In ESF in Paris, 12-15 of November 2003
The European Social Forum (ESF) was born in connection to the World Social Forum (WSF) whose aim it is to facilitate grassroot debates about how our world should look like. You’ve surely heard the slogan “Another world is possible”. Well, that’s what the WSF is about: creating another world in solidarity, pluralism and peace. The ESF is the European level. NGOs, groups, networks and individuals come together to discuss crucial issues like social welfare, employment or environmental protection. Last year the first ESF took place in Florence, Italy. New ideas were born, new networks were set up and what is maybe most important: people saw that a different Europe is possible! It’s not an utopian vision – we are all contributing to make Europe a better place. Florence gave a lot of motivation to the newly established movement. Let’s not let politicians decide about everything anymore without having to face our criticism. People who want to get active. And because this is maybe the perfect description for young greens, we shouldn’t stay out of this movement. Last year, some member organisations (MOs) of FYEG joined the ESF in Florence, for instance the Hungarian ZöFi. This year, we want to be more to take part and to show: we as young greens are a progressive part of the movement that has its place and its roots in there. And we have a very important topic to talk about: MIGRATION. As we have migrations in and to Europe as theme for the 2003/2004 FYEG campaign we want to raise awareness of this subject also among other groups. During FYEG seminars and exchanges in Sweden, France and Bosnia, we discussed our contribution to the ESF and we agreed on organising a workshop on the ESF on migration and to have an action connected to this topic. This action will be a wedding party in the centre of Paris. To achieve this we set up two working groups: one that takes care of the workshop and one that prepares the action.