We come from all the campaigns and social movements, "no vox" organisations,
trade unions, human rights organisations, international solidarity
organisations, anti-war and peace and feminist movements. We come from every
region in Europe to gather in London for the third European Social Forum. We
are many, and our strength is our diversity.
Today war represents the harshest and most real face of neoliberalism. The
war and the occupation of Iraq, the occupation of Palestine, the massacre in
Chechnya, and the hidden wars in Africa are crushing the future of humanity.
The war in Iraq was justified by lies. Today Iraq is humiliated and
destroyed.
Iraqis are prisoners of war and terror. The occupation brought neither
freedom, nor better conditions of life. On the contrary, today the
supporters of the
thesis of "clash of civilisation" are stronger.
We are fighting for the withdrawal of the occupying troops in Iraq, for an
immediate halt to the bombing and for the immediate restitution of
sovereignty to the Iraqi people.
We support the Palestinian and Israeli movements fighting for a just and
lasting peace. Following the judgment of the UN International Court of
Justice and
the unanimous vote of the European countries in the UN General Assembly we
call
for an end to the Israeli occupation and the dismantling of the apartheid
wall.
We call for political and economic sanctions on the Israeli government as
long
as they continue to violate international law and the human rights of the
Palestinian people. For these reasons we will mobilize for the international
week of action against the apartheid wall from 9 to 16 November, and for
European days of action on December 10 and 11, the anniversary of the UN
Declaration on Human Rights.
The destabilisation of global climate poses an unprecedented threat to our
children's future and to humanity: We support the call from environmental
organisations for international action on climate change in 2005. We support
the campaigns against GMOs and for safe agriculture, food and environment.
In February 2005 we will join the actions of protest against the NATO summit
in Nice. We oppose the G8's self-assumed task of global government and
neo-liberal policies, and therefore we pledge to mobilise massively on the
occasion of
the G8 summit in Scotland in July 2005.
We want another Europe which rejects sexism and violence against women and
recognises the right to choose an abortion. We support the international day
of mobilisation against violence against women on 25 November and the
European
initiative. We support mobilisation to celebrate International Women's Day
on 8 March. We support the European initiative on 27/28 May in Marseilles
proposed by the World March for Women.
We stand against racism and Fortress Europe and for the rights of migrants
and asylum seekers; for freedom of movement; for citizenship of residence
and
the closing of detention centres. We oppose deportation of migrants. We
propose
a day of action on 2 April 2005, against racism, for freedom of movement and
for the right to stay as an alternative to a Europe based on exclusion and
exploitation.
At a time when the draft for the European Constitutional treaty is about to
be ratified, we must state that the peoples of Europe need to be consulted
directly. The draft does not meet our aspirations. This constitution treaty
consecrates neo-liberalism as the official doctrine of the EU; it makes
competition the basis for European community law, and indeed for all human
activity; it completely ignores the objectives of ecologically sustainable
society. This constitutional treaty does not grant equal rights, the free
movement of people and citizenship for everyone in the country they live in,
whatever their nationality; it gives NATO a role in European foreign policy
and defence, and pushes for the militarisation of the EU. Finally it puts
the
market first by marginalising the social sphere, and hence accelerating the
destruction of public services.
We are fighting for another Europe. Our mobilisations bring hope of a Europe
where job insecurity and unemployment are not part of the agenda. We are
fighting for a viable agriculture controlled by the farmers themselves, an
agriculture that preserves jobs, and defends the quality of environment and
food products as public assets. We want to open Europe to the world, with
the
right to asylum, free movement of people and citizenship for everyone in the
country they live in. We demand real social equality between men and women,
and
equal pay. Our Europe will respect and promote cultural and linguistic
diversity
and respect the right of peoples to self-determination and allow all the
different peoples of Europe to decide upon their futures democratically. We
are
struggling for another Europe which is respectful of workers' rights and
guarantees a
decent salary and a high level of social protection. We are struggling
against any laws that establish insecurity through new ways of
subcontracting work.
We are fighting for a Europe that refuses war, a continent of international
solidarity and ecologically sustainable society. We fight for disarmament,
against nuclear weapons, and against US and NATO military bases. We support
all those who refuse to serve in the military.
We reject the privatization of public services and common goods like water.
We are fighting for human, social, economic, political and environmental
rights
to defeat and overcome the rule of the market, the logic of profit and the
domination of the third world by debt. We refuse the use of "war on
terrorism" to attack civil and democratic rights, and to criminalise dissent
and social
conflict.
The European Social Movement supports the national mobilisation of the Italian movement on 30 October to mark the signing of the European
Constitutional
Treaty - against war, liberalisation and racism, to get the troops out of
Iraq and
for another Europe. The European Social Movement supports the national
mobilisation in Barcelona against the European summit on the European
constitution in
January 2005. We support the mobilisation on November 11, 2004 against the
Bolkestein directive.
At a time when the new European Commission shamelessly boasts a high profile
of laissez-faire politics, we must start a process of mobilisation in all
European countries in order to impose the recognition of both collective and
individual social, political, economic, cultural and ecological rights for
men and
women alike. To enable all the peoples of Europe to join this process, we
must
build a movement that overrides our differences and groups all the forces of
the
peoples of Europe ready to be involved in the struggle against European
neo-liberalism.
20th March 2005 marks the second anniversary of the start of the war against
Iraq. On 22 and 23 March the European Council meets in Brussels. We call for
national mobilisations in all European countries. We call for a central
demonstration in Brussels on 19 March against war, racism, and against a
neo-liberal Europe, against privatisation, against the Bolkestein project
and against the attacks on working time; for a Europe of rights and
solidarity
between the peoples. We call all the social movements and the European trade
union movements to take to the streets on this day.
Retour à
|