THE ATHENS ESF was a very big success for both the Greek left and for the wider European left. The networks within the ESF framework have developed since Paris and London and are playing an increasingly important role at the European level. the Greek Communist Party, the KKE, boycotted both the event and the demonstration. That the organisations to the left of the KKE could mobilise well over 100,000 people is a big victory for the Greek left. Turkey and nearly 1,000 from Eastern Europe and Russia some of whom travelled three days by coach to get to Athens.
The mobilisation from Britain was smaller than Paris or Florence, mainly because the date clashed directly with the local elections in England. This meant that the SWP mobilisation was much smaller than usual.
There were several hundred there, however, both individual activist and trade union delegations. The RMT and UNISON, at least, had organised interventions. Hopefully bigger numbers will become involved in the work of the various networks, some of which we report on these pages. The success of the event was even more remarkable given that Another important gain was the presence of 1,000 people from