[fse-esf] 4th ESF Press release-Declaration

Wed May 10 16:16:40 CEST 2006

Dear Panos,
Dear Friends,
On Sunday, everybody saw that Petros was one of the chairpersons in the
Assembly of Social Movements. As I was sitting besides him, I can tell you
exactly what happened. After about three quarters of an hour, Petros
suddenly whispered to me that he was not feeling well and asked me to find
him a sweet. What I did immediately was to calm him down, saying that it was
nothing serious, while at the same time demanding from Yiannis Sifakakis to
have this sweet brought to him as soon as possible, which he actually did. I
thought that this sudden illness was due either to low blood pressure (his
hand was cold) or to exhaustion or to an asthma crisis, from which he
suffers. Unfortunately, after a while he told me that he was still not
feeling well and, following my advise, he left the room. One hour later,
when I saw him outside and asked him about his condition, he told me that he
was feeling much better. During all this period, Petros never even mentioned
to me that his illness was due to "the attacks he received last Saturday
from the 'safeguard' people". That's why your e-mail really surprised me.
Anyway, pls convey to him my best wishes for a quick recovery. Personally, I
would very much like to go and see him, so could you pls inform me in which
hospital he is now?
Haris Golemis,
Nicos Poulantzas Institute,
GREEK SOCIAL FORUM

-----Original Message-----
From: fse-esf-bounces at lists.fse-esf.org
[mailto:fse-esf-bounces at lists.fse-esf.org]On Behalf Of sek at otenet.gr
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 4:17 PM
To: Globalise Resistance; tina at cpgb.org.uk
Cc: fse-esf at lists.fse-esf.org
Subject: Re: [fse-esf] 4th ESF Press release-Declaration

Dear Friends
Some of you may be wandering why Petros Constantinou is not intervening in
this discussion. He is after all one of the best known activists of the
greek
Organising `committe of the 4th ESF.. I am sorry to inform you that Petros
is in
fact in Hospital, after the attacks he received last Saturday from the
"safeguard" people. Perhaps the greek social forum should visit him to
apologise
all the best
Panos Garganas
editor
Ergatiki Allilenghii

Globalise Resistance <office at resist.org.uk> είπε:

> I find it disturbing but unsurprising that Tina finds no way of
> condemning the comrade(s) who decided to send an exclusively male
group
> to police the demo.
>
> Arguments on demos? Something for the men obviously. Were there any
> female stewards on the march? I didn't see any, not one. Perhaps we
> should all just make the women tail behind and keep nice and safe. As
> for when the demo started there was never any attempt to change the
> order, and the macho stewards continued in their heroic role, ignoring
> the front where any attempt by outside forces would have concentrated.
> That's maybe why there is usually a large number of stewards at the
> front of any demo. To try to accuse the IST of collaborating with the
> anarchists is just bizarre.
>
> Guy Taylor
>
> On 10 May 2006, at 10:30, tina at cpgb.org.uk wrote:
>
> > Strange.... I was at the demonstration and saw what was happening - it
> > looked rather different to what Guy is describing. A longer report
> > will be
> > appearing in tomorrow's Weekly Worker, but I don't think the SWP's
> > 'falsification of history' deserves to remain unchallenged even for
> > another
> > day.
> >
> > Clearly, the Greek organising committee decided (with a majority vote?
> > with
> > consensus? I don't know) that the front of the march should be made up
> > of
> > delegations from all over Europe - ie, like was the good practise at
> > every
> > other ESF. Comrade Natascha even announced this on the Friday night at
> > the
> > daily meeting of the non-existing ESF leadership ;-). There was at
> > least
> > one leading SWP member present, as well as plenty of members from the
> > SWP?s
> > internationalised sect, the IST. None of them disagreed with Natascha -
> > silence.
> >
> > Then on Saturday morning, we saw members of the Greek IST section
(SEK,
> > Genoa 2001 etc) push to the front of the march. Members of the Greek
> > Social
> > Forum warned them that the front was reserved for the international
> > delegations - as they knew very well.
> >
> > But under the watchful eyes of SWP tops Alex Callinicos, Chris Harman
> > and
> > Chris Nineham (we have taken a very good picture of them) the Greek
SEK
> > organiser Maria Styllou organised her troops to carry on pushing to the
> > front.
> >
> > What then happened is truly disgusting and deserves condemnation from
> > all
> > democrats and socialists in Europe. She actually organised a row of
> > young,
> > female SEK comrades to be at the ?frontline? - obviously hoping that
> > women
> > would not get pushed back. When this trick did not work out, the IST
> > comrades started shouting about sexism and macho-ism (just like Guy
> > does) -
> > when in fact it was them who didn?t give a shit about the welfare of
> > their
> > young female comrades by sending them to the ?frontline?.
> >
> >  The SWP has been applying similar tactics in Britain and - I?m told -
> > many
> > other countries where they are organised. They send women comrades to
> > attack critical voices and oppositionists - but they always have a row
> > of
> > men behind them so that they can start fighting when people defend
> > themselves.
> >
> > CPGB members had leaflets ripped out of their hands by SWP women
and
> > materials wiped off our info stalls - but we know of much worse
> > experiences
> > from other people (who do not have the advantage of their publication
> > being
> > read by tens of thousands of people every week).
> >
> > It was the IST who tried to sabotage the demonstration and good on the
> > Greek organising comrades for successfully defending the march.
> >
> > As an aside: when anarchists tried to hijack the front of our
> > demonstration
> > to attack the police, there were hardly any stewards around. Where were
> > they? At the back, keeping the SWP in check.
> >
> > So, SWP comrades, that was really an ?intervention? to be proud of -
> > and
> > don?t worry, everybody will know the truth about it.
> >
> > With comradely greetings
> >
> > Tina Becker
> > Communist Party of Great Britain
> >
> >
> >
> > Original Message:
> > -----------------
> > From: Globalise Resistance office at resist.org.uk
> > Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 12:31:39 +0100
> > To: fse-esf at lists.fse-esf.org
> > Subject: Re: [fse-esf] 4th ESF Press release-Declaration
> >
> >
> > The Social Forum was indeed a huge success, the attendance of a large
> > number of Eastern European delegates and especially the huge
contingent
> > from Turkey is absolutely welcome and needs to be lauded. However, a
> > few corrections to the below press release are needed:
> >> For the first time in a European Social Forum, trade unions had a
> >> significant role as members of the organizing committee.
> > This was not the first time. In Florence and London the trade unions
> > were prominent (It may also have been the case in Paris, but it was
> > more difficult to tell). In London the treasurer, and some of the key
> > organisers were trade union representatives. The events received much
> > input from trade Unions, both organisationally and financially. It is
> > misleading to claim otherwise.Β 
> >> To the hundreds of volunteers of the Greek Social Forum, who did their
> >> best for the organization of the 4th ESF. To them we owe the success
> >> of the event.
> > It seems a little remiss to concentrate your gratitude on one group of
> > the organisation. Notable was the friction in the organisation of the
> > forum, perhaps a little thanks beyond your own ranks might be gracious.
> >> To the Greek Social Forumβ??s teams of safeguard that contributed in
> >> the
> >> successful finishing of the rally as it was originally planned by the
> >> organizing committee.
> > If that is referring to what I think it is, perhaps the phrase "macho,
> > sexist, violent, self appointed police" might be a more accurate term
> > than "teams of safeguard".
> >
> > guy taylor
> > globalise resistance
> >
> > On 8 May 2006, at 10:55, Tasos Koronakis wrote:
> >
> >> 4th European Social Forum: its success exceeded even the most
> >> optimistic expectations
> >> Press Release
> >> The success of the 4th European Social Forum (Athens 4-7th May)
> >> exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. With 100.000 people
> >> participating in the rally and with more than 35.000 participants
> >> attending the seminars and workshops, the Forum proved both the
> >> potential of the Greek movements and the strength of the alterglobal
> >> movement. For four days, Athens was the European capital of
> >> resistance, for four days, tens of thousands of people have been
> >> sending the message: Another world is possible!
> >> Β 
> >> Beside the mass participation we should also mention some qualitative
> >> characteristics of the 4th ESF:
> >> 1.Β Β Β Β Β Β  The participation of activists from Eastern Europe and
> > Turkey
> >> was larger than ever (more than 2.000 people), showing that the Forum
> >> embraces the whole continent and not just Western Europe.
> >> 2.Β Β Β Β Β Β  There has been mass attendance in the seminars and
> > workshops.
> >> People came to listen and discuss, not just to browse around.
> >> 3.Β Β Β Β Β Β   For the first time in a European Social Forum, trade
> > unions
> >> had a significant role as members of the organizing committee.
> >> 4.Β Β Β Β Β Β   Art and culture had a central place in the Forum, with
> > more
> >> than 120 cultural events and with a participation of hundreds of
> >> artists.
> >> Β 
> >> The greek social forum addresses its warmest greetings:
> >> Β·Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β   To the thousands of citizens from all over Greece
> >> and
> >
> >> abroad who filled the streets of Athens and marched with determination
> >> despite the throw of tear-gas from the police
> >> Β·Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β   To the hundreds of volunteers of the Greek Social
> > Forum,
> >> who did their best for the organization of the 4th ESF. To them we owe
> >> the success of the event.
> >> Β·Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β   To the Greek Social Forumβ??s teams of safeguard
> >> that
> >
> >> contributed in the successful finishing of the rally as it was
> >> originally planned by the organizing committee.
> >> Β 
> >> Β 
> >> The groups that used the demonstrators as a protection shield between
> >> them and the police, showed with their actions that they consider the
> >> Forum and its people as enemies. Their behavior during Saturdayβ??s
> >> rally is a sample of an extreme authoritarian political behavior.
> >> With the closing of the 4th ESF, we have every reason to be optimistic
> >> for the potential of the alterglobal movement as well as for the
> >> forthcoming struggles in Greece. All those of us who were present in
> >> the events taking place in the 4th ESF, sensed the breath of a
> >> forthcoming Springβ?¦
> >>
> >>  The press office
> >>  of the Greek Social Forum
> >>  Β 
> >>
> >>  Ξ§Ο?Ξ·Ο?ΞΉΞΌΞΏΟ?ΞΏΞΉΞ?Ξ―Ο?Ξ? Yahoo!
> >>  Ξ?Ξ±Ο?Ξ?ΞΈΞ?ΞΊΞ±Ο?Ξ? Ο?Ξ± Ξ?Ξ½ΞΏΟ?Ξ»Ξ·Ο?ΞΉΞΊΞ¬
ΞΌΞ·Ξ½Ο? ΞΌΞ±Ο?Ξ±
> >> (spam);
> > Ξ?ΞΏ Yahoo! Mail Ξ΄ΞΉΞ±ΞΈΞΟ?Ξ?ΞΉ
> >> Ο?Ξ·Ξ½ ΞΊΞ±Ξ»Ο?Ο?Ξ?Ο?Ξ· Ξ΄Ο?Ξ½Ξ±Ο?Ξ? Ο?Ο?ΞΏΟ?Ο?Ξ±
Ο?Ξ―Ξ± ΞΊΞ±Ο?Ξ¬
> >> Ο?Ο?Ξ½
> > Ξ?Ξ½ΞΏΟ?Ξ»Ξ·Ο?ΞΉΞΊΟ?Ξ½ ΞΌΞ·Ξ½Ο?ΞΌΞ¬Ο?Ο?Ξ½
> >> http://login.yahoo.com/config/mail?.intl=gr <Declaration of the
> >> Assembly of the
> >> Movements.doc><4thESF_press.doc>
______________________________________
> >> _
> >> ________
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