[fse-esf] correction about program group

[Yannis Almpanis]

Dear all,

by mistake a personal text was sent to the ESF list under the signature of 
"members of the ESF organizing committee". Furthermore, there are a few 
mistakes in the form of the text that it was sent. So this the proper 
version.

Assessing the program of 4th European Social Forum

The fact that approximately 300 meetings were held in Athens from 4th-7th 
May 2006 and were organised by hundreds collectives from all over Europe 
shows that the European Social Forum is the biggest and most pluralist 
European laboratory of radical ideas. The variety of the topics that were 
discussed in the European Social Forum proves not only the vigour, but also 
the depth of its reflections. Therefore, it is confirmed that the European 
Social Forum is not only a meeting point of various resistance and a body 
for the international co-ordination of movements. Having contributed to the 
collective process of the configuration of its program and having a clear 
view of the way it was materialised we have to make the following 
observations:

   1. The overall program of 4th European Social Forum reflected a movement 
that is mass and radical. The seminars and the workshops of the Forum 
demonstrated the anger and the hope of the people who fight in Europe 
against war, neoliberalism and racism.

   2. We consider that the program of Athens respected the pluralist 
character of the European Social Forum. After a long period of disputes and 
criticisms, it was proved again that the Forum is open to all the viewpoints 
that are developed in the movements. Moreover, it was evident that it 
constitutes a process where every collective is given the space it needs 
independently of its size.

  3. The great participation in the seminars showed that a lot of 
discussions were  particularly interesting and, apart from the activists, a 
wider public was motivated to attend. These discussions did not only touch 
upon important social matters but they were distinguished by the wealth of 
their ideas. It was the first time that such a mass process of political 
dialogue had ever been held in Greece.

   4. In Athens, we made small, albeit important, steps towards building 
truly European resistance networks. Furthermore, there were seminars that 
were attended by the majority of the people who dealt with a specific matter 
(e.g. precarious employment) and for the first time there were concrete 
results (e.g. public services).

   5. Unfortunately, in Athens as well we had our share in the propaganda 
seminars. It should be clear by now that the seminars of a Forum —apart from 
all else— should give space to dialogue. It is also evident that we cannot 
proceed in coercive unifications. However, it is equally evident that 210 
seminars are too many.

   6. The national particularities and the current political occurence in 
each country were again underestimated when the time had come for the 
European mobilisations. Neither the Forum in his totality, nor the 
individual networks can function ignoring the fact that a European 
mobilisation cannot be organised with an administrative decision from above 
without a prior consultation process in a national level.

   7. Although at this moment it is impossible to organise the so-called 
"PLENARIES", every national organising committee should be given the chance 
to shape the events that would facilitate the connection of the European 
Social Forum with the local society.

Yannis Almpanis, member of the program group

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