Dear fellow ESFers!
Just thought it would be appropriate to give you a short update on the
process up here in the north! We want to use this list for information
on what is happening in the preparation process, and get feedback from
you on ideas and proposals, in order to build this 5th ESF together
and in a more inclusive way.
We are currently working on preparing the proposals for the different
venues, in order to take a decision at a joint scandinavian meeting on
the 20th of June in Copenhagen. We are looking into the financial side
and what the costs would be for the different venues, and what kind of
financial support is available in both countries, as well as
mobilising potential, and yes; the Visa issue!
Our internal deadline for finishing these proposals is 15th of June,
in order for everyone to be able to form an opinion on the proposals
at hand. We think we have two very good proposals, and we would also
like some input from you on this decision, and therefore we will send
the two proposals to the list, detailing their pro´s and con´s. Just a
short update now, more info will come on the 15th:
On the Swedish side, the venue has changed from what we presented in
Lisbon, we are now looking at an area in central Malmö, centered
around and in Folkets Park (“the peoples park”) which we think is a
lot better than the formerly suggested more sterile environment of the
harbour area. In the new venue, we have all possibiliteis of
organising a forum highly visible to the general public in Malmö, and
it is situated in a part of the city well known for its political and
organisational life. In Copenhagen, the suggested venue is the one
presented in Lisbon, Bella Center, situated a very short trainride
from the airport. This venue has the big advantage that everything can
take place in the same place, even the free accomodation will be
inside the center.
The dates were looking at are 4-7, 11-14 and 18-21 of September.
Please give us feedback on the dates as well!
Apart from that, we are also expanding the group of organisations in
the initiative committees, in Sweden several unions have joined, like
for example the “TUC” of Skåne, which is the co-ordinating committe in
the Skåne Region (the Southern region of Sweden where the forum venues
on the Swedish side are) for all the blue-collar unions affiliated to
LO (TUC) Sweden, and talks are going on with more union represenatives
as well as with other organisations, among the youth, immigrant and
environmental organsiations. So far, we’ve had nothing but positive
feedback! In Copenhagen, they recently had a meeting where they formed
a more formal structure around the ESF-work, which reportedly was an
inspiring and succesful meeting.
In Stockholm a group is working on preparing the EPA, looking into all
the details about that, and a venue is already booked. More info will
come from them later.
On the political side here in Sweden, 1st of May mobilised more people
than in many years, and resistance against our conservative
governments’ policies is growing. They are doing very badly in the
polls, and would loose big if there were elections today... People are
protesting against the new law allowing privatisation of the
healthcare and hospitals and against cuts in the welfare system such
as unemployment benefits, and last week there was a big demonstration
and many smaller actions in Göteborg against the NATO marine excercise
taking place here. The participants were voicing strong concerns about
the fact that this excercise is taking place in a neutral country, and
even in a city which has a nuclear free zone policy even though the
ships taking part did not want to declare if they had any nuclear
weapons on board or not.
All in all, we have good hopes for ESF-mobilisation! See you in Rostock!
Sara Andersson
on behalf of the Initiative Committee for ESF Scandinavia