Preparing the next European Social Forum

In the weekend of April 16-18 2004, more than 300 delegates from various social movements from all Europe met in Istanbul (Turkey) for a preparatory assembly to build the next European Social Forum that will be held in London (UK), October 14-17 2004.

Logo from the Istanbul Social Forum

The European Social Forum (ESF) is a regional initiative which supports the Charter of Principles from the World Social Forum (WSF), held in Porto Alegre from January 25th to 30th, 2001. It was then decided that the WSF should be "an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among Mankind and between it and the Earth."

This is not a process which can be reduced to a place or time, and it was agreed that the forums would be a "permanent process of seeking and building alternatives."

The following year, a group of participants from European social movements also agreed to create a European Social Forum, parallel to the WSF, in order to open the forum to as many people as possible and discuss about issues specific to Europe.

The results speak by themselves. Participation of each forum (world or European) vary from 50 000 to 100 000 participants. It unites a wide plurality of movements, whether they fight the law or try to enforce the laws, they all share the same principles and aims, as defined in the Charter of Principles. The forums are not a central organisation, they merely provide a platform for social movements to think globally and act locally, as part of what some refer to as "alternative" globalisation, or alter-globalists.

Which brings us back to the European Social Forum (ESF). After Florence (Italy) in November 2002, followed by Paris (France) in November 2003, the preparatory assemblies for the London 2004 ESF have paved a good part of the road ahead, but they require a good deal of patience.

The Istanbul assembly (April 16-18 2004) was the second step in the process to prepare the next ESF. The city was chosen in order to give Turkish social movements a voice in the preparation of the forum. While some complained about travel costs to Istanbul, others took the possibility to emphasise on the situation in Turkey - in particular Kurdish and anti-war movements - while also noting that London is not exactly the most accessible European city. But in the end, many were surprised to find so much in common with their Turkish colleagues.

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The assembly has the role of determining the overview how many resources to allocate to whom and for what aim. Although this sounds like easy work, we must consider that the forums are democratic and aim equal demographic representation in order to avoid giving a monopoly to those who can shout the loudest or those who has the most travel resources.

A concrete example of the application of the philosophy of the social forums is the Babels’ network of translators and interpretors. The group was created for the 2002 ESF in Florence, only two months before the event in November. They managed to find 300 voluntary translators and interpretors whose most important goal would be to enforce the right for people to express themselves, to debate and to understand others, in the language of their choice. Some of the babels are professionals, while others are bilingual or trilingual enthusiasts who share the goals of the other Babels. All are volunteers, but their travel costs (including accommodation and basic food) are payed by the ESF solidarity fund.

Bulgarian social movements are encouraged to be active in every level of the ESF, as every European nation, whether they are part of the EU or not. Experiences need to be shared with socially advanced countries such as France and many common grounds can be found with neighbouring countries such as Greece, Turkey and Roumania, where social movements are slowly emerging.

Multilingual Bulgarians should also consider joining the Babels network in order to increase the cultural plurality and to open the ESF process to every one, not depending on their fluency to speak foreign languages. For example, even if only small groups of Bulgarians have been involved in the previous social forums for the moment, there have been conclusive talks about holding the 2005 ESF in Athens (Greece) and this will provide even more opportunities to develop the integration of Bulgarians into European movements for alternatives.

Do not be discouraged by the distances, budgets or long debates that can rise from such plurality. The experience of the social forums have shown that this work is possible and that solidarity has positive impacts. Let it be heard in Bulgaria and in all the world, that "Another world is possible"!