European Social Forum
The European Social Forum (ESF) is an annual meeting held by members of the alternative globalization movement to coordinate campaigns in Europe, share and refine organizing strategies. It is related to the World Social Forum.
The first forum was held in Florence in November 2002, following which, 1,000,000 people marched in the streets of Florence to oppose the plan of George W. Bush's regime of the USA to use violent methods to change Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The massive protests on February 15th 2003 can be seen as an offspring of the Florence forum.
The second European Social Forum was held in Paris in November 2003. In France there has been a lot of critique of the organization for not being open enough. The participation of the French Socialist Party, the Parti Socialiste, also raised a lot of critical voices, since the party has been one of the proponents of liberalization of markets in the 1990s, but the most prominent group at the event was the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire. Some anarchist groups organised a rival event in the city, at the same time, while a women's forum was held in the days preceeding the social forum, in order to counteract the perceived underrepresentation of women at the first ESF.
The third European Social Forum will be held in London, mostly at Alexandra Palace, at some point in 2004. Organisation for it has been dominated by the Socialist Workers Party, through their Globalise Resistance front, and by Ken Livingstone and Socialist Action through the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. This has irritated many participants in the local social forums of the UK, for instance the London Social Forum, who have yet to decide whether they will participate.
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Referenced By
As of November 2003 | November 2003 | Socialist Action | World Social Forum
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