The history of the European Social Forums (ESF)

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• The contemporary political history in general of Europe as a whole

World Forum Movement: Abandon or Contaminate?

By Linden Farrer, News for Anarchists & Activists, 13 January 2003. November 2002 saw 60,000 activists from all over Europe converge on Florence for the European Social Forum (ESF). In opposition to neo-liberalism, the ESF promised to be a meeting space for ‘in-depth reflection, democratic debate, free exchange of experience and planning of effective action among movements of civil society.

Changed landscape of the campaign for social justice: Another world is possible

By Françoise Houtart, Le Monde diplomatique, November 2003. Social forums form a federation of resistance to neoliberal policies, and the Second European Social Forum in Paris this month may help to build a Europe not governed wholly by finance.

Haiti's Yannick Etienne at the European Social Forum

By Charles Arthur, for the Haiti Support Group, October 2004. Haitian workers' activist, Yannick Etienne, was among the more than 20,000 people from nearly 70 countries who participated in the European Social Forum (ESF) in London on 15-17 October. This, the third meeting of Europe's non-governmental organisations, environmentalists, peace campaigners and left wing parties, followed gatherings in previous years in Florence and Paris.

Hundreds excluded from ‘antisocial’ forum

By Matthew Tempest, The Guardian, 15 October 2004. A near stampede marred the opening ceremony of the 2004 European Social Forum in London last night, as up to a thousand rain-soaked activists were barred entry to the Southwark Cathedral reception. With a second Guardian article, Chaotic Olympiad of the Fringe and Commune begins European Social Forum.