[R-G] Fwd: Important message from European World Social Forum

Tue Nov 12 01:31:55 MST 2002

Dear Subscribers,
	Significant 'good news' here from the recent European Social Forum
that has just finished up in Florence, Italy.  See fwd message below.
Regards, Tom
~~~~~~~~~~~~
  ----- Forwarded message: -----On behalf of wsf-vancouver
To: WSF <wsf-vancouver at yahoogroups.com>
From: Saren Azer <sarenazer at shaw.ca>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 23:40:56 -0800
Subject: [wsf-vancouver] Important message from European Social Forum-ESF

Dear friends
Please read the following message and also forward to your mailing list. It
contains some very critical and inspiring information. It was sent to us by
our dear brother Orlando Herrera who is our liaison with WSF.

All the best

Saren Azer
Amnesty International,
International Society for Peace and Human Rights
Tel: (604) 733-7727
Email: sarenazer at shaw.ca
Website: www.peaceandhumanrights.org

 Sisters and Brothers,

 The first European Social Forum (Nov.6-10) that took place in Florence,
 Italy, has been a tremendous success in many aspects, it went beyond the
 wildest expectations of its organizers. In term of numbers the organizers
 expected 12,000 to 15,000 delegates and almost 40,000 delegates from 105
 countries registered at the Forum. At the main rally that took place last
 Saturday against war, the organizers expected 200,000 people, and according
 to the Italian police almost half a million anti-war protesters marched
 through the street of Florence, the organizers' figure is one million
 people.

 The ESF was oppossed by the right-wing government of Silvio Berlusconi,
 mass media and business sectors from the very begining. They initiated a
 campaign criminalizing and demonizing this event and creating fear in the
 Italian people by telling them that last year events in Genoa will be
 repeated again in Florence. The objective was to put the organizers and
 participants on the defensive and to create conditions of uncertainty that
 deviate the attention from the main topics of deliberation to the issue of
 the obstacles introduced by the police state. They totally failed in their
 attempts.

 The program consisted of 18 morning conferences (six per day,from Nov.7 to
 9), 12 night conferences, 160 seminars, 180 workshops, 75 cultural events
 open to the public.

 The main topics of discussion defined by the organizers were, neoliberalism
 and globalisation, war and peace, and citizens rights and democracy, racism
 and immigration.

 One of the main agreements reached at Florence was to initiate the
 organization of the international coordination of social movements,
 initiative proposed by the Landless Peasants Movement from Brazil.
 A new experience introduced for the first time at this Forum was a radio
 and TV transmission of the ESF via satellite to all Europe.

 The next ESF will take place at Sain Denis, France in 2003.

 According to a Mexican observer " The global movement of resistance...has
 been strengthened by the ESF. This "movement of movements" was able to
 bring together radicals, unions and political organizations."..."It was a
 consensus at the closing meeting of the ESF that after Florence the
 movement was alive and growing."... " It is one of the most important
 international political phenomenon and brings a lot of hope at this
 moment."

 A journalist from the The Guardian writing on the ESF said " Clearly,
 anti-globalisation, anti-capitalism, pro-democracy movement...may be said
 to be maturing in fits and start into a very broad social justice movement,
 and shedding its TV-inspired image of grungy anarchists smashing symbols
 they do not like. Clearly,too, it is based not just on emotionalism but on
 growing political theory and analysis, and is becoming popular enough to
 draw in many on the left who had given up hope that change was possible."

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-- 
Tom Childs - Audio/Visual Resources
Douglas College Library
New Westminster, B.C. Canada
T: 604 527-5713 - library
T: 504 524-9315 - home
E: childst at douglas.bc.ca
U: BCGEU Local 703
W: http://www.globaljustice.ca
   "There's no way to delay, that trouble comin' everyday."
				--Frank Zappa