Phil Hearse and The ESF held in London in mid-October was an enormous success. 25,000 people from 70 countries is a substantial achievement, and the final compromise call of the social movements set out a series of realistic mobilisation targets for the coming year (see page 14).
In addition, in a (limited) number of areas trade unionists and activists from across the continent were able to strengthen their co-ordinations and plan future activities together.
The demonstration which ended the event on October 17, which drew close to a 100,000, was also a success. It confirmed that there is still a substantial layer of people who are prepared to mobilise against the war and the occupation of Iraq.
At the same time the strategic debates, which are a necessary part of this process, were deepened. All together, the European Social Forum process has been maintained; 10 years ago such a process would have been unimaginable.
The mobilisation by country was significant. It was not, as many had expected, dominated by northern Europe; on the contrary, there was a substantial mobilisation from Italy, Ine Spanish state, Portugal and France.
In our opinion the biggest weakness was Britain. Given that this was the host nation, the mobilisation, especially among trade unionists, was weak. It was also very uneven geographically.
This raises questions about the outreach process, and the extent to which the support of some trade union leaderships was more than formal or financial. More than that, it seemed to us that the large numbers of young people mobilised for example from Italy, was not reflected in a similar level of mobilisation from Britain.
There were two main political features of the London ESF. The first is the confirmation that the issue of the imperialist "unending" war, and in particular the occupations of Iraq and Palestine, is still high on the agenda of the movement.
Secondly, the London ESF forced the issue of the neo-liberal attacks through the EU onto the agenda of the British left and the trade union movement, who up till now have ignored the role of the EU.
The appeal by trade-unionists against the Constitution, the mobilisations on March 19 to coincide with the EU meeting of heads of state and the second anniversary of the war, and the referendum on the Constitution within two years should help focus the attention on developing a campaign against these attacks.
But there are some qualifications that need to be made about the way the ESF was organised, and on the political trajectory of the process and the debates.
First, it is clear that notwithstanding the many opportunities which existed for women to participate in the different forums, a subENU LOUN UNION RIGHTS The Canary Wharf demonstration (see left) underlined the political weakness of the British unions
The London ESF
forced the issue of
the neo-liberal
attacks through the EU onto the agenda of
the British left and
the trade union
movement, who up till now have ignored
the role of the EU. stantial number of women present felt that women's struggles and participation had been under-represented.
At the previous ESFs in Florence and Paris, a daylong women's assembly was held before the main forum started. In Paris 4000 women participated.
In London, the women's assembly was a single 3 hour session in competition with many other meetings. It wasn't enough - hence the call for a day to be devoted to women's issues at the next ESF. The organisers of the next ESF must take this concern seriously.
Second, the important Iraq plenary was wrecked by a small number of people protesting against the participation of one of the speakers. This was not just disruptive, but undemocratic - as was the attempt to storm the platform of one of the anti-racist plenaries. In truth, both these activities involved a tiny minority of ESF participants, and were a diversion from the main business of the event.
Finally, there was an overcentralised organisation of most of the event which resulted in platforms of plenaries dominated by the "big names" from the "big organisations" and with a format which was that of a sharp confrontation between set positions rather than an exchange of views.
This led to various degrees to the alienation from the event of those outside of the major forces that funded and organised the event, Ken Livingstone's office, British trade-union officials and the SWP
Many of those that organised the event in France and Italy have also expressed these same concerns.
There have been a lot of discussions about whether the global justice movement is really 'anti-capitalist'. Trying to pin down in a movement in process, to fix it with a snapSmith shot definition, is really pointless. The important thing is the trend of direction.
Capitalism was certainly very unpopular at this event, and even more there was a militant anti-imperialist spirit throughout. This is witnessed by the huge popularity of the Palestinian struggle, now much more widely understood than in the past.
However, we think that the attempt of some, notably the British Socialist Workers Party, to see everything through the optic of the Iraq war, and to paint every perspective in the colours of the Iraq war, was artificial, and negatively reflected the situation in Britain.
The reality is that in Britain the trade union struggle and the fight against every aspect of neoliberalism is very weak. And because of the role of British troops in Iraq, the issue looms larger in this country.
In some other European countries, the struggle against privatisation, against unemployment, in defence of every kind of working class social gain, is much more lively than in Britain
However important the Iraq issue is, it cannot be the sole focus through which the whole perspective of this vast movement operates over the coming year.
Neither in Britain nor across Europe as a whole can all our struggles be subsumed into the struggle against war, vital though that will remain. To do so would weaken our chances of success on any front.
Despite these reservations, the ESF was a success, and a positive aid to the dynamic of the ongoing struggles.