[fse-esf] correction to report

[Jon Cloke]

Calm down; when you're working to 'own' the left in the UK, you have to pick 
your targets and concentrate your forces - remember what Guderian said, 
"klotzen, nicht kleckern!"

And by what vivid stretch of the imagination do the various SWP franchises 
get described as 'centrist', in the name of all that's unholy?

Jon Cloke
Attac UK


From: Lukey C <luke at worldrevolution.org.uk>
To: <fse-esf at lists.fse-esf.org>
Subject: Re: [fse-esf] correction to report
Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:11:32 +0000

And your German comrades?


On 6/11/06 16:03, "Globalise Resistance" <office at resist.org.uk> wrote:

 > Given that on 2 November, myself and Jonathan Neale sent apologies to 
this
 > list for missing the Frankfurt meeting because we were centrally involved 
in
 > organising the Campaign against Climate Change protest in London, I think 
it
 > is unfair to interpret our absence as a "boycott".
 >
 > many thanks
 >
 > Guy Taylor
 >
 >
 > On 6 Nov 2006, at 15:24, League for the 5th International wrote:
 >
 >> European Social Forum Preparatory Assembly- the Left Organises
 >>
 >> 6 November 2006
 >>
 >>  On November 3 -5 150 delegates from all over Europe met in Frankfurt 
for the
 >> first meeting of the ³Preparatory Assembly² of the European Social 
Forum.
 >> Martin Suchanek of Arbeitermacht, German section of the League for the 
Fifth
 >> International, was there. The EPA was assembled to discuss the results 
of the
 >> fourth European Social Forum held in Athens in June this year and the 
way
 >> forward for the anti capitalist movement. Though as usual the main
 >> organisations from France, Italy and Germany talked-out any serious 
proposals
 >> for change in its structure, its capacity to take concerted action 
against
 >> neoliberalism and war, the growth of forces calling for change and 
willing to
 >> fight for it was a real step forward.
 >>
 >> The largest delegations in Frankfurt came from Greece, France, Germany, 
Italy
 >> and Turkey. The attendance from Eastern Europe including Russia has also
 >> markedly increased. There were smaller, but active delegations from 
Austria,
 >> the Basque Country, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal and Sweden, plus a
 >> representative from Palestine. The biggest ³absence² was the British,
 >> including a complete ³no show² from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).
 >>
 >>  All the major forces in the ESF were present. On the right wing, the
 >> European Left Party, the trade union bureaucrats, the NGOs and Attac, 
There
 >> were also the more unions like COBAS from Italy.
 >>  However, the role of the ³centre², traditionally played by the centrist
 >> forces of the Fourth International (USFI) and the IST-SWP was this time 
only
 >> filled by the FI alone. All the SWP Œs sister organisations ­even 
Linksruck
 >> from Germany ­boycotted the meeting.
 >>
 >>  The EPA started on Saturday morning, with a report and balance sheet of 
the
 >> Athens ESF and a discussion on the ³future for the movement².
 >>  There was a general agreement, that Athens was a very vibrant, lively 
event
 >> and had a very large participation from youth and radical working class
 >> activists. Also the number of trade unions sending delegations had 
increased.
 >> It had drawn in large numbers from Turkey and increased the 
participation
 >> from Eastern Europe
 >>
 >>  That Athens was much more radical, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist 
did
 >> not please everyone. Also the lifting of the ban on political parties 
was
 >> contested. Athens also saw the emergence of an organised opposition to 
the
 >> dominance of reformists and their hangers-on - an Anti-imperialist 
Space.
 >>
 >>  Many organisations ­ including the Creek Social Forum itself, the 
Turkish
 >> organisations, immigrant organisations, some of the delegates from 
Italy, the
 >> organisations from the Anti-imperialist Space ­ saw all this as a real
 >> achievement.
 >>
 >>  Others were far from pleased. Judith Dellheim from the German PDS urged 
the
 >> need to go back to the ban on parties, supposedly in order allow their
 >> members and leaders to ³speak freely as individuals.² In reality this 
means
 >> freedom from being held responsible for the deeds of their parties such 
as
 >> Rifondazione¹s participation in a neoliberal and imperialist government.
 >>
 >>  Likewise representatives from Attac and ARCI (Italy) expressed their
 >> concern, that the ESF would ³narrow² its basis and become dominated by
 >> anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist forces and communists of all sorts.
 >>
 >>  Most of the organisations at the ESF saw the main problems of the ESF 
as
 >> ³lack of efficiency and transparency². Of course, we are far from 
denying
 >> this. But behind these criticisms lies a political struggle, as a 
speaker of
 >> the L5I pointed out.
 >>
 >>  Whilst there has been a real increase in struggles over the past year 
or so,
 >> the ESF and the EPA have failed to either fully reflect this or have an
 >> impact back upon these struggles. It is not a question whether or not
 >> political parties are welcome as such, but what they stand for ­ for
 >> resistance to the attacks on workers and the oppressed or for carrying 
out
 >> neoliberal austerity measures and imperialist interventions. How can we
 >> ignore the fact that parties like RC in Italy are now actively pursuing 
the
 >> latter course? Nor can we ignore the fact that parties like PCF in 
France or
 >> the PDS ­Left Party in Germany are heading in this direction. To be 
silent on
 >> these issues is the biggest ³lack of transparency imaginable. The 
problem of
 >> the ESF therefore is not that it is ³too radical² as Attac had claimed, 
but
 >> because it was and is not ³radical, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist²
 >> enough.
 >>
 >>  Speakers from the ³European Confederation of Oppressed Immigrants² or 
the
 >> Turkish newspaper ³Revolutionary Proletariat² also argued that the ESF 
(and
 >> the EPA) had to become organs to co-ordinate struggles and take them 
forward
 >> rather than remain just talking shops.
 >>
 >> An Anti-imperialist Network
 >>
 >>  Up to now, the more radical forces have worked in isolation from each 
other.
 >> On the Friday before the ESF there was, as usual, a day for network 
meetings.
 >> This time one of them was the Anti-imperialist Network formed out of the
 >> anti-imperialist space in Athens. It gathered organisations like the
 >> Organisation of Greece Communists, Turkish organisations of Stalinist 
origin,
 >> the PFLP, the Basque nationalist Left and youth, and the League for the 
Fifth
 >> International and the youth organisation Revolution.
 >>
 >>  Its aim is better to co-ordinate those who want to turn the ESF into a 
body
 >> to mobilise for the struggles of workers, the immigrants, the youth, the
 >> nationally and racially oppressed and fight the reformist parties and 
NGOs
 >> who are blocking of these steps.
 >>
 >>  It agreed to call for maximum support for the Beirut International
 >> Solidarity Conference (16-19 November) to mobilise together against the 
G 8
 >> in Heiligendamm (2-8 June 2007), building a mass demonstration and an
 >> anti-imperialist/anti-capitalist block on it, to organise its own 
seminars
 >> and workshops within the counter summit.
 >>
 >>  Also it was agreed to cooperate closely with the 
anti-repression-network and
 >> the anti-war network, which itself agreed on an international day of 
action
 >> in support of Palestine on 17-18. April 2007.
 >>
 >> Where is the ESF going?
 >>
 >>  In the plenary meetings of the EPA, once again as so often before, the
 >> lightly disguised reformists and the supposed- Trotskyists of the Fourth
 >> International and Attac dodged all the burning questions beyond the old 
calls
 >> for more ³efficiency² and ³transparency². They avoided any discussion 
about
 >> the Italian situation and Bertinotti and the RC leaderships¹ fight 
against
 >> our movement.
 >>
 >>  Here one could see, the real existing balance of forces in the EPAs and 
ESFs
 >> on show. The whole question of transparency is used to avoid political
 >> conflict and bore people to death with vacuous debates on ³method². So 
an
 >> open ³preparatory meeting² for the next Preparatory Assembly will take 
place
 >> in January. It will decide the exact date and venue of the EPA. This 
will
 >> meet again at the end of March 2007 to decide on the location of the 
next
 >> European Social Forum. The three candidates for holding its are Austria,
 >> Denmark-Sweden and Portugal.
 >>
 >>  The meeting showed that fears (or hopes in some cases) that ESF/EPS 
process
 >> is dead are still premature. But it does remain in a comatose state ­ a
 >> condition deliberately fostered by its undeclared and informal inner
 >> leadership. This is not altogether surprising surprise.
 >>  The ESF (and the World Social Forum -WSF) too came into being as a 
result of
 >> capitalist globalisation and as a result of the emergence of a movement
 >> fighting against it. But this movement not only combined resistance from
 >> different classes and strata ­ workers, peasants, youth, petit bourgeois 
and
 >> middle classes.
 >>
 >>  It also included different political trajectories ­ a large part
 >> representing petit-bourgeois forces (the NGOs, populists and 
libertarians) or
 >> reformist forces, i.e. bourgeois politics, but from organisations 
socially
 >> rooted in the working class (like trade unions and reformist parties. 
The
 >> latter were impelled towards the anti-capitalist youth after Seattle in 
1999
 >> by the resolute march rightwards to full-blown neoliberalism by the big
 >> reformist parties ­ the British Labour Party, the French Socialist 
Party, the
 >> German Special Democrats.
 >>
 >>  On the other had there were more radical organisations, including 
various
 >> more militant unions, worker activists, youth organisation, migrant
 >> organisation, national liberation struggles, left wing organisations 
from a
 >> Trotskyist, Maoist or Stalinist origin.
 >>
 >>  Obviously, a unity between reformism and forces wanting to fight 
imperialism
 >> and capitalism can only be temporary and only on the basis of agreements 
to
 >> undertake serious joint action.
 >>  This is particularly so in period of intensifying class struggle.
 >>
 >>  The problem is that as the crisis for European imperialist project, in 
part
 >> caused by the anti-globalist and anticapitalist movement, deepens the 
call
 >> has gone out from sections of the European ruling class to co-opt some 
of the
 >> ³left² reformist parties that have played a big role in the ESF. The
 >> capitalists support new versions of the popular front ­ like L¹Unione in
 >> Italy - and use them to derail, contain or split the resistance and
 >> radicalisation of the masses. Obviously, one cannot have a ³united² 
movement,
 >> with one part in government attacking the other part on the street 
resisting.
 >>
 >>  That is what we see in the ESF today. Unity in the ESF is only 
meaningful as
 >> unity of struggle against the capitalists and imperialists¹ attacks. If 
the
 >> ESF is to become a body forging this unity, drawing in real struggles - 
like
 >> the one in the banlieus in France or the fighters against imperialist
 >> occupation in the Middle East - all those seeking this have to unite. 
That is
 >> why the League for the Fifth International has joined the 
Anti-imperialist
 >> Network and strongly advises left forces across Europe to do likewise.
 >> _______________________________________________
 >> FSE-ESF mailing list
 >> FSE-ESF at lists.fse-esf.org
 >> http://lists.fse-esf.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fse-esf
 >
 >
 > _______________________________________________
 > FSE-ESF mailing list
 > FSE-ESF at lists.fse-esf.org
 > http://lists.fse-esf.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fse-esf




_______________________________________________
FSE-ESF mailing list
FSE-ESF at lists.fse-esf.org
http://lists.fse-esf.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fse-esf