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Paris ESF: action forum or talking shop?

On 25.-26. April, the preparatory meeting of the European Social Forum (ESF) met in Berlin. About 250 delegates from all over the continent and some observers from African and Asian initiatives discussed three major items:

• the programme of the coming ESF, which will take place in Paris in November this year.

• the anti-war work of the ESF

• the character and future orientation of the ESF

The mass forum in Florence with 60.000 workers, youth and anti-capitalists present, the millions strong demonstration at the end of the forum had already demonstrated that the ESF has become a major political force, a pole of attraction for all those seeking to unite action against imperialist war and capitalist attacks with debating and working out a strategy to replace global capitalism – a debate between reform and revolution, re-raising all the questions of the anti-capitalist, revolutionary workers movement of the past in the context of the current phase of capitalist crisis and war.

Most importantly, the ESF and European Social Movements became a political, mobilising force of the whole continent by adopting the call for an international anti-war demonstration on February the 15th, which rallied 20 to 30 million in Europe alone.

This demonstrated what the ESF can be and where its potential lies. It has to be said that the meeting in Berlin demonstrated rather what prevents this potential from being realised, than the perspective of calls like the demonstration in February being generalised and combined with strikes, occupations and other forms of the class struggle.

Obviously, the programme for the ESF, organisational and financial questions were dominating the agenda of the meeting, given that there is half a year of preparation for this event ahead of us.

The programme finally adopted shows who dominates the leadership of the ESF – a collection of reformists, petit-bourgeois intellectuals and right centrists. The programme reads not as call for debate on the burning issues of the day – the permenent war against terror, the offensive of US-imperialism, the building of a European imperialist block, the rise of mass struggles against war and neo-liberalism, the pre-revolutionary character of the period and the need for a new International.

Rather it is a collection of reformist day dreams of another, peaceful, but capitalist Europe. It is at best a collection of “rights” the bosses and reformist, ie. left-bourgeois governments should grant their citizens.

This also was also reflected in the debates on the anti-war movement and on the character of the ESF. Of course everybody praised the demonstration on February 15th. However, nobody raised the problem that the ESF was unable to go further, to pressurise the reformist trade unions into strike action and to link with the most militant sectors of the working class and the youth on a day to day basis.

Indeed, all – apart from the League for the Fifth International – agreed that the ESF should not become a mobilising body. This should be the preserve of the so-called “European Social Movements” (the mass meeting the day after the ESF ended in Florence, which actually adopted the call for the February 15th demo).

This superfical distinction is completely useless for the masses attracted by the forums. Why should there be a separate body for making decisions? If it is to roughly represent all the European (or international) parts of the movement, than delegations should be elected in national and local assemblies beforehand and meeting of these be held as meetings of the ESF.

So why do all the major forces in the ESF – from the right wing (Attac), via the centre (Rifondaione, Cobas, USec) to the left (IST) – defend the distinction between the ESF and the ESM? Because it allows the reformist leaders to be in the forum (as “individuals” and not as representatives of parties), without being obliged to anything. Because it puts accademic debate over making political decisions.

This reflects the dominance of petit-bourgeois and middle strata intellectials in the ESF – behind whom the reformists hide their agenda yet ultimately dominate it.

The only major forces who tried to push the ESF a bit to the left in Berlin were the IST and, to some extend, the Italian delegates (reflecting the stronger pressure from the working class on reformists and syndicalists). But they only did so, by calling for more activity, by trying to secure a “space” for their own actions.

But they did not openly fight politically against the Attac leadershop of the ESF. Such a struggle is urgently necessary in order to secure the growing potential of the ESF.

The League for the Fifth International presented, via a resolution and in its members interventions what we want to achieve.

"The St Denis European Social Forum must have an even higher component of sessions mobilising for struggle and action than Florence, not less. It must debate the political basis for action on the key issues: war and Palestine; IMF austerity; privatisation and cuts; attacks on immigrants and asylum seekers, state racism and fascism; defence of class war prisoners.

It should issue as calls to action:

• Defeat the US-UK-Israel colonisation of the Middle East and the imperialist “war on terror” everywhere

• An international coordinated campaign against GATS and mass reduncancies to repeal the attacks of the capitalist and their state by mass action.

• Build social forums in every city, every country

•Transform the global social forum movement into a new international party of global revolution, a new, Fifth International.

Without becoming a centre of actions, organising locally, regionally and nationally, the ESF will become a mere talking shop, as the WSF already has become.

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