50,000 at European Social Forum
Large youth turnout bolsters plans for anti-war, pro-labor
struggles
Workers World managing editor John Catalinotto attended
the European Social Forum held in Paris on Nov. 12-16. Over
50,000 people registered for the forum's discussions, many
from outside France. According to organizers, some
100,000 people took part in a culminating march on Nov.
15.
WW: For the U.S. movement, what was the most important
result of the European Social Forum?
JC: The ESF decided in its final statement to call for a day
of action on March 20, 2004, to end the occupation of Iraq and
withdraw foreign troops. This means that the anti-globalization
movements and all the other progressive movements making up the
forum are on record to combat the continuing occupation of
Iraq.
The ANSWER coalition in the U.S. on Nov. 10 and United for
Peace & Justice a day or two later had announced plans for
events that day in anticipation of ESF support. Most anti-war
groups in the different countries had themselves made similar
proposals. But now it is fully accepted. At the World Social
Forum meeting in Mumbai (Bombay), India, in January 2004 this
will again be discussed as a world day in the hope of spreading
the action to Latin America, Asia and Africa.
The ESF also backed actions in defense of social programs
now under attack in Europe. This means that the
anti-globalization groups in Europe--which are far larger and
more active than those in the U.S.--will work together with
trade unions to protest against cuts to pensions, increased
work hours, joblessness, and so on. Some of the trade unions
are considering calling general strikes.
The ESF is a heterogeneous gathering of organizations, a
"movement of movements." Some of the more conservative groups
would prefer the ESF to remain as a debating society and not
take part in struggles. Those in groups more oriented toward
struggle told me the approval of these two action initiatives
was a victory for their current.
As the ESF unfolded, two outside events impacted the Iraq
question. The British Stop the War Coalition and its allies
were mobilizing against Bush's visit Nov. 19-21. This had the
potential of being a complete debacle for the Bush-Blair
aggressive partnership. British MP George Gallo way, now
expelled from the Labor Party for his anti-war role, brought an
ESF meeting of 1,000 people to excited cheering with his
description of this coming event.
The other was the car bomb at the Ital ian base in Iraq. In
Italy, the Silvio Berlus coni government used his monopoly of
the media to try to whip up a patriotic fervor, with some
success. But polls showed that 60 percent of Italians were for
bringing the troops home and 40 percent said they were ready to
join protests to achieve this.
Over a dozen Italy-based organizations attending the ESF,
including the Refound ation Communist Party, joined to call for
protest demonstrations on Nov. 22 all over Italy. They expect a
strong turnout for the demand to bring the Italian troops back
from Iraq now.
Were you able to get an overall impression of the ESF,
and what was it?
You have to realize how vast the event was and how difficult
it was to get an overall impression. Tens of thousands of
people were spread over five neighborhoods of the Paris
suburbs--mostly the old "Red Belt," that had elected Communist
Party mayors for decades. Within each neighborhood were dozens
of large and small meet ing places, with large "plenary," smal
ler "seminar" and even smaller "workshop" meetings scheduled
sometimes a half-mile from each other.
People contrasted it to the Florence, Italy, meeting last
year, where a single center in a much smaller city made access
and travel easier.
The ANSWER steering committee had asked me to represent them
at meetings of the European Anti-war Coordination. I went to
those and some related plenary sessions, plus a plenary on
Latin America, a seminar on NATO's role, and a workshop on "The
Energy Crisis and the War." I took part in the Nov. 15 march
and then the final "social movements" assembly Nov. 16. I also
attended a spirited solidarity meeting with Cuba on Nov. 11
that was not officially part of the ESF.
Even this narrow selection of events with an
anti-imperialist focus gives insight into the ESF, but there
were over a thousand meetings of one sort or another that I
couldn't attend, including all those on the environment, on
union struggles, feminist, lesbian/gay/bi/transgender rights,
immigrant and anti-racist struggles.
My overall impression is that there are vast numbers of
young people, even in the imperialist countries, who want
social justice and who hate war. A majority of them are ready
to engage in some sort of struggle; they participated last
winter in the mass anti-war actions and will fight the
occupation of Iraq.
There is less clear solidarity with the struggle in
Palestine for self-determination and the armed struggles, for
example in Colombia, than with the more pacifist movements of
what is called "civil society."
There is some confusion about the role of the European
imperialist countries, especially France and Germany, with many
people believing this is a "kinder, gentler" imperialism.
Others argue that it only looks that way because the U.S. is
such a military power and so aggressive. One of the few
seminars raising this point strongly was one organized by the
Communist Party of Greece, with participation of the CP of
Turkey and the CP of Portugal and some other progressive
forces. The speakers attacked both NATO and the idea of a
European Union military force, showing it would be
pro-imperialist.
The workshop's organizers invited me, as a representative of
the International Action Center, to report on the Nov. 8
demonstration in The Hague supporting Slobodan Milosevic's
defense of himself and of Yugoslavia in NATO's court. It was
perhaps the only workshop where this issue would get a
100-percent friendly hearing.
Much of the political confusion on these issues stems from
the position of the more social-democratic tendencies in the
leadership of the ESF. These groupings used administrative
maneuvers to limit discussions of Latin America--where there is
revolutionary ferment--to only six significant meetings, and
prevented Cuban participation in the ESF.
You said there was a solidarity meeting with
Cuba?
Last spring world imperialism carried out a broad propaganda
attack on Cuba after the Cuban Revolution defended itself by
cracking down on counter-revolutionaries. In Europe a bevy of
lesser-known intellectuals attacked Cuba for its decisive
defensive actions. Joining this attack were the leaders of the
French Communist Party, of course every Socialist Party, and
even the leader of the Refoundation CP in Italy and of the
United Left in Spain, although many currents in these parties
and many members would disagree.
In the end, the European Union put sanctions into effect
against Cuba, a vicious imperialist attack on the Cuban
people.
At a spirited, enthusiastic meeting in a packed union hall
in the Pantin suburb on Nov. 11--prior to the official opening
of the ESF--about 1,000 people heard groups from all over
Europe and parts of Latin America express solidarity with Cuba.
There were many French organizations, including former
anti-Nazi partisans and some unions. But there was no official
representative from any of the important French left parties,
neither the Com munist Party nor the Revolutionary Communist
League (LCR-4th Inter national), for example.
It was ironic that one of the best-selling items at the ESF
was the Che Guevara T-shirt. Many young participants identified
with Che as the heroic guerrilla fighter, and rightly so. Che's
goal, though, was not to die fighting, but to win power for the
workers and peasants, and he would expect the workers and
peasants to defend this power with their new state.
People at the Latin American plenary were overjoyed to learn
that there were forces within the United States--specifically
in the International Action Center and the ANSWER
Coalition--who organized solidarity with Cuba and with the five
Cuban political prisoners held in the U.S. As one said, a
struggle within the U.S. "gives us hope."
And the ESF gives us hope, in the sense that a large
gathering of progressive forces, youthful, many opposed to
imperialist war or ready to fight to defend social gains or
both, gives hope to those around the world who know that only
by fighting for socialism can these goals be won. By joining in
the debates, and even more so by joining in their struggles
against today's rulers, we can advance the cause of
socialism.
Reprinted from the Nov. 27, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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