Reflections from Florence

For four days culminating yesterday, eight members of WDM’s network and staff took part in Firenze 10+10 in Florence, Italy. Here three of us reflect on our experiences.

Veronica Pasteur, from the North and East London WDM group, explains:

As I write this I am sitting in a large drafty hall in the Fortezza da Basso, Florence, participating in the final session of the Firenze 10+10 gathering. There are several hundred activists, NGO representatives and trade unionists around me listening to feedback from the various convergences on the five key topics that have been discussed during the last four days.

It’s been an interesting few days – my first experience at an event like this and my impressions are varied. Ten years ago, 60,000 people gathered in Florence for the first European Social Forum (ESF) to discuss major issues facing Europe – like war, climate change, globalisation, racism – and develop joint campaigns and strategies to overcome them. The event in 2002 culminated in an anti-war march involving over 100,000 people in Florence. It also led to further ESFs in subsequent years around Europe.

In 2012, we are joining forces for another Europe. At a much smaller gathering, the key topics that have formed the basis of discussions are ‘austerity, debt, finance and economic governance’; ‘democracy in Europe’; ‘Europe and the world - peace/struggles’; ‘natural and social commons’; and ‘social and labour rights’. The process has been to hold meetings on different aspects of these topics, with convergence meetings each evening to pull together the key issues and actions. This culminated in a final convergence to bring all of this together into a final statement and action plan. This has been a real challenge, and the final statement is more of a call to action for a number of major mobilisations over the coming months. The debate about this has been heated and highlighted for me the lack of an effective process.

Many of the sessions I went to consisted of a series of speakers presenting their experiences or organisational activities, leaving little time for discussion or interaction. So, I feel I have listened to a lot of people talking over the last few days, but not that I contributed or even gained a great deal from it. It has been interesting to learn about struggles around Europe and feel more informed and connected to these, for example the problems facing women as anti-austerity policies are implemented in Greece and Spain and the issue of land grabs in eastern Europe. There has not been as much energy and inspiration as I had hoped for, though I have met some great people and feel there are lots of possibilities to connect better with our European allies.

Anna Mayfield, former WDM London representative now based in Scotland, reflects:

It’s been great to see so many people from such a wide range of groups, networks and NGOs here in Firenze, so passionate about the issues that they are working towards. I do not have as much experience and knowledge about campaigning and struggling with the grassroots movements as most people here, but maybe that gives me some clarity in mind. I think there has not been enough coordination between groups to work towards a solution to the range of crises that we are confronted with. It seems that everyone is pushing forward their own agenda without listening to others to see how we can all work together. Maybe this is because we can’t see a way forward that will work to tackle the problems stemming from the banking system, neoliberal capitalism and an undemocratic Europe. Although each of our grievances come from the same system, if we all want to solve our own grievance they become separate issues, and then we are not united and will fail.

Campaigning and protesting can force the governments to listen and make changes to the existing system. But we also need to build a grassroots movement, getting people involved in both challenging the system and promoting alternative solutions. To do this, we need to educate our countries’ populations about why we are in these crises and what the solutions are. We need to start living the solutions bottom up while demanding change from our governments.

I share many of Anna and Veronica's frustrations about the lack of effective and participative process for coming to shared analysis and demands, but also wonder if the failure to conclude discussions may in some ways be a blessing. It means that, rather than heading home thinking our work together is done for now, we know we need to keep talking, continuing to work together to try and reach a common agenda. In the document produced by the Italian organisers ahead of the event, it was clear that the forum should be a step in the process of developing this common agenda and actions, not a conclusion.

The final statement says that we call for a permanent European mobilisation to support the fights to overcome the crisis and build a future for everyone in Europe and the world. This mobilisation will include both convergence and decentralised actions. Specifically a common day of action is called for the EU spring summit on 23 March 2013 in Brussels. In addition, the forum calls for the endorsement of the following mobilisations and actions:
14 November 2012 – general strikes and mobilisations against austerity across Europe
18 December 2012 – World Migrants Day
23-27 January 2013 – Action against financialisation of life and the commons
8 March 2013 – feminist action against austerity and debt coinciding with International Women’s Day
23-26 March 2013 – World Social Forum in Tunisia
May 2013 - Bloccupy in Frankfurt
May/June 2013 – Alter Summit in Greece
June 2013 – G8 Counter-Summit in UK

As Veronica points out, it looks like we will be busy over the coming months. See you on the streets!