Migration related activities and intervention:

24.Sep.04 - Migration related activities and interventions during the 3rd European Social Forum from 15 to 17 October 2004 in London

NEW: check out the calendar of migration related events during the ESF. the calendar is more up to date than the infromation provided below.

Meetings & plenaries:

the groups that have called for the preparation meeting in september in london are calling for a first meeting on the 14th of october, the thursday evening (at 7 p.m.) before the start of the esf. this meeting will take place in the space used by the wombles for their 'beyond esf' event.
the main topic of this meeting will be the call for 2nd european day of action, but the meeting should also serve as a forum for the exchange and coordination of all migration-related activities during the esf. there will be another final plenary at the evening of sunday, the 17th of october in the wombles space.

Possible actions:

some groups have already started with preparations for actions during the esf. one proposal is, at 14th of october in the morning time to have connected actions in calais and dover to protest against immigration control (and the subsequent exclusion of european sans papiers from the esf). Another possible place for protest actions is the waterloo-train-station where a lot of esf participants will arrive. Waterloo train station also houses a detention center for illegal immigrants.

a second action (on saturday or for sunday) was proposed for one of the london area airport detention centers.

the formal ESF process:

through the so-called merging process a lot of announced seminars concerning migration-related issues have been kicked out, some others will have to find a way to come together in a few common seminars. on one hand it is confirmed that barbed wire will have some kind of a mixture of seminar/workshop about detention, camps and deportation inside the esf.

the frassanito-network will try to "merge" three other registered seminars into one. the new headline would be "migration as social movement" with subtitles about the new border-regime, about the rights of legalization and migrants work.

additionally the no vox network will probably have an evening event inside the esf, which includes the "voices of sans papiers"

it should be noted that on a more general level the participating groups are quite critical of the formal esf process because of its exclusive character which manifests itself mainly for sans papiers and non-eu-citizens, who cannot get visas and/or the money for the entrance-fee.

events outside of the esf / autonomous spaces:

http://www.altspaces.net/ provides a good overview of the preparations and programs in the various autonomous spaces. with regard to migration related issues the following events stand out:

the wobbles project "beyond esf from 13th to 17th of october. this will be the space of the opening (14th) and the final plenaries (17th) of our networking process. moreover some groups plan to have workshops and presentations in this autonomous space. for example the voice africa forum prepare something. also a noborder/anti-iom debate is proposed for this place...

Friday 15 oct 1500-1700h @ Wombles Place - Freedom of movement against migration management - stop IOM

Description: film and short introduction about IOM (international organisation for migration)and the campaign of no border network against migration management. afterwards: debate, why we think, that iom should be one target in a common struggle against global governance. Group: anti racism office Bremen and no one is illegal hanau (both groups are part of no border network)

european forum on communication rights (indymedia) from 14th to 17th of october. it was announced, that a workshop about the relationship between freedom of movement and freedom of communication will take place in the efcr-space on thursday (see: http://esf2004.net/en/tiki-index.php?page=EfCr. moreover a workshop about thistuesday.orgis proposed for efcr with a part about its contents, and another one focussed on "training" to work with this website.

life despite capitalism on sat. 16th of october. a one day event about "commons and communities", migration should be one of six focal points.

other topics and proposed workshops for the esf:

in the workshop about migrants labour we have discussed about the idea of a transnational initiative around the situation in the agricultural sector in andalusia (see in the workshop-text, which was send out before the meeting). for sure an own workshop should take place for this initiative, but it is still open, where it should happen.

another workshop was proposed for a debate about the 1st of may - euromayday - experiences in milano and barcelona 2004, with the intention to extend this idea (demonstrations about precarious work and migration) for 1st of may 2005. where to meet is not yet clear.

the decision is not yet definitive, but it was mentioned in the workshops about the border-regime, that greek groups think for a big nobordercamp next summer in greece. if it is decided soon, a workshop will happen for sure, the location again is open