Activities in and outside the European Social Forum (17-21 September 2008) in Malmö, Sweden

from email, 12 August 2008:

Activities in and outside the European Social Forum, (17-21 september) in Malmö, Sweden.

1. ESF 2008 Action Network

2. Convergence center + infopoints
a. Convergence Center Utkanten
b. Cafe Glassfabriken
c. Smålands nation (Lund): Out of Action-area
d. Food

3. Radical Assemblies

a. Radical Women Assembly. Thursday 18 sept, 14.00.
b. Radical Assembly on precarity and workplace struggles. Thursday 18 sept, 16.00.
c. Radical Assembly on squatting, free spaces and social centers. Friday 19 sept, 14.00.
d. Radical Assembly on future mobilisations, Europe as a shared space of conflicts. Friday 19 sept. 16.00.
e. Workshops

4. Actions and demonstration

a. Street party.
b. Anti-capitalist block
c. Climat action
d. Migration action
e. Antiwar actions
f. Housing/segregation action

5. Newspapers and magazines

a. Action Network magazines: From thoughts to action
b. Turbulence

6. Official ESF

a. Repression against summit protests
b. Free public transports / fare dodging (Planka.nu)
c. The Network Labor & Globalization
d. Cinema Panora
e. etc...

7. ESF Open autonomous spaces

a. Via Campesina Youth camp
b. European Peace Action
c. No vox
d. Migrant labour and precarity
f. European Security Architecture

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1. Action Network
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Network of radical social movements and extraparliamentary leftwing organisations, such as Syndicalist Youth Federation, Antifascist Action, Women Political Forum, Malmö Free Feminists and a lot of autonomous groups.
http://www.esf2008action.net/en

What are the Action Network?

During 17th -21st the European Social Forum will be hosted by Malmo, an event planned to give social movements and radical organizations all over Europe the opportunity to enter into dialogue with each other. More than 20,000 people are expected to attend this five-day Forum which will offer seminars, workshops, and art events, including music, all with the slogan ‘Another Europe is Possible.’ Simultaneously, various kinds of demonstrations, mass activities and street events will take place, some as part of the official ESF, but others outside and independent of this. The ESF 2008 Action Network is intended to co-ordinate these organizations – from other parts of Sweden and Europe – that wish to work independently and get involved in mass activities and other events in Malmo during the ESF period. The purpose is especially to help different groups communicate, and to help organize their mobilization. The ESF 2008 Action Network is independent of the official ESF, politically as well as economically, and all participants in the Network will little by little shape its slant and aims. The mass activities won’t take place in opposition to the official Forum, but on the other hand, they won’t be in the least committed to that political agenda or social practice which the wealthiest and most powerful forces no doubt will express through the official ESF. Quite the contrary: we know that many of the thousands of activists expected to travel to Malmo because of the ESF will welcome the chance to turn their own political opinions into action through mass activities. Within the Network, there will be time and place for a wide spectrum of different kinds of practice. Respecting each other’s methods, but without compromises, people will act together, or at least during the same days, towards our common goals.
http://www.esf2008action.net

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2. Convergence center + infopoints
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a + b.

There will be a "convergence center" in the activistcenter Utkanten, with space for assemblies, workshops and an action space. The Convergence center is run by the Action Network. The convergence center is an autonomous structure to ESF, so people who participate dont need to pay fee or participate in the official ESF (if they dont want to). There will also be an Open Space in the official ESF where its possible to hold "spontanous" meetings, with more space then Utkanten has. Close to the official ESF-area there will be an open infopoint at the cafe Glassfabriken.

More information will come.
http://www.esf2008action.net

c + d.

The five days of action will need a lot of resources. We ask for support to make the make the best possible out of the actions. Do you have a travelling kitchen that can provide food for many people? Have you worked with Trauma Support/Out of Action areas? Do you have ideas for cultural events in the evenings? Practical information Due to a shortage of facilities we have to direct you to the official ESF who will provide sleeping places for the participants of the forum. We will focus our resources to provide accommodation for people with children or other special needs. There will also be an area close to Malmo where sleeping places for a limited number of people will be available. This place is also recommended if people need to take a break from the actions for a shorter time.
http://www.esf2008action.net

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3. Radical Assemblies
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The Radical Assemblies will be open assemblies at the convergence center Utkanten. They're meeting structure will be as much as possibly participatory, to stimulate exchange of information and experiencies. The RAs are an autonomous structure to ESF, so you dont need to pay participatory fee to ESF to take part.

More information about the RAs will come soon.

a. Radical Women Assembly. Thursday 18 sept, 14.00.

A paneldiscussion and workshop on womens double work (in public sector, as parttime worker, housework/housewife , women salaries ecc).

b. Radical Assembly on precarity and workplace struggles. Thursday 18 sept, 16.00.

Practical workshop for sharing experiences from workplace struggles and combating precarity in our daily lifes: as informal or formal collectives, working inside or outside unions, as supportive social movements, the use of enquires ecc.

c. Radical Assembly on squatting, free spaces and social centers. Friday 19 sept, 14.00.

Practical workshop for sharing experiences from the recent wave of struggles for social centers, freezones and squattings i Europe.

d. Radical Assembly on future mobilisations, Europe as a shared space of conflicts. Friday 19 sept. 16.00.

A forum for presenting upcoming events and giving reports from recent networkmeetings, like: Upcoming network meetings and reports: PGA, Euromayday, ecc Upcoming Days of Action: Migration, Climat, Mayday ecc. Upcoming Summit Protests: Climat Summit Copenhagen 2009, Nato Summit 2009, EU-Summit Sweden 2009

e. Workshops:

There is possibility both at convergence center Utkanten and in the ESF "Open space" to hold workshops, "outside" the official program or spontanous meetings.

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4. Actions and demonstrations
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a. Reclaim the Street/City- party friday night in a central place in Malmö.

b. Invitation for participation in the Anti-capitalist Action Block run by Action Network on September 20th 2008.

The major demonstration during ESF in Malmo will take place on Saturday September 20th at 12.00. The demonstration will be divided into different blocks, where Action Network has organized the Anti-capitalist Action Block, which has a freedom of tendencies. It means that the block is open for participation for all groups who consider themselves anti-capitalist and revolutionary.

Why an anticapitalist block? The Nordic countries have a long tradition of a mutual agreement between the state, the political parties and the unions. This has caused us to forget the political disobedience that characterized our movement one hundred years ago. We have chosen to organize an anti-capitalist block because we do not believe in parliamentary reforms or lobbying as a strategy for change. The cooperation between states and major corporations to keep the capitalist order in place needs to be overthrown by unity and cooperation between the oppressed peoples of the world. Change does not come from above- It´s organized from below.

For more information about the planned activities by Action Network during ESF 2008. See further on our homepage; www.esf2008action.net

Contact:
demoblock@esf2008action.net

c. + d. + e. + f.: More info will come soon.

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5. Newspapers and magazines
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a. Action Network magazine: From thoughts to action

>From thoughts to action. In September, in Malmö, Sweden, the European Social Forum will once again converge. In Sweden several independent media on the left have joined forces to highlight and put focus on questions autonomous and libertarian groups on the left work with. Internationally seen there are many groups focusing on the same issues in Sweden as well as abroad, we have an ambition to tie these struggles together to show on similarities and build a strengthening point for each other.

We want to connect theory with practice and will therefore focus on the below mentioned themes in a tabloid: feminism, antifascism, autonomous spaces/living areas, precarity, security/repression and environment. Is your group involved in work in one or several areas of these questions? We are looking for contributions, written as well as photos, drawings, quizzes….Contact tabloid@esf2008acti on.net. We will try to mix analysis with shorter activist reports, political questions with personal stories and global with local perspective.

Some of the questions will be points in the program on ESF and in the Action Network, others will be actions taking place during the days of the forum. We will also work with a longer perspective with focus on questions for the future, as the climate summit in Copenhagen 2009 and Sweden holding the role as president over the European Union in the latter half of the same year.

The tabloid will be free and handed out during ESF in September. It will be in English to be able to reach as many people as possible. While most people have English as a second language we ask you to think about this when formulating your contribution! Our ambition is also to be able to provide the texts on the homepage translated to other languages, please feel free to contact us if you have skills to share.

See you in the streets,

Brand, Direkt Aktion, Embryo, Motkraft, Yelah

(Swedish mediaprojects from the radical left)

b. Turbulence

Turbulence come with an summer issue that will be handed out for free on ESF. Check their webpage for more info.

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6. Official ESF 2008
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The proposed activities for the ESF:
http://www.esf2008. org/program/ list-of-proposed-activities

More information will come.

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7. ESF Open autonomous spaces
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a. Open space

There will be an “Open space” provided by the ESF. The Open space is based on a meeting space without activities planned beforehand but announced on the spot during the ESF. The Open Space will be at Sofielunds Folkets Hus. The Open space will be close to the Media&Memory Lab of the ESF. The working group taking care of building the Media & Memory Lab is:

http://openesf. net/projects/ documentation- esf-2008/ project-home

b. Via Campesina Youth camp

The European youth of Via Campesina organizes a camp from the 17th to the 21st September in Malmö, Sweden, parallel to the ESF. Through this camp, we want to contribute to the dynamic of the European Social Forum, linking more theoretical debates with more practical alternatives. During the camp, we will propose workshops and debates on sustainable family farming, food sovereignty and ecology (visit of local farms, workshops on how to set up community supported agriculture, on anti-GMO actions, on self-building of houses, on land occupation, on how to produce energy, etc...).

This camp will be organized in an autonomous way, which will require the participation of all people staying there (collective cooking, daily assembly to discuss the life of the group...). We wish to implement as much as possible food sovereignty and will thus cook with local season products. Staying in the camp will be free of charge. A voluntary fee will be asked for the meals. The space there should allow to have about 200 people staying there.

Youth camp opened : 16 - 22 September
Activities : 18 - 21 september

via campesina

If you wish to receive more information, please subscribe to the newsletter : ....
vcampmalmoe@ lists.openesf. net ..........

If you wish to take part to the organization of the camp, you can contact: ...
smekens.m@ hotmail.com ....

c. European Peace Action

Welcome to a European peace forum in Malmö focused on direct action!

In 2008 the ESF, European Social Forum, will be arranged in Malmö, Sweden. We will grab this opportunity to bring together different active peace movements from all over Europe. We will organise a European peace forum, European Peace Action, which will create a network of European peace groups for direct action. Our goal is to develop common strategies and campaigns.

The forum will run between the 17- 21 September 2008 and the programme will contain presentations, discussions, practical work and networking.

The forum will focus on 4 themes: NATO and the militarisation of the EU, nuclear weapons, militarisation of space, and the international military industrial complex.

The over-reaching theme for the entire forum will be how to strengthen our resistance against militarisation. During the forum there will also be possibilities to do direct actions against arms companies in the region. The forum welcomes anybody who is interested in peace work, not only people who are already active but also those who don't have any previous experience at all in peace activism.

If you have any questions about the forum, if you want to have a look at the preliminary programme or get active in other ways, contact us on:

forum@europeanpeace action.org

Welcome! Ofog

www.ofog.org

d. No Vox

According to the Open ESF website No Vox (France) is expecting to have their own space at the ESF in order to organise activities. More information will come.

e. Migrant labour and precarity

After the conference „Migrant / Media / Metropolis - New labour struggles in the global city“ in Amsterdam last february some activists came together and discussed first time the idea to organize a kind of assembly on precarity and migrant labour in the days of the next European social forum in Malmö in september. we are actively involved in various transnational networks and all of us could imagine, that a coming together on this topic from at least three approaches would be very interesting: from euromayday, from union organizing campaigns and from the migrationrelated networking. we agreed in the needs and in the potentials to deepen such a cross-over debate in order to strengthen common struggles. We believe that migration policies and migrations management are a crucial perspective in order to understand the contemporary transformation of labor and the whole process of precarization. Starting from different experiences of organization and struggle against precarity and exploitation, it would be possible to make a step forward, particularly on a transnational scale.

This kind of interaction already took place in Europe: for euromayday 2008, in the call and in the parades of many cities the demands of migrants have been a crucial part, and in Milano migrants had built first time the front of the mayday demonstration, which was focused on the political centrality of migrant labor in the process of precarization. At the same time, migrant labour was one of the crucial topic within the frame of the Transnational Chain of Migrationrelated Actions, which is actually going on in Europe and beyond Europe.

So the base is even better now to promote a process of political discussion and communication focused on the issues of migration and precarity. We want to use the wider participation in the next esf to organize a coming together, where also new people and groups can be involved. It should be the occasion to share, on the one side, our various experiences and approaches and to deepen, on the other side, the questions related to the interaction between migrant labor and precarization, and to the necessity – and difficulties – of a process of transnationalizatio n of the struggles.

This kind of meeting should probably be organized in a space outside the Esf in September in Copenhagen, and if more people are interested to participate in the preparations, please let us know.

/ justice for janitors - global campaign amsterdam, tavolo migranti italy, euromayday hamburg, no one is illegal hanau

f. European Security Architecture

in september there will be the next ESF in malmö. also there is some autonomous structure getting organized to prepare workshops and assemblies for radical left and anarchists and of course other interested people. it seems that some of the autonomous general assemblies might take place at rooms of the official ESF. workshops might be at social centre and other spaces in malmö.

one of the panels at official ESF will be repression. to get an impression about what people from scandinavia want to discuss, what was and is going on see: www.gipfelsoli. org/Repression/ Goeteborg_ 2001/5045. html. it talks also about the discussions in sweden after gothenburg EU-summit 2001.

we (a bunch of people in germany and netherlands) try to strenghten at the ESF and also the autonomous forum to discuss more about the so called "european security architecture" , that mixes inner and outer security, such as military and police, leading to more european surveillance, repression and war.

find a summary on institutions, agreements and techniques on http://gipfelsoli. org/Multilanguag e/English/ 4819.html or see the presentation for workshops (as pdf) on http://euro- police.noblogs. org/gallery/ 3874/euro- police-networkin g.pdf.

we will make a proposal in malmö to take the NATO-summit in france/germany 2009 as a reference to struggle against new police- and army-collaboration in europe.

one of our aims is to focus more networking between groups in other countries that are working on that issues. so please feel invited to join the preparations for the workshops in malmö!

/ Gipfelsoli