[WSF-Discuss] Malmö Diary: The European Social Forum, 2008

[CACIM]

*Malmö Diary: The European Social Forum, 2008*

September 23rd, 2008

@
http://international.sp.nl/bericht/28145/080923-malm_diary_the_european_social_forum_2008.html

The SP and its youth organisation Rood (Red – pronounced 'rote') was
well-represented at the European Social Forum in Malmö this weekend. Rein
van Gisteren and Herman Beekers reported daily from the Forum. Below is a
summary of what they had to say.

The programme here in Malmö is jam-packed. The organisation wasn't always up
to scratch, however: Meetings turned out to have been moved to another
neighbourhood, cancelled or even brought forward. For the serious
participant, this was frustrating. .

We were just on time for the opening performance of the ESF, held in the
Folkets Park – literally the People's Park. A parade of speakers took the
microphone, addressing democratic and social rights, ecological interests,
war and peace, the Palestinian and Kurdish questions, and unbridled
capitalism in general. Waves of applause indicated the agreement of the
thousands gathered in the park. The high point was the speech by Vandana
Shiva, who spoke about her struggle, together with India's farmers, against
genetically manipulated crops. "The fight is not lost," she said. "We are
winning more and more ground. A few days ago the biggest investment bank in
the US collapsed. An economy based on greed and without respect for the
environment will sooner or later collapse. We want a world where the climate
is secure, people have enough to eat and our water is a common good. A world
where our seeds are not patented, where people don't speculate with our
food. Present day hunger and thirst are a result of speculation and
privatisation."

[image: Entrance to the European Social Forum]
Entrance to the European Social Forum

Vandana Shiva's words made us somewhat melancholic. Hadn't we heard them
many times before from well-known activists? And are we any nearer to
finding a solution?

[image: Vandana Shiva]
Vandana Shiva

[image: Eva Gerrebrands]
Eva Gerrebrands during her workshop

The next morning Rood activist Eva Gerrebrands got immediately down to work
in one of the classrooms at the Folkets Hus (The People's House). Although
her workshop, 'From activism to socialism' was not announced in the official
programme, and the starting time and location were changed at the last
minute, she still attracted a full classroom. There is a great deal of
interest throughout Europe in the successful approach of the Dutch SP.

[image: Youth meeting]
Youth meeting

In the evening, on the initiative of Rood, an invitation-only meeting was
held at the Kvarnby Folkhögskola (People's High School) for a large number
of sister organisations, aimed primarily at enabling the exchange of ideas
and experiences regarding youth organising. Rood's Leon Botter led the
meeting with fervour, while other members of the SP delegation – whose youth
organisation days were in most cases well behind them – attended a meeting
in which left parties from Russia to France to Greece debated why they find
themselves in a crisis which threatens their very existence. Once they'd all
spoken there was no time for discussion, so the SP had no chance to try to
explain to the assembled European brothers and sisters our party's success,
or our philosophy, our 'new optimism'.

*Friday 19th September *

The European Social Forum is not for the pious, armchair socialist but for
active people, most of them young, who want to speak out against injustice,
unequal treatment and exploitation. It's a colourful gathering of left
activists, peace groups and antimilitarists, 'autremondialistes' and
environmentalists, women's groups, trades unions and political parties,
solidarity groups and minority organisations. Some groups were watched
closely by the ubiquitous police. The ESF is a broad forum for people who
want to make a better world, and to start this in Europe. 'A Better Europe
Is Possible' could also be seen all over Malmö on posters, stickers and
banners, and in many different languages.

[image: The Swedish police were everywhere]
The Swedish police were everywhere

[image: En annan vald ar mojlig]
En annan vald ar mojlig:"Another world is possible"

Unexpected encounters kept cropping up all over the town, too. Such as one
over a hot snack in a café set up in a tent, where we met someone called
Dag, an energy consultant who was eager to discuss Sweden's membership of
the EU. No, we explained to him, the SP is not overjoyed by the handing over
of powers from The Hague to Brussels, but we are not against 'Europe', we
even have two seats in the European Parliament. Our MEPs have even been able
to get parliamentary majorities behind them when it came to not forcing
municipalities to put their public transport services out to tender, or the
castration of pigs without pre-stunning. "If you can't beat them…"

[image: Altre mon es possibile]
Altre mon es possibile:"Another world is possible"

Malmö offered dozens of choices of event at every moment of the day, more
information than a healthy mind can carry, and so it was a matter of
choosing. Meetings on women's rights, teaching and sustainability, a seminar
on civil rights and occupied countries, there were even ads for Ramallah
Nights perfume – the profits from which go towards the struggle against
Israeli oppression of the Palestinians.

[image: D'autres mondes sont possibles]
D'autres mondes sont possibles: "Other worlds are possible"

The organisation of the ESF is reasonably traditional. For the most part
meetings were held in a small classroom setting with a table on a podium at
the front, which rather invites one-way traffic. The microphones were too
often in the hands of the people on the podium – sometimes the loudspeakers
should be turned in their direction. The Belgian educational expert with her
sustainability project deserved far more of an audience. On the other hand
the representative of the Paulo Freire organisation – not at all in keeping
with the revolutionary pedagogic theories of the man from whom it takes its
name – monopolised proceedings, apparently interested only in the sound of
his own voice.

[image: Musicians in Folkets park]
Musicians in Folkets park, "The People's Park", Malmö's most central public
park

Did this Forum bring us a bit closer to a more democratic EU? Contributions
in Malmö on this issue were hopefully, for young participants, new and
interesting. The EU is now a union of states led by politicians who have no
support among the citizens of those states. But it is most certainly not as
yet a union of the peoples. Right wing politicians are trying, against the
rules of their own game, to introduce a European constitutional treaty which
has no support from the people. Even the small change for which the parties
of the Dutch governmental coalition, the Christian Democrat CDA and the
centre-left Labour Party (PvdA) – no flag, no anthem, no symbols of
statehood – sold our referendum's rejection of the treaty, has been quietly
returned by Prime Minister Balkenende.

[image: Erik Meijer (left) during the globalisation debate]
Erik Meijer (left) during the globalisation debate

Friday afternoon a meeting took place in which SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer played
an important role. Meijer told how Europe's relations with past colonies are
in reality a continuation of colonial relations: Independence has been
achieved, in a political sense, but as far as economic independence goes
this has precious little significance. The rich west continues to profit
from cheap imports of raw materials. With the income from this, the former
colonies can buy our technology. An effective means of perpetuating the
poverty of numerous countries.

[image: Continuation of economic colonisation]
Continuation of economic colonisation

*Saturday 20th September*

*Unanimity*

The ESF programme announced that there would be a large-scale demo on
Saturday. It would be a demonstration of unanimity around the fact that
another Europe is possible. Anyone who looks at the slogans in the Rose
Garden Park here in Malmö realises that the dominant mood among participants
is one of anger. Anger over injustice and unequal treatment. Anger over
exploitation and discrimination. But it is also, happily, clear that there
is a great deal of hope that something can be done and a great deal of
energy available to do it. Between two and three o'clock the green of the
park gradually turned to red, as the multilingual procession gathered.

[image: European Social Forum]
European Social Forum

On the posters calling the demonstration was written 'Makten åt folket' –
which it was easy for a Dutch speaker to see meant Power to the People.
Another Europe is possible was what we told each other, first and foremost,
with our babel of banners. Each other, because during the first hour of the
long march from the Rose Garden Park there were far more demonstrators than
onlookers. This would improve when we reached the centre of town and lots of
residents there hung out of their windows or put down their shopping bags to
watch.

[image: Power to the People]
"Power to the People": call to demonstrate

[image: Another world is possible, even for Basques]
Another world is possible, even for Basques

We marched alongside our hosts from the Swedish Left Party as well as the
German Left (Die Linke) and the Danish Enhedslisten, known in English as the
Red-Green Alliance. The flag of the European Left Party was also waving
merrily, but you have to ask for how long this will be the case. The outlook
for the left in Europe is not universally favourable, especially when it
comes to the once massive blocs from Italy and France. Progress for the
Germans and ourselves makes up somewhat for this.

[image: Truck belonging to the SP's Danish sister party]
Truck belonging to the SP's Danish sister party, Enhedslisten, the Red-Green
Alliance

The political group in which the SP participates in the European Parliament
is the GUE/NGL: European United Left/Nordic Green Left. The group's banner
was carried by, amongst others, Erik Meijer and his Swedish colleague Eva
Britt Svensson.

[image: A section of the delegation from the United European Left/Nordic
Green Left]
A section of the delegation from the United European Left/Nordic Green Left,
the political group to which the SP is affiliated in the European Parliament

[image: Eva Britt Svensson]
Eva Britt Svensson (Swedish Left Party) and Erik Meijer (SP) at the start of
the demonstration

Svensson is well-known in Sweden, and had to keep stopping to greet passers
by. There were, however, only ten times as many demonstrators as police
officers present, at least according to the Swedish teletext and the police
themselves, who gave the figures as 10,000 and 1,000 respectively.

*Sunday 21st September*

*'We are water'*

The last day of the ESF 2008. Staying on the outskirts of nearby Lund we
found that there were no buses to the station where we normally took the
short train ride to Malmö. Public transport in this area is in the hands of
multinationals such as Arriva and Veolia, well known in the Netherlands.

[image: Windmill park near Malmö]
Windmill park near Malmö

The first bus on Sundays did not leave the stop near our hotel until after
ten, so that, thanks to Arriva, we would arrive too late for the meeting on
the subject of water to be held in the great hall in the People's Park. When
we eventually arrived we joined the gathering of people who fervently
believe . that water must not be frittered away on the market, but should
stay in public ownership. Water is what we ourselves largely consist of, so
goes an ad from the bottled water firm Spa. Water has become a scarce
resource, one which can be traded, which offers commercial opportunities.
'Water is everyone's" one of those present called out in Spanish.

[image: Italian Water Movement]
Italian Water Movement

In at least one country his plea was being ignored, because the Turkish
government has plans to carry out the most thoroughgoing privatisation of
its national water reserves. The arteries of the country, the lifeblood of
its people, springs, lakes and rivers are now threatened with being sold off
to multinational corporations, leased for forty-nine year terms. And this
privatisation will not happen with any feeling of horror. On the contrary,
in March 2009 it will be 'celebrated' with a World Water Forum in Istanbul.
Happily there will also be an alternative water forum in Istanbul two months
later in May, a gathering of international social movements. Under the
slogan 'People, Not Profit', the organisers of the forum are calling on
everyone to contribute to making possible a different water policy.

[image: Privatisation? No Thanks!]
Privatisation? No Thanks!

At the end of the meeting a European Network for Public Water was
established, amongst loud applause. 'Today we have grown a little stronger
than we were yesterday,' said a proud chairman. And while an exuberant
singer sang 'Water is everyone's' in numerous languages, the organisers had
their photographs taken – and reality returned. The ritual meaning of such
gatherings should not be denied. But will this water network take us any
nearer to our goal? Wasn't a similar European organisation established
during the ESF in the Parisian suburb of Evry in 2003? What did it achieve?

[image: The newly-established Water Forum]
The newly-established Water Forum
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