ESF - VS - PGA

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday July 10, 2002 12:24 by Blisset

ESF is not only left co-ordination meeting taking place in Europe

Peoples Global Action have been a constant organising presence in the global anti-capitalist movement. For those irish who are not enamoured by the ESF idea this is an alternative. Are there any Irish groups/individuals thinking of attending?

CALLING ALL GRASSROOTS, ANTI-CAPITALIST MOVEMENTS, GROUPS AND COLLECTIVES......

The 2nd European conference of the Peoples` Global Action (PGA) network: from the 31st of August till the 4th of September 2002 in Leiden, The Netherlands

Peoples Global Action is a worldwide network that works towards a durable, peaceful, social, borderless and directly democratic alternative to capitalism and all systems of oppression.
The Movimento de Resistencia de Global (MRG-Catalunia) and the Eurodusnie-collective (Leiden, The Netherlands) are the European convenors of the upcoming PGA conference. MRG and the Eurodusnie-collective are calling on the different European social movements who have an affinity with the networks hallmarks to converge from the 31st of August till the 4th of September in Leiden, the Netherlands to hold the 2e European PGA conference. (for a more elaborate description of the Networks' Hallmarks and history read the last page of this call).

Conference Goals:

We have set the following goals for the conference:

-the exchange of ideas and experiences between different collectives and movements
-the exchange of practical skills
-theoretical and strategic reflection and debate
-the further extension and improvement of the network structure
-the creation of a place where different networks can gather for the coordination of their activities and where new contacts can be made.
-bringing to attention ongoing campaigns and possibly start new campaigns
-getting to know each other better through informal interaction and cultural activities

The conference will be spread over five days, plus one day of arrival and one day for departing. During five days there will be few general plenaries and many different smaller meetings taking place at different locations. We are counting on you, the participants, to provide the contents of the programme. We, the convenors and conference support people, will be mostly concerned with providing good facilitating support such as arranging sleeping-places, meals, conference rooms, cultural programmes and co-ordination with respect to the contents of the programme. We are also working on the installation of a computer workplace and the creation of an Indymedia Centre.

Conference thematic areas

We will organise the upcoming conference around the following thematic areas:

1) migration and racism
anti - racism, migration
2) autonomy and self-organisation
squatting, social centres, media/communication
3) economy
WTO/IMF/WorldBank, WEF (World Economic Forum), collective provisions, education, public services/privitisation of such services, situation in Argentina, North/South - relations
4) ecology and conservation
climate-change, GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms), conservation of nature, animal welfare, biodiversity
5) militarisation and repression
peace - movement, religious fundamentalism, solidarity movement, Palestina
6) PGA structure
organisational structure of the PGA, convenors for the next PGA - conference
7) strategies and tactics

As proposed during the first European PGA conference we ask all paricipants to look at the gender aspects of each thematic area.

The chosen thematic areas and the elaboration given with each thematic area are of course arbitrary and by no means static. Dividing into different areas is, firstly, a way of structuring the content of the conference and, secondly, an attempt to interpret the 'sustained campaigns' suggested in Cochabamba (where the 3rd worldwide conference of the PGA took place) in terms of our European reality. In Leiden we would like to discuss whether there is enough enthusiasm for the formation of permanent PGA organizing and discussion areas.

An important question for the agenda in Leiden: what strategies are needed in order to most effectively strengthen our struggle for radical change of present social relations? In recent years, anti-summit protests have brought millions of people to action. The illusion of the "sacred" market is becoming increasingly shattered. The support for criticism of capitalism, and the institutions that serve it, is seemingly increasing all the time. This means that there are many possibilities for us, but there are also hidden dangers. Authoritarian anti-capitalists, right-wing populists and left-wing reformers are trying to use our movement in order to fulfill their own hunger for power. There are many people who share (parts of) our criticism of capitalism and transnational institutions, but who are not necessarily struggling for non-hierarchical, grassroots alternatives to global capitalism. How do we respond and relate to other political tendencies and processes within the movement against capitalist globalisation ?

There are many important issues for discussion and debate. Under the cloak of the war against terrorism, repression of those who 'don't toe the line' is becoming heavier and more serious. Large parts of society, not coincidentally the poor, are becoming criminalised. The social movements who dare to criticise these developments are quickly connected with 'terrorism'. Many of our friends have already become victims of the witchhunt for those who 'don't toe the line'. People are being beaten up by cops, kicked out of their homes, held back at borders, and locked up; and the end of criminalisation is nowhere near in sight. All the more reason to deliberate about future strategies and tactics.

Another important agenda item is the functioning of the PGA network itself. PGA started in 1998 as a world-wide network. The only formal PGA structure that exists is that of the regional convenors, the network coordinators. They are chosen at the world-wide meetings of the network. There are also several, more or less functioning, regional 'support groups', which have mainly helped convenors organise the conferences but have no formal status. The present structure is far from ideal and we need to discuss improvements, particularly in terms of how we organize in Europe.
In September 2001, the decision was taken that the regional PGA networks should be able to operate autonomously, and with this, a regional, in our case European, organisational structure was called for. One of our goals is to advance this process during the up-coming conference. A start was already made during the PGA convenor and Support meeting by starting a number of open technical working groups, which would serve the function of a European Support Group.

Conference location and dates

The conference will take place in Leiden, The Netherlands.

Leiden is the home of the Eurodusnie collective http://eurodusnie.nl. Eurodusnie has taken on the PGA convenorship together with the Movimento de Resistencia Global from Catalonia. Leiden is a small, relaxed university town. It's only a 15-minute ride from the coast and is close to cities such as Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The conference will take place in a number of locations spread throughout the citycenter. Apart from in two squatted autonomous zones or 'Vrijplaatsen', the
conference will be held in four regular cultural centres that will let us have the buildings for next-to-nothing. The programme of the PGA conference starts on Saturday the 31st of August and ends on Wednesday the 4th of September. The arrival date is the 30th of August and the date of departure is the 5th of September.

Publicity and finances

The organisers of the 2nd European PGA conference are working on a tight budget. This is probably a familiar story for most participating organisations, and that's why it doesn't cost anything to take part in the conference. We ask that badly-off organisations that can't come because of financial reasons, get in touch with us. We ask those better-off organisations who would like to sponsor a poorer colleague to get in touch as well. We would appreciate it if you would like to help us finance the conference by donating money or by organising benefits, which is also a great way of spreading the word about
the conference. Help us to publicise the conference. Make posters and flyers, and place an announcement in alternative newspapers in your area.

Getting involved in the preparation

We welcome peoples' analysis, suggestions and contributions for debate. For the purpose of preparing the different parts of the conferenceprogram we have created seven mailinglists, one mailinglist for the each of the seven thematic areas. If you want to get involved please let us know at [email protected] (subject: "getting involved")
We are curently working on a conference-website that enables people to publish their discussionpapers themselves. The webaddress is http://www.pgaconference.org.

Since not everyone has access to the Internet, we are asking people who do, if they will do their best to ensure that this invitation is spread in as many different ways as possible in their areas. We invite each group or collective that subscribes to PGA's principles to become active in preparing the second European PGA conference. We can only make this a success together!

Taking part in the conference

There are three parts to the application process: the invitation that you are reading now, the questionnaire and the application form. We are asking that the questionnaire and the application form be sent in by the 1st of August at the latest.

More information

General information about the conference: [email protected]
Applications: [email protected]
Responses to the questionnaire: [email protected]
PGA conference website: http://www.pgaconference.org
Transfer account for donations: 8406240 c.o. WEGGEEF WINKEL post office box 2228 2301 CE Leiden The Netherlands

Address: PGA Workgroup/Eurodusnie
Postbus 2228
2301 CE Leiden
The Netherlands

Telephone/Fax : +31 (0)71 5173019

Peoples´ Global Action (PGA)

From the 23rd to the 25th of February 1998, movements from all continents met in Geneva and launched a worldwide co-ordination of resistance against the global market, a new alliance of struggle and mutual support called the Peoples´ Global Action against "Free" Trade and the World Trade Organisation (PGA). This new platform will serve as a global instrument for communication and co-ordination for all those fighting against the destruction of humanity and the planet by the global market, building up local alternatives. The first worldwide co-ordination of local struggles during the WTO ministerial conference in Geneva in May 1998 was a huge success: many different demonstrations, actions and Global Street Parties took place on all five continents from the 16th to the 20th of May.
The defining documents of the PGA are its five hallmarks, its organisational principles and its manifesto.
At the conference in Bangalore, India in August 1999 the hallmarks and the organisational principles were amended to reflect discussions about clarifying differences to right-wing anti-globalizers. A new second hallmark was added.

HALLMARKS:

1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalisation;
2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings.
3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker;
4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism;
5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy.

For more information on the worldwide PGA - network: http://www.agp.org