukraine [Waffler-Mendacer, "Tractor Productivity Accounting Strategies", Thrust! (Official Organ of the RSbM) pp 24-178, 1999]). This demonstrates that we are vibrant (as if the singing and ice-cream eating wasn't enough). We made sure to travel on socialist organised donkey convoys and personally led several baggage-handlers strikes during our journey. Salut comrades!
NO THINKING!
We also organised a counter-capitalist disruptive protest strategy at Shannon airport which completely confused the capitalists: instead of falling into the trap of doing what the bosses would expect and actually disrupting the airport we cunningly steered a large number of people away from it and made sure there was no discussion.
This was a great success and we can also report that we led the direct-action (that's dialectical stuff kids, don't worry about it, Terry Eagleton doesn't really get it either!).
MORE PLACARDS!
Placard and slogan production is up 140%. Joe Carrolling gets Stakhanovite-Of-The-Month for producing the slogans "No to Nice!". "No More War!, and the classic "No Blood For Oil". We are sorry to report that a group of counter-revolutionary American pseduo-socialists are pretending that the slogan "Labor's Godda Play Hardball!" is theirs. Typical Trots. Projections for slogan, placard and demonstration production have been approved by the party leadership in Britain.
MORE ENTRYISM!
Entryism has been succesfully practiced in the IAWM, GR, ATTAC, ANSWER and other temporarily popular coalitions.
MORE NEWSPAPERS!
The acquisition of a new printing press means that we will have more newspapers to sell to the increased audience that we have acquired through our mergers with the aforementioned articles.
MORE UNITY!
Finally, the comrades of the RSbM acknowledge the sad reality that the Irish-Left consists of begrudgers and whiners that would rather criticise us. This is wrong. Unity is important now more than ever in this time of war. So stop criticising us and agree with us. Do what we say. Stop whatever you're doing and come to our conference and buy our paper and march when we tell you to and just shut up. Unity comrades! We must have party discipline!