At the second European Social Forum (ESF) held in Paris earlier this November it was agreed that activists would assemble in London in November 2004. What will happen on the route between Paris and London? Will the forum process change?
At the second World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil back in January 2002 some journalists asked me if I knew where "the 11th floor" was, where the final document was being written. They had heard a rumour about a group of people sitting on the 11th floor writing on the document that contained the conclusions of the forum.
At first I found it to be a fantastic story. I thought about those people sitting on the 11th floor, writing and compromising and actually missing what the forum is all about, networking, becoming inspired and getting new energy to have power to fight the rest of the year. And, I thought, if they ever come out with the paper they will be drowned in thousands of other papers written and distributed at the WSF, papers that does not matter very much. The most important decisions are not taken inside, but outside, the meeting rooms. The revolutions are made in the ties created between ideas, people and movements.
I have had reason to remember and rethink that scene many times during the years that have followed. My spontaneous reaction at the time was to laugh out loud and tell the journalists one of the most basic facts about the WSF - that the forum did not take decisions - and then to run off telling all my friends about crazy journalists going to Porto Alegre to look for an 11th floor.
But then, a little later while still at the same forum I understood why they had asked. Their bosses, the readers and even many of the delegates at the WSF simply assumed that an event of this scale had to have official conclusions, and that somebody must be putting them on paper. I don’t blame the journalists. That is exactly how things usually work, all the way from the richest and biggest political parties to the tiniest most alternative autonomous network. The logic is the same, even though the methods differ.
But whoever wrote the original charter of principles for the WSF went against that logic. They did this because they knew that stating “the WSF takes decisions” would be like opening Pandora’s box, and they wanted to change that logic. I think this principle is magnificent. Others think is annoying. Others again don’t think, they act and have throughout the years been trying to control the uncontrollable, to conduct all the trains and make them go the same direction, to lead what has enough leaders and too few living alternatives – the movement of movements.
Learning to listen
It’s important to say that I was wrong: there was an "11th floor". Well, not literally; but there was a group writing the conclusions for the Assembly of Social Movements. That year it was just an assembly. The next year it became a network, and nowadays there is always an assembly the day after the forum ends. Papers are written, there are probably negotiations, compromises - even intrigues - and decision are taken.
At the second ESF in Paris many were asking for precisely development and further steps. But in what direction, I ask myself?
Geographically we know where we are heading. In the near term some of us will go to Mumbai for the World Social Forum (WSF). I hope that the movements in India and the rest of Asia will be able to benefit from WSF as they those in Latin America did from Porto Alegre.
Then, in November 2004, the European Social Forum will be in London. Some people are worried. London is huge. Blair doesn’t like the movement. The food is terrible! And the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is numerous (the Reclaim the Streets movement was born there and the people that kept standing in front of everybody shouting “one solution revolution” so many times that even the revolutionaries started to wonder seem to belong there).
There are rumours that the process taking the ESF to London was not very democratic, that the movements are very divided and that the SWP is trying to become the avant-garde of the movement.
Remembering my reaction when I first heard about the 11th floor I don’t laugh and simply dismiss the rumours this time. But I can’t say that I get very worried because I trust the movement. The movement is the sum of all the people, movements, ideas, alternatives and initiatives and is much more intelligent than efforts to lead it.
The social forum space belongs to the participants. That is a statement of the obvious but important to repeat because it means that there are no enemies in the space. The only enemy is dogmatism and no movements are entirely alleviated from that. The space should be filled with issues, coordinations and actions, immediate solutions and of course – visions.
Common political programmes, common final objectives, long-term solutions and a common terminology/language should be left out because of the danger of exclusion. We ought to afford experiments in that space. It’s great that dates are set at an assembly of social movements. Could it be done another way? Yes; the creativity to experiment and find new ways is sometimes not used as much as it could within the movement.
From my point of view the social forum process stands on two legs. One is to unite and coordinate. The other is to challenge and break new ground. “Unity and coordination” is common; “challenge and break new ground” is less so. That should change. During the social forums, established analyses should be challenged, social movements should break up, find new alliances, new ways.
The shape of the forums should also be changed; we should put the most dogmatic Trotskyists, anarchists, activists, communists and socialists on stage and make them reflect on what others have to say. Everybody that speaks on workshops one year should come back the year after merely to listen. We should put the most famous intellectuals on a panel to listen to an audience. We should explore the unpredictable instead of doing the traditional. Maybe London could serve us with that, however bad the food!
