European Social Forum
The European Social Forum (ESF) is an annual meeting held by members of the alternative globalization movement (also known as the Global Justice Movement) to coordinate campaigns in Europe, share and refine organizing strategies. It is related to the World Social Forum.
First ESF
The first forum was held in Florence in November 2002, following which, 1,000,000 people marched in the streets of Florence to oppose United States President George W. Bush's plan for the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The massive protests on February 15th 2003 can be seen as an offspring of the Florence forum.
Second ESF
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 preceding the social forum, in order to counteract the perceived underrepresentation of women at the first ESF.
Third ESF
The third European Social Forum was held in London, mostly at Alexandra Palace, on the 15th - 17th October 2004. The Socialist Workers Party, and Globalise Resistance have been central to organising the event, as has Ken Livingstone and Socialist Action through the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. These groups tend to see the ESF as an event, rather than a process.
Other groups see the ESF as a process, with the leadup and actual events being important forums for debate and networking. Hence, many participants in the local social forums of the UK, for instance the London Social Forum, feel that the organisers' approach is too top-down and are instead organising "horizontallly" organised fringe events. These are known as the 'autonomous' or 'beyond' ESF events and participants range from non-governmental organisations, political parties such as the Green Party, anarchists and socialists.
An intervention was made by those at the autonomous spaces to invade the stage while the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone (who is a member of Iraq-war-supporting Labour Party from giving a speech about anti-fascism. A banner was hung up stating "Ken's Party > War Party" and the stage was turned into an open-microphone event with speeches against the 'vertical' organisation of the ESF, the war in Iraq, and recent attacks on freedom of speech by the FBI (taking servers down with international articles). Further controversy occurred when speeches against police repression on the final day in Trafalgar Square were forbidden by the organisers and scuffles broke out resulting in some police arrests.
It remains to be seen how much the credibility of the ESF has been damaged by the process of the ESF 2004. It is possible that much of the anti-globalisation movement will refuse to partipate at all from this point on. It is also possible that widespread networking of 'horizontals' across Europe and beyond will lead to a re-invigorated process with greater transparency and internal democracy.