Reports from the European Social Forum
At the European strategy meeting on 14th October, representatives from 10 European countries shared their plans for the Global Week of Action at the national level, and discussed next steps. Click here for a summary.
At the Forum itself the Global Week of Action was promoted in many plenaries, seminars and workshops as different groups and campaigns shared their plans. One seminar focused specifically on the Week of Action and was addressed by speakers from Italy, Norway, UK and Costa Rica.
Bev Duckworth from the World Development Movement in the UK, spoke on behalf of the UK Trade Justice Movement. Bev spoke of the UK Government as one of the world’s leading champions of liberalisation, and of the need to increase the pressure felt by them in the coming months. Decentralised events will take place during the Week of Action in the UK, leading up to a big mobilisation/night protest to wake up the Government on Saturday 16th. Bev also stressed the solidarity perspective of the Week – when different people in different countries will be campaigning on the same issues at the same time.
Asbjorn Wahl, from Campaign for the Welfare State, spoke for the Norwegian Trade Campaign. Asbjorn placed the Week within the context of the campaign against the WTO, stressed the need to see the Week as part of a much longer-term struggle, and issued the challenge of reaching out to more social movements and trade unions when building national-level alliances.
Andre Baranes from Campaign to Reform the World Bank spoke on behalf of the Italian campaign. Andrea said that ‘this is a concrete chance to put under the spotlight and also to shift the unsustainable trade agenda of the European union’. He spoke of the call to action and challenged all campaigns to get involved. In Italy there will be local events in up to 50 cities with one or two national events.
Carlos Aguilar from Encuentro Popular-COMPA , Costa Rica spoke on behalf of the Hemispheric Social Alliance. Latin America has been fighting free trade for 20 years, mostly with the United States, but now increasinglty with the European Union. Carlos spoke of the increasing control of public services and finance by multinatinoals as a result of free trade agreements. For the Week of Action activities will be planned in over 30 Latin American countries, linking free trade also with increasing militarisation. He ended by reiterating that ‘now is not the time for pessimism!’
