ESF Final Assembly – 4th of July

The final Assembly has been divided in two parts:
10 – 11.40        Information about the ESF, presentation of final declaration  and debate
11.40 – 13.00  Outcome from thematic assemblies and debate.

It was significant to have an ESF in Istanbul, 3000 people participation, 200 meetings between workshops, seminars and assemblies and a very successful demo with more than 5000 people participation.

We have held this ESF in the framework of the crisis. There were a lot of seminars and workshops focusing on this. All seminars have brought similarities and differences.

What is clear is that we want to work together and go further together without letting anybody destroying the wish of networking mobilizations all around Europe.

So we are here together to find spaces to coordinate our effort to struggle against the attack we are facing. There will be concrete actions and in the framework of the ESF we are going to join our forces

Final declaration

From the Final Assembly of the 6^th European Social Forum

1- 4^th July 2010

We, the participants at the Istanbul ESF, affirming that we have a strong  engagement against all war and occupation  and that we are for a political resolution of the Kurdish issue, have made the following resolution :

Act together in Europe against the crisis

In the context of a global crisis and faced with the EU, the governments and the IMF offensive to impose austerity and social regression policies, the social movements which have gathered in the ESF in Istanbul issue a call to act together in Europe.

Mobilisations and resistance movements are developing across Europe to challenge these policies. It is urgent to build, on the long term, a convergent struggle in Europe, which brings together social movements, trade unions, associations, organisations, and citizen networks. This is why we issue a call for a first step on the way to developing mobilisation across Europe, on the 29th of September and the surrounding days.

We must impose alternative policies, which enable us to fulfil social needs and ecological requirements.

All social movements call for a European assembly on the 23-24th of October (or 13-14^th of November) in Paris to further our mobilisation and the coordination of our movements and also to make valuation and discuss the future of the ESF.

Outcome of the thematic assemblies

held in the frame of the European Social Forum on the 3^rd of July 2010

(please notice that the summaries are followed by the final declarations of each assembly in which are listed all the calls, the proposals and the appointments for the following months)

We are the people, women and men participating to workshops, seminars, assemblies and networks in the European Social Forum in Istanbul, 1^st – 4^th July 2010 and we call on social movements to participate and networking for the concrete actions which were discussed, proposed and now listed in the final declarations of the assemblies at the forum

Assembly on Freedom of movement, right to stay

We, the people and activist groups participating in the workshops, seminars and actions organized by the Migrant Network call on fighting for the freedom of movement and the right to stay. We call on movements, organizations, individuals all over Europe in order to struggle against the murderous European border regime in which Frontex is the driving force and for the closure of all detention centers.

We call on movements, organizations individuals all over Europe to support the struggles of workers focusing on the ones without papers and rights and to fight against the racism and the precarization and exploitation of migrants, increased in the context of the global economic crisis.

We support all the campaigns, initiatives and struggles and we call on people here on continuing and strengthening networking and proceed in common transnational struggles.

Antirepression network

We, the people involved in the initiatives of the antirepression network believe that the repression issue will be of much bigger importance in the near future because of the crisis and the social struggles emerging from this crisis. Intensify and special measures will be taken against those who right for their rights, their social security and diversity. Despite our different political opinions we call on the release of all the political prisoners, the closure of the black lists and any other measure of the global war against terror. We claim to shut down all the migrants’ detention camps and any kind of guantanamos.

Climate justice Assembly

We from climate and social justice movements who gathered at the European Social Forum in Istanbul call for system change not climate change for a just transition towards a good life for all. Social and ecological justice, do not contradict each other. They are and have to be complementary. We are calling for a just transition in the way we work, in the structures of production and consumption.  We need to expand community-controlled renewable energies, food sovereignty as well as public services. This would create millions of socially and ecologically useful jobs.

We in Europe are only now starting on the road towards climate justice, creating and resisting in many different ways, such as direct action, the building of local alternatives, civil disobedience or public campaigning to name a few. We call upon social movements, trade unions and civil society in Europe to engage in the struggle for a good life for all.

Education Assembly Rise up! An other answer to the crisis is possible: Public Education

We, people of the public education, gathered in Istanbul for the sixth European Social Forum call for a period of mobilization next autumn

We want to use  the 29^th of September, a day of demonstration and trade union actions across every country of Europe and the surrounding dates, to extend the mobilization and  to act together in Europe on our platform.

During this period, from the end of September to the beginning October, we call for mobilizations,  strikes, demonstrations and actions all around Europe to reaffirm the right to free public education for everybody and to defend and increase  workers and unions rights on the basis of our platform.

War and peace Assembly

The war and peace assembly denounces that at a time of economic crisis, European states are increasing their military budgets and trade of weapons. The European Union  is not the “soft power” it meant to be. To protect peace and social needs, we call peace and antiwar movements to join the trade unions protest on the 29^th of September and the Week of Action against the NATO summit of 15-21 November 2010 in Lisbon.  We call for an immediate end of the war in Afghanistan and we will mobilize for the tragic anniversary of the invasion on October 8-9. The assembly strongly supports the mobilization of Kurdish and Turkish movements for a peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish issue, and endorses the Palestinian civil society call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with Palestinian rights based on international law. There is no military way out of these conflict. We  support the demilitarization of Cyprus, the whole Caucasus and we stand in solidarity with the Iraqi civil society that is struggling to protect its people. All these causes and campaigns will be celebrated in the International Day of Peace, 21 September, and in the Thematic Social Forum for a Culture of Peace in Santiago de Compostela on 9-12 December.

Assembly on Labour

We call for support workers and TU in Turkey who are struggling for their rights against the severe oppression by the government and the huge attack of the trasnational companies, information campaign all over Europe in order to strength unity and solidarity and prevent workers from being played out against each other; support across Europe the workers struggle against austerity programs and attacks on wages, working conditions, pensions and social programs; debate in European TU and social movements about how to adopt more aggressive initiative and strength the international prospective and coordination; the demonstrations planned for the 29^th of September and surrounding days should be organized as European events in Brussels and general strikes where possible

Assembly “Solidarity of the East and the West

With regard to the upcoming European mobilisations it was said that it is preferable to develop simultaneous activities against crises, poverty, unemployment in many countries during the time of the big demonstration on 29^th September in Brussels. The slogan ”Human beings are more important than banks” was suggested as well as the integration of our struggle against racism and xenophobia.

The open All-European Mobilizing Committee should support the co-operation and participation of CEE movements for the next EPAs and ESF, based upon the good experience with frequent Skype conferences.

The open-esf website should be renewed and continued with a better balanced participation of women and of CEE movements.

Everyone is invited to participate in the network “Prague Spring II” and to integrate other issues into its work, e.g. women’s issues, sustainability or social issues.

The next ESF should take place either in a CEE country or in one of the neighbouring countries like Austria.

Antimperialist Assembly (see the final declaration in the following part)

Final declarations

of the thematic Assemblies

held in Istanbul

on the 3^rd of July 2010

VI European Social Forum

• Education Assembly

Rise up! An other answer to the crisis is possible: Public Education

• Migrants Assembly

“The freedom to move, the right to stay”

• Assembly

“Solidarity of the East and the West”

• Assembly

“System change, not climate change! A just transition towards a good life for all”

• Assembly

“Peace and War”

• Assembly on Labour

• Antimperialist Assembly

Assembly  Education

6^th ESF Istanbul, 3^rd July 2010

We, people of the public education, gathered in Istanbul for the sixth European Social Forum call for a period of mobilization next autumn

We want to use  the 29^th of September, a day of demonstration and trade union actions across every country of Europe and the surrounding dates ,to extend the mobilization and  to act together in Europe on our platform.

During this period, from the end of September to the beginning October,

we call for mobilizations,  strikes, demonstrations and actions all around Europe to reaffirm the right to free public education for everybody and to defend and increase  workers rights on the basis of the platform below.

We will  continue supporting, during the following two years, national demonstrations and counter summit against the European education ministers summits, as we did last May in Madrid.

We will organize  meetings in several european cities in order to involve more and more people,  in order to share our experiences and connect our struggles against neoliberal policies, we will actively approach students and workers organizations involved in the education struggles to participate in these meetings ;we will therefore issue a call for participating in the next meeting of education.

The crisis must be paid by those who caused it !

Our governments are using the crisis  to cancel all the workers rights obtained  by the movements in the last 100 years and to decrease salaries and pensions.

They are using the diktat of IMF and EU to approve  anti crisis measures paid only by workers (like in Greece , in Italy, Portugal, Spain ,France…) one of the solutions is to tax speculators. They have to pay the crisis!

Stop cuts of public spending in education, stop reduction of the curricula and  cuts to school time,  classes and subjects, stop privatization and  co modification of education systems:

we struggle for more investments in public education , for free education and research;

we struggle  to stop the casualization of  school workers in order to provide a better quality of education for everybody.

Stop the introduction of  evaluation tests based on skills determined by the market, stop teaching for competences oriented by the market:

we struggle for the right to free, secular, quality education , for the right to critical thinking, for the right, for every human being to have a full access to knowledge, and to become an aware and active citizen , to have equal rights for genders and not to have a patriarchal perspective of education.

We struggle for the right to education in one’s own tongue.

We support the Word Education Forum , in Santiago de Compostella from 10^th to 13^th December together with the WSF in Dakar and we’ll support the  World Education Forum in Palestine,  from 28^th to 31st  October and we will work in order to organize there activities together with our Palestinian friends.

Assembly

“System change, not climate change!

A just transition towards a good life for all”

6^th ESF Istanbul, 3^rd July 2010

The newspapers may speak of financial and economic crises, but when we look around ourselves, we don’t see derivates and financial markets – what we see is the destruction of communities, of our social and natural environments, of our relations to each other. What we see is capitalism destroying us. Against this destruction, and the austerity that follows in its wake, people are resisting, people are fighting back, people are beginning to create the new worlds we know to be necessary: from Ghana to Greece, from Copenhagen to Cochabamba, from Bangkok to Brussels. We from climate and social justice movements gathered at the European Social Forum in Istanbul, are a part of and inspired by these global processes of resistance and creation, but also realise that we need to fight where we stand: to create another world, we also need to create another Europe and tear down the walls of the fortress that surround it.

Against those who try to create divisions between social and ecological justice, we assert that they do not contradict each other. They are and have to be complementary. Our vision is of a good life for all, not a nightmare of authoritarian eco-austerity.

Against those who oppose people’s desire to have good and well-paid jobs and to move beyond the madness of infinite growth on a finite planet, we are calling for a just transition in the way we work, in the structures of production and consumption. While there are many things we need more of, there is much we need less of. For example, we need to stop the destructive energy production practices involving coal, oil, nuclear and hydropower, or to end the madness of building individual cars for everybody. At the same time, we need to expand community-controlled renewable energies, food sovereignty as well as public services that contribute to our goal of a good life for all, like free public transport, health, housing and education. This would create millions of socially and ecologically useful jobs.

This is what we mean by just transition, by climate justice: it does not mean having the ‘right’ position on what is being negotiated at UN-climate summits. It’s not about parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere. Although it is important to change our individual behaviours, climate justice is about fundamentally changing our model of production and consumption of food, goods, energy, of our entire lives. It is about finally making amends for the ecological debt we owe the rest of the world.

We in Europe are only now starting on the road towards climate justice, creating and resisting in many different ways, such as direct action, the building of local alternatives, civil disobedience or public campaigning to name a few. There are many opportunities already such as:

–      26/8: solidarity actions coinciding with the trial in Copenhagen of Tash Verco and Noah Weiss

–      Summer 2010 : Climate and No Border camps are happening all over Europe

–      29/9: European trade union day of action

–      between the 10^th and the 17^th of October, different networks are calling for action on climate justice: the 12^th will be a day of direct action for climate justice; the 16^th a day of action against Monsanto

–      From the 29^th of November to the 10^th of December, the 16^th UN-climate summit will be held in Cancun, Mexico: we will be creating a ‘thousand Cancuns’ to protest their false solutions and point the way towards real climate and social justice

Assembly

The freedom to move, the right to stay

6^th ESF Istanbul, 3^rd July 2010

We, the people and activist groups participating in the workshops, seminars and actions organized by the Migrant Network call on fighting for the freedom of movement and the right to stay. We call on movements, organizations, individuals all over Europe in order to struggle against the murderous European border regime in which Frontex is the driving force and for the closure of all detention centers.

We call on movements, organizations individuals all over Europe to support the struggles of workers focusing on the ones without papers and rights and to fight against the racism and the precarization and exploitation of migrants, increased in the context of the global economic crisis.

We support all the campaigns, initiatives and struggles and we call on people here on continuing and strengthening networking and proceed in common transnational struggles.

Calendar

• Greece   Swarming No border actions  27/8 – 11/9 In continuity with Lesvos NoBorder camp, actions will take place in support of the migrants and against European border regime in Samos and Lesvos islands.
• 18^th of September in Paris mobilization against the new law about migration
• Bruxelles No border camp 24/9 – 3/10.
• 5-6 of October in  Oujda/Melilla, Moroco, International Conference and an action for the 5^th anniversary of the storm and the killings of migrants at the fences to EU.
• Jan – feb 2011 Caravan from Bamako in Mali to Dakar (World Social Forum).
• 1^st of  March, day without us, day of translational action to protest against the exploitation of workers without papers.

Campaigns

• Frontexplode:  campaign against the European border agency Frontex.
• Campaign against Dublin II – Welcome to EU network, for  information and support to refugees and migrants on their way to Europe.

Proposals

No border camp migrant Labour  focusing deeper on people moving and being exploited. There are experiences of workers without documents in France striking for months and also in different countries there are more and more struggles selforganized by migrants

Crossover with Education

Network of people working in Educational Spaces in order to elaborate projects, exchange ideas and work, resist to narrowing contents in school and the attack to public schools in order to build elitarian racist situation A mailing list is going to start and a first draft for an international call will be made

Crossover with Antirepression

Network to campaign against detention centre and the state control which is getting more and more information under the hypocrite idea of security all over Europe

Crossover with Climate Change

Climate change is determining a new category of refugees migrants. We continue saying that Freedom to move and right to stay are important. Agriculture and big projects like dams are changing the situations and force people to move as well as political, social and economical reasons

Assembly

Peace and War

6^th ESF Istanbul, 3^rd July 2010

The war and peace assembly denounces that at a time of economic crisis, European states are increasing their military budgets and trade of weapons. The European Union  is not the “soft power” it meant to be. To protect peace and social needs, we call peace and antiwar movements to join the trade unions protest on the 29^th of September.

We support the Week of Action against the NATO summit of 15-21 November 2010 in Lisbon in order to oppose the new NATO strategy that is a major obstacle to achieving world peace. We call for an immediate end of the war in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of the troops, and we are ready to mobilize for the tragic anniversary of the invasion on 8-9 October.

The assembly strongly supports the mobilization of Kurdish and Turkish movements for a peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish issue, there is no military way out of the conflict. We stand in solidarity with the Kurdish elected representatives that will be on trial on 18 October for simply defending human rights of their people.

The military occupation of Cyprus should come to an end, to allow peaceful life on the island.

We urge for a peaceful Caucasus and invite everybody to participate in the peace conference in June 2011 in Tbilissi.

We mourn the loss of those killed by the Israeli military while trying to break the illegal siege of Gaza and call for accountability of those responsible. This assembly stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Israeli movements for justice for Palestinians and endorses the Palestinian civil society call for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with Palestinian rights based on international law. We call for an escalation of coordinated campaigns against institutions and companies complicit with Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, of the complicity of European governments with Israeli impunity and the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The whole region needs to be denuclearized, as stated again in the NPT conference, and Mordechai Vanunu deserves freedom and honour for his courauge to reveal the Israeli nuclear arsenal.

The European Social Forum, that was a fundamental space to organize the huge 2003 mobilization against the war in Iraq, does not forget the suffering of Iraqi people and supports its human rights groups, unions and social movements through the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative that will meet in Paris in the first week of December.

The assembly supports actions and campaigns to stop private military and security companies, and campaigns against the militarization of European borders, such as the week of mobilization against Frontex on 27-31 August in Greece and actions in Bruxelles on 24 September – 3 October.

All these causes and campaigns will be celebrated in the International Day of Peace, 21 September, and in the Thematic Social Forum for a Culture of Peace in Santiago de Compostela on 9-12 December, for the global demilitarization, denuclearization of economies and societies.

Assembly Labour

6^th ESF Istanbul, 3^rd July 2010

Statement of the Assembly of Labour

at the 6^th European Social Forum in Istanbul 1-4 July 2010

The Assembly of Labour very much welcome the realisation of the 2010 Istanbul ESF, underlining the importance to reach new civil societies and new countries. We are therefore thankful to the Organising Committee in Turkey and, particularly, the Turkish trade union confederations.

During this forum many seminars and workshops have been organised, which have focused on the financial and economic crises and their dramatic consequences on workers’ rights and conditions. The need to fight the root causes of the crises has been underlined, as well as the need to fight failed policies like the austerity plans imposed in the name of public debt and the EU Stability Pact which strongly contributes to deepen the crisis.

At the Social Forum we heard reports from many European countries. Across Europe trade unions, workers and people in general have experienced forceful attacks on wages, working conditions, public services and social benefits – unemployment has grown and poverty has increased. In many countries national collective agreements, pensions and trade union rights have been considerably cut and weakened – not through negotiations with trade unions, but through government decrees.

In this way, governments, employers, multinational companies, European Union institutions and the International Monetary Fund are trying to make workers pay for the effects of the financial and economic crisis, even though we have no responsibility for the neo-liberal policies, the redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top and the capitalist system which have created the crisis. The situation is dramatic. If we are not able to stop this development, the trade union, labour and social movements may possibly face a historic defeat in Europe.

The Labour Assembly therefore stresses the need to work together to develop an alternative to the current social and economic model. To this end we welcome a fruitful exchange of ideas as well as mobilisations and struggles to turn our alternatives into practice. We want a different idea of Europe based on peace, solidarity, cooperation, democracy, sustainable environment, people’s needs and social and workers’ rights.

The situation calls for massive mobilisation across Europe to prevent a defeat. The Labour Assembly therefore appeals to all trade union and social movements in Europe to take immediate and co-ordinated actions to prevent the social degradation which is going on in most countries.

We propose:

–      To support the struggles of workers and trade unions in Turkey which are under severe oppression from the government, from multinational companies and capitalist interests in general.

–      A comprehensive information campaign to inform workers all over Europe on concrete developments in each country in order to prevent workers from being played out against each other.

–      To mobilise and organise support across Europe to workers who decide to take the fight against austerity programmes and attacks on wages, workings conditions, pensions and social programmes. Their struggle is our struggle.

–      To deepen a debate in the European trade union and social movements on how to improve the policies and change the focus of our organisations in order to adapt them to the new, more aggressive attitudes of the employers, to activate the members, to strengthen the international perspective and co-ordination and to prepare our organisations for harder confrontations as a result of the attacks from employers, governments and capital.

–      That the manifestations planned for 29 September 2010 and surrounding days should be organised as an all-European event, with forceful action across Europe, a main manifestation in Brussels and general strikes where possible. This important day of action should be a step forward in a widespread wave of struggles that need to continue across Europe in a coordinated manner.

Assembly “Solidarity of the East and the West”

6^th ESF Istanbul, 3^rd July 2010

Present 56 participants from 21 countries: Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, Turkey

Facilitator: Leo Gabriel

After the total failure of the Turkish organizers to facilitate and support the participation of social and environmental movements from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), this participation and this assembly were only enabled thanks to generous short notice donations of the World Social Forum Expansion Commission, the European leftist network transform!, members of the European Parliament from the GUE/NGL faction as well as members of the German Federal Parliament from Die Linke (The Left).

Issues:

Co-operation between the East and the West in fighting right-wing extremism (RWE)

Rights of the Mother Earth, campaigning before the summit in Cancun

Tord Björk: We have to address the crisis in CEE jointly. Lot of big and rich WE organisations are reluctant to work together or even to help because they feel themselves superior. In fact, some little movements in CEE function better than big Western European organisations or TUs despite their own very bad political, legal and economic conditions and very limited financial and human resources in CEE countries.

Said Gafurov: Social movements and SF in Russia are no more marginalized, they become appropriate media attention, thanks to the help of some people from WSF and ESF. However, there is a lack of information what is happening in other CEE countries.

Françoise: E.g. women in Poland have lost their rights, like the right for abortion.

Leo Gabriel informed about the establishment of the “Prague Spring II – all-European network against right-wing extremism and populism” and recommended to make use of its resources and possibilities and to develop it jointly as an information hub between the East and the West.

Proposals:

a) To distribute information as much as possible and on different levels: website and lobbying of left and liberal mass media.

b) Alexander Buzgalin from Russia proposed to organize a conference under an ultimate condition: those CEE groups who are not able to work together will not be granted any financial support from Western donor foundations.

c) To integrate into the existing structure of the network on RWE a discussion on fundamental questions in education, health and gender.

d) To create a method of exchanging opinions and research results on solutions of the crisis.

f) Invitation for a conference in Kiev on Climate change in September and against RWE in St.Petersburg on the 3^rd November 2010.

g) Follow up of the seminars on Free Trade, Feminism and the Lisbon Treaty held at 5^th ESF.

Conclusions: Assembly “Solidarity of the East and the West”

1. With regard to the upcoming European mobilisations it was said that it is preferable to develop simultaneous activities against crises, poverty, unemployment in many countries during the time of the big demonstration on 29^th September in Brussels. The slogan ”Human beings are more important than banks” was suggested as well as the integration of our struggle against racism and xenophobia.
2. The open All-European Mobilizing Committee should support the co-operation and participation of CEE movements for the next EPAs and ESF, based upon the good experience with frequent Skype conferences
3. The open-esf website should be renewed and continued with a better balanced participation of women and of CEE movements.
4. Everyone is invited to participate in the network “Prague Spring II” and to integrate other issues into its work, e.g. women’s issues, sustainability or social issues.
5. The next ESF should take place either in a CEE country or in one of the neighbouring countries like Austria.

Anti imperialist Assembly

6^th ESF Istanbul, 3^rd July 2010

The Anti-imperialist Assembly gathered on the occasion of European Social Forum, with 300 participants from Nepal, Greece, Turkey, Kurdistan, Palestine, Germany, Italy, Basque Country,   Britain, Croatia, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Denmark, Cyprus, Switzerland, Catalonia, Portugal, Norway and Belgium declares the following points:

-That without struggle against capitalism, a consistent fight against imperialism is not possible;  since imperialism is the highest stage of the capitalist world system. We call all anti-imperialist forces to raise their efforts to topple the capitalist order which is in a deep and historical crisis. Socialism is the sole alternative against the capitalist system, and revolution is the only way to transform this system. “Another world” is socialism.

-That the social liberation struggles and the national liberation struggles of the oppressed nations are parts of the same front against imperialism. Chauvinistic nationalism is not anti-imperialist, on the contrary it divides and clashes the peoples and in this way it serves imperialism. Imperialism cannot be advocate of any oppressed nation, what it pursues is only to be the new dominator of those oppressed nations. Anti-imperialist struggle should be waged with an internationalist perspective to unite the peoples and oppressed nations of the world and regions.

-We declare our support for the national liberation struggles/resistances going on in Basque Country, Kurdistan, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and all others oppressed nations; and the social uprisings, revolutionary processes, worker strikes, popular resistances, youth movements and mass mobilizations going on in Greece, Nepal, India, Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Latin America and other countries. We strongly condemn all the attacks against these movements and external meddling in the internal affairs of individual countries. We condemn the Gaza Blockade of Israeli Zionism and call for the total boicott of the Israeli Racist State. We stress the vital importance of solidarity.

-That imperialism means poverty, violence and war to the women. Women’s liberation struggle is a part of the anti-imperialist struggle, and without the active participation of women’s masses the anti-imperialist front will be weak. The patriarchal system is basing itself on gender inequality, and a new society without exploitation can only be possible with full gender equality.

-The anti-imperialist unity can only be realised on a practical political basis. The peoples struggling against imperialism should come together. We call all progressive, democratic, patriotic and religious movements who fight against imperialism to form a broad anti-imperialist front. In a crucial moment of crisis of the imperialist-capitalist system, we call all the anti-imperialist forces to raise their efforts to develop revolutionary internationalist unity to fight imperialism internationally.

-We propose to the Final Assembly of the ESF;

-to decide a common day of action of the ESF to unite the labouring masses of Europe in such a deep moment of the crisis, to reject paying the bill of the capitalist crisis.

-to practise international solidarity against the war policy of the Turkish government, handling the Kurdish question with military measures instead of discussing it with popular representatives; and solidarity with the Kurdish politicians and freedom struggle activists, who were imprisoned depending on the so called ‘Anti-Terror’ Law and will be brought to their first trial on the 18^th of November in Diyarbakir.

Declaration for the solution of Kurdish problem

An initiative should be formed as soon as possible by people working in the European Social Forum which will initiate the process of democratic and peaceful solutions to the Kurdish problem.

For the permanent solution of Kurdish problem, military and political operations should be stopped urgently,  the children and politicians whose number is around 2000 that have been imprisoned in the 14th April operations should be released as soon as possible.

The political leader of Kurds Mr Abdullah Öcalan should be included in the process of peace as addressee of the solution and in order to play his historical role, instead of being in solitary confinement in  İmrali, he should be under house arrest in an appropriate house.

A strong commission that consists of well-known women activists should be formed so as to contribute to active participation to the campaign of “Raise the freedom struggle and destroy the rape culture” that has been initiated by Kurdish Women Freedom Movement.

Within the slogan of “No to the 12th September Constitution”, a pluralist, libertarian, fair and equal constitution which will represent and enable  to all groups, minorities and peoples to express themselves freely must be formed.

A number of democratic, deterrent and affective actions must be planned and a local and international mixed commission must be formed against ecological and cultural genocide which is exposed against Kurdistan and all humanity.

The YİBO schools which are cultural and language assimilation tools and used to expose to be spies of states against the Kurdish children must be accepted as a humanity crime and and closed if possible, if not the initiatives in the national and international platforms should be formed for the discovery of the events.

ESF should form  a delegate of alive shields which consists of well-known Turkish intellectuals and writers, BDP MPs and mayors and this delegate should work in the Kurdish region in  order to prevent the lossed of lives in Kurdistan and Turkey

The execution policy of Iran  against the Kurdish women and all the other dynamic, democratic and peaceful  groups who are in favour of the change, should be condemned severely, and a call should be done that the executions are the crime of humanity and should be removed from the Iran constitution.

A commission for the investigation of the facts which consists of intellectuals, artists, NGOs and scientist should be formed and this commission should investigate the facts of the war that have been carried out in Kurdistan for 26 years and share it with the public.

Declaration on public debt presented at the Final Assembly
In many occasions in several thematic Assemblies, seminars and workshops (*) of this 6th ESF, a call has been sent to create a European massive popular mobilization against public debt and the causes of the crisis joining together political, union and association forces, at the national and European levels. In the name of the public debts, austerity plans generating the worst social regressions are imposed by the European leaders, European institutions and IMF.
We must stop these unacceptable attacks against the people of Europe by adopting a unilateral moratorium (with no accumulation of interest) on debt reimbursement for the time required to make an audit of public loans (with citizen participation). On the basis of the results of the audit, any illegitimate debt will be cancelled.
We are calling all European social movements to join in this European mobilization against public debt, to participate at the international week of actions against IMF that will take place between the 7 and the 12 of august 2010 as well as support mobilizations in front of IMF agencies everywhere in Europe.”
(*) “The debt crisis, North and South”, “What alternatives to IFI and Capitalism?”, “Anti-crisis programs of left and social movements: a comparative analysis”, “Ecological debt, responsibilities of financial institutions and solidarity solutions”, “Crisis, Nationalisms and Fundamentalisms in Eastern Europe and the answer of the Feminist movement”, “Finally we are all PIGS? (Europe in crisis)” and in the Final Assembly on Labour.

Call on people to participate at the water festival

During the final assembly of the FSE in Istanbul, the Net of Artists against war from Italy and as part of the Italian Water Forum, called on people to participate in the water festival which is going to take place during the next summer in Kurdistan, where the water issue is very important, also because of the dam projects. The proposal has been addressed especially to the local organizations which are working for the defence of the water resources and of the environment.

www.bloggersperlapace.org

Debate during the Final Assembly:

There were more than 50 people intervening in the Final Assembly making calls and proposals, giving information, suggesting new formats for the ESF in the future, underlining problems.

My work is to list the points made during the debate as they can stimulate the debate we are going to continue in the next months starting from the meeting planned for October. Of course as this is a discussion in progress there will be in this list different and controversial points of view.

Up to all of us to intervene, prepare proposals, in order to find consensus in the next meeting for the needed changes

• It has been important this forum in Istanbul as from here there is a strong support of the workers struggle in Turkey and the fight of the Kurdish people in order to speak their own language and develop and defend their own culture,
• It is necessary to have a permanent European coordination for strong common actions all over Europe to answer to the crisis
• East European countries, a call for decentralized action all over,
• Let’s overtake the slogan “no cuts, more grow” taking in consideration the need of discussing about the kind of economy we are thinking about which has to be a real change of this system from an ecological and antimilitarist point of view
• the 29^th September is a starting point for a strong struggle against the European policies which has to carry on to resist to this crisis and find real alternatives
• TUs and Social Movements are both independent actors in this movement against the crisis
• Focus on human rights and the importance of stopping all illegal detentions all over the world
• Fight for public water for all against privatization
• Contribute for the solution of the war in Caucasus
• Next Social Forum in East/Centre Europa (Vienna, Budapest and Kiev were suggested)
• No to all EU/ECB/IMF austerity packages. Cancel the debts of Greece and all the other countries impoverished by the crisis and the market speculators. Stop the nationalist and chauvinist campaign against Greek people. Tax the rich in order to pay – not the workers and the poor. Expropriate the banks and the finance institutions without compensation.
• Importance for TUs to defend in a strong way the rights of workers as they are under a huge attack
• Women pay more the price of the crisis
• Importance of participating in direct actions in the places of the conflicts, first of all in Palestine.