The meeting was attended by 34 people from the following movements and organizations: AIH; Alternatives; ASC; Attac; CADTM; CADTM/UNSAS (Snegal); CITU (ndia); CUT (Brasil); Encuentros Hemisfricos contra el ALCA y los TLCs; FDIM/UBM (Brasil); Fondation Franz Fanon; GGJ; GTA (Brasil); May First/Peoplelink; WMW; WMW/CLES (Qubec); Oclae; QS; Rseaux Dfence de lHumanit; RQIC; Transform!; Via Campesina.
The following issues were discussed in the meeting:
1. Updates on mobilizations to be carried out from October to December 2009; mobilization calendar for 2010
2. Social Movements Assembly (SMA) functioning
3. Next meetings of social movements
About item 1:
a) October: an information was given on the mobilizations scheduled for the 12th October 2009 (day for Global Mobilisation of Struggle for Mother Earth, against colonisation and commodification of life), decided in the Belem SMA. Actions were programmed mainly in Latin America, organized by indigenous and peasant movements. In reply to the call sent to the social movements list to identify which were the actions being organized in the framework of that journey, it was informed about the organization of a Climate Justice Tribunal, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, as well as a Journey of Global Action against the Debt and Multilateral Financial Institutions (from 7th to 15th October).
The mobilizations organized by the trade union movements around the 7th October (journey for Decent Work) are also in the calendar of October mobilizations and take place in different formats in many countries.
b) Honduras: the scenario is changing everyday and it is necessary to continue monitoring and supporting the Honduran resistance, either by sensitizing the society on what is going on or by raising funds. An information was given on the 2nd October, the most recent international solidarity action towards Honduras (see message sent to the list of social movements on 28th September). It was also informed that the International Meeting of Solidarity, scheduled to take place from 8th to 10th October, was postponed due to security reasons.
c) Global mobilizations in November and December and mobilization calendar for 2010:
Two moments are in the common calendar of social movements for 2009: the mobilizations around the WTO meeting in Geneva, Switzerland (end of November) and the Klimaforum, in Copenhaguen, Denmark (from 6th to 18th December). It was emphasized the importance of linking social and environmental issues and both issues to the development model. In this sense, an effort is being carried out to link what is being negotiated in the WTO (which will discuss issues like liberalization of goods and services) and the agenda of the UN meeting on climate change in Copenhaguen. Geneva will also commemorate 10 years of the Seattle demonstrations against WTO.
Finally, it was agreed to start right now to build the common calendar of mobilizations for 2010.
About item 2:
In Morocco meeting, it was decided to consult social movements that were part of the SMA facilitating group (established in Rostock in 2007) about their commitment to carry out this work. By that time, it was informed that the European participation in the group was not clear and that this issue would be debated in June, during a meeting organized in the occasion of the European Social Forum Preparatory Assembly. According the information received by the WMW, that meeting was carried out but the emphasis was not in deepening a common space of coordination around common struggles. Instead, it was said that the focus of European movements was around thematic issues and the suggestion then was to put energy in prepare an electronic newsletter.
Concerning the proposal of a newsletter, some participants in the Montreal meeting manifested that, although it is a good idea, the newsletter was not enough to advance in conforming a space to coordinate global struggles, which is required in todays current situation and which is not provided by other spaces, like the WSF for instance, which is only a space for debate.
In this sense, besides the newsletter, it was proposed to continue the dialogue to organize common journeys of struggles and prepare a coordinated participation in open events, like the social forum. In order to reach this, it was suggested to organize a seminar of social movements, independent of WSF events, focusing on general issues related to the SMA functioning.
It was also emphasized the need to think on the use of the communication tools. The main problem mentioned was the high number of information sent to the mailing list, which has as consequence a low/poor reply to specific emails sent to the list to organize actions in a coordinated way or to stimulate strategic debate.
About item 3:
It was decided that Copenhaguen will be the next moment to have a Social Movements Assembly meeting and to advance in the discussion of the seminar and our functioning.