Movement Takes to Paris
This November, thousands of activists from Europe and beyond will be descending on Paris for the European Social Forum (ESF). This follows the first ESF held in Florence a year ago in which 60,000 activists participated. These meetings culminated in a 1 million strong demonstration against capitalism and war through the streets of Florence. With this years ESF taking place against the backdrop of the enormous global anti-war movement and a massive wave of French strikes against government plans to cut pensions, many activists are expecting an even larger turn-out this year.
Olivier Besancenot, the young postal worker who received 1.2 million votes standing for the Revolutionary Communist League in last years French presidential elections says, "The ESF will be about deepening the connections between the anti-capitalist movement and social questions globally. All of us know that the anti-war movement has been very powerful in Britain, so the attendance of British activists will help to have interesting debates about that experience".
Besancenot argues that the current political climate in France will have a big impact on the ESF, "300,000 people gathered in Larzac in the south of France … against the WTO summit in Cancun. The lack of legitimacy of the right wing government is more obvious than ever. This can lead to new social disputes, although nobody can predict where and when, and what the topics of the movements will be". The ESF is part of a wider growth of social forums internationally as activists in the anti-capitalist and anti-war movements seek to find ways to plan strategy and discuss not only what they oppose but what they are for, and the sort of change that they want to see in the world.
There have been three World Social Forum and this year saw the first Asian Social Forum. The mass protests which shook the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001 were facilitated by the existence of a Genoa Social Forum which had strong roots in the city. What seems truly novel about these social forums is that they not only unite a diverse range of activists but that they are part of a rising movement and they represent a real social force unlike many activist gatherings over the last 20 years.
As resistance to capitalism and war spreads across the globe it expresses itself in many different forms, the social forums being particularly successful. In Argentina during the recent uprising neighbourhood assemblies were formed to organise and discuss activity. In South Africa the Anti-Privatisation Forum has united community and labour organisations together in the poor townships to fight the affects of privatisation. In Britain the Stop the War Coalition has managed to provide a focus for discontent against the Labour government, mobilising millions of people.
All these movements will face challenges in the years ahead. The key to success will be both in making the links between these various struggles and organising in such a way as to mobilise the deep-seated discontent which exits in most societies today towards the neoliberal economic orthodoxy that exists and the erosion of democracy that this entails.
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