By IPS Correspondents
LONDON, Oct 14 2004 (IPS)

London is preparing to host the third European Social Forum (ESF) after meetings in Florence in 2002 and Paris in 2003.

About 50,000 people are expected at the forum from Friday until Sunday, when the event will close with a march through the city centre calling for “another possible world.”

The forum will host conferences and seminars around issues such as the ‘alter globalisation’ movement calling for a less corporate view of globalisation, democracy and human rights, environment, racism, peace, and social justice.

Keynote speakers include the Indian writer Arundhati Roy, president of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam Susan George, and director of the Bangkok- based Focus on the Global South, Walden Bello.

But the forum has been widely criticised by grassroots activists and civil society organisations. “Many British non-governmental organisations are keen to get involved in the ESF but have found it difficult to do so because of the lack of transparency and openness in the UK process,” a coalition of British trade unions and environmental associations wrote in a letter to the organisers, which include the Greater London Authority which runs a limited city government.

For the first time an ESF will open at a ceremony for the “invited only” instead of all participants. London mayor Ken Livingstone, Thenjiwe Mtintso from the African National Congress, Gerry Adams, president of the Northern Ireland party Sinn Fein, and Aleida, daughter of the legendary Latin American leftist fighter ‘Che’ Guevara will be among the guests.

But those who believe that “another ESF is possible”, as they wrote in a free paper ‘Autonomous Spaces’ to be distributed at the official ESF, have organised several events of their own.

They take different positions. Some believe that the ESF process must be “democratized”, others do not recognize the ESF as legitimate, still others do not find their issues represented in the official programme.

One official side event will be the European Forum on Communication Rights that will focus on community and alternative media, intellectual property rights, use of technology for control and the corporatisation of knowledge.

“This four-day programme has been developed to counteract the lack of content addressing communication rights within the European Social Forum programme,” the organisers said.

“The urgency of communication rights issues and the freedom to communicate must be at the core of any vision of another society,” organisers said in a statement. The event includes an Indymedia centre, which encourages all participants to publish their own stories on the website.

The British anarchist group ‘The Wombles’ has organized an event ‘Beyond the ESF’. While the ESF “promotes reformist demands and it promotes a vague vision of a democratic civil society, we consider that many of the groups in the ESF will be interested in a more radical social analysis and direct action,” the Wombles said in a statement.

They oppose any leading activists or big name speakers or entrance fee. The main themes they are discussing are migration, social struggle, labour and social repression.

Their meeting will include discussion of protest plans at the next summit of the eight leading industrialised countries (G8 including the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia) to be held in Scotland in July next year.

Critical Mass, an international network of bikers opposed to the oil industry will hold a ‘bicycle protest’ against the G8 countries Friday. The group says the oil-based economy of these countries is contributing to “climate chaos.” Hundreds of bikes are expected to invade the city centre to block cars and buses.

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