[WSF-Discuss] Autonomous Spaces at the ESF Malmö 17-21 September 2008

Thu Aug 21 06:13:15 UCT 2008

*Autonomous Spaces at the ESF Malmö 17-21 September 2008*

from email, 12 August 2008

@ http://www.wombles.org.uk/article2008081893.php

Collaborative wiki form:
http://openesf.net/projects/autonomous_spaces

Other people directly involve in organizing the spaces might do a great
contribution completing and updating this info in the wiki.

Hoping you find it useful. In solidarity! Mayo

List of autonomous spaces that are in preparation for the ESF 2008 Malmö -
September: (Info accessible at the wiki:
http://openesf.net/projects/autonomous_spaces)

1) ESF2008 Action Network
2) Camp promoted by Friend of the earth and Via Campasina
3) European Peace Action
4) Migrant labour and precarity Meeting
5) European Security Architecture
6) Youth German Metal Trade Union Confederetion (DGB)
7) No Vox (To be confirmed)
8) Open space and Media&Memory Lab provided by the ESF
9) Other infos useful for self-organize activities: ESF program and
logistic contacts; openesf.net online space for initiatives; others.

1) ESF2008 Action Network - http://www.esf2008action.net
It is based on different autonomous groups in relation to the official ESF.
Plans include action, mobile soup-kitchen, radical assemblies, workshops,
lodging and entertainment for free. See updates on the official site
www.esf2008action.net . Place: Utkanten (youth house), Glassfabriken (café),
Smalands (Student housing, Lund).

There will be a "convergence center" in the activistcenter Utkanten, with
space for assemblies, workshops and an action space. People who participate
dont need to pay fee or participate in the official ESF (if they dont want
to). Close to the official ESF-area there will be an open infopoint at the
cafe Glassfabriken.

More about the ESF 2008 Action Network including infos on Convergence
centers, Infopoints, Assemblies, Actions, Demostrations and
Publications<http://openesf.net/projects/autonomous_spaces/the-esf-2008-action-network>

2) Camp promoted by Friend of the earth and Via Campesina
Camp where to celebrate seminars and activities and also be a camp for
living. They have a place 15 km from Malmö, nevertheless they are also
considering to find an other place instead inside Malmö. "The European youth
of Via Campesina organizes a camp from the 17th to the 21st September in
Malmö, Sweden, parallely 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

Contact Via campesina

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

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

Contact Friend of the Earth:
Contact: ellie.cijvat at gmail.com
Wiki to organise the camp
here<http://openesf.net/projects/agriculture-food-sovereignity-land-reform-network/via-campesina-youth-camp>

3) The European Peace Action
Plans a special space where to celebrate seminars and organize actions. 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 on:
forum at europeanpeaceaction.org
http://www.europeanpeaceaction.org and http://www.ofog.org

4) Migrant labour and precarity Meeting
This kind of meeting should probably be organized in a space outside the Esf
in September in Kopenhagen, 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. Explanation of the idea: 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 transnationalization of
the struggles.

5) European Security Architecture
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.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! 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.

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

6) The Youth German Metal Trade Union Confederation (DGB) plans a special
space to celebrate seminars on labour issues.

7) No Vox (France) is expecting to have their own space at the ESF in order
to organise activities. (To be confirmed)

8) 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
Media&Memory Lab will provide infraestructure for self-reporting on the ESF.
The working group taking care of building the Media & Memory Lab is:
http://openesf.net/projects/documentation-esf-2008/project-home

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9) Other infos useful for self-organise activities:

+ The Nordic Organiser Committe assumes that the logistics (rooms etc) of
the auronomous spaces are self-organised. Nevertheless for the coordinate on
the logistics with the ESF 2008 office you must write to:
logistik at esf2008.org
+ Information on activities at the autonomous spaces will also included at
the programme publication that will be facilitated to the ESF participants.
Deadline to send the information to be included at the official program: 15
June. The information has to be sent to: program at esf2008.org and
info at esf2008.org
+ The www.openesf.net provides online space for any project and initiatives
including own subdomain, wiki, task tracker, blogs, e-lists, etc. It is not
necessary that the project is linked to the ESF 2008 "event", but to a
continouus process.
+ Ellie (Friend of the Earth) is available to facilitate information that
could be relevant for spaces organization. She is based at Malmö - Sweden:
ellie.cijvat at gmail.com

--
Mayo Fuster Morell
E-mail: lilaroja at gmx.net
Skype: mayoneti

http://www.onlinecreation.info
http://www.openelibrary.info
http://www.openesf.net
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http://www.euromovements.info
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