28.11.2002

Towards accountability

In previous reports on the European Social Forum, we have again and again pointed to the lack of an accountable and effective leadership. But at last, attempts are being made to rectify this serious problem, which has artificially held back the potential development of the ESF. The French mobilisation committee has circulated proposals for the creation of an elected steering committee and secretariat, to be in charge of organising the next ESF in November 2003 in Paris and St Denis. Such a step has been long overdue for three main reasons. Firstly, the absence of an elected and democratic leadership in any organisation leads almost inevitably to the formation of an unelected and unaccountable 'inner circle' that takes it upon itself to make all decisions. This happened in the ESF. While the monthly preparatory meetings were democratic and open, the real decisions were made elsewhere. Naturally, the Italian organising committee took the lead - in conjunction with the rest of the international 'inner loop'. It seems that the only elected body of the ESF - the 21-strong programme group that was supposed to deal with the details of the conference programme - has in effect taken on a role for which they were not elected: overall leadership. None of their decisions are being reported anywhere, nor is there a list of their contact details or particular responsibilities. If you are not part of this circle, there is no reliable way for you to keep up with what is really going on. For example, CPGB comrades have been present at every single ESF preparatory meeting. Each time, we made contributions and gave out literature arguing for an elected leadership. When anybody referred to the proposals in the meetings at all, it was mostly in negative terms. So the French proposal comes as a welcome surprise. Despite the obvious necessity for such a leadership, it was not once discussed in the international monthly meetings. No doubt, the French comrades will have conferred with organisations in the inner circle - not least Rifondazione Comunista - but not in the open and in front of the European working class. An elected and accountable leadership will hopefully overcome such backroom dealings. Secondly, the first ESF in Florence has succeeded in producing a number of cross-border networks. This is a step forward. However, they are now being organised outside the structure of the ESF. For example, an international anti-war network is meeting on December 15 in Copenhagen - just one week after the next ESF preparatory meeting takes place in Paris. Rather than this important campaign being established as part and parcel of the ESF, it is to be another unaccountable body. The new ESF steering committee should seek to coordinate campaigns like these and bring them together under one roof. This brings me to the third - and most important - reason why we need an effective leadership. Our forces remain desperately fragmented. While the national bourgeoisies across Europe are in the process of creating a new super-state, the organisations of the European working class are still trapped within the borders of their own countries. This is getting more inadequate by the day. While the European Union of capital adopts more and more of the features of a state, equipped with its own army, our political forces remain split into mostly tiny national components and sub-components. While our ruling classes are discussing a constitution for the EU, we do not even seem able to draft a joint manifesto for the European elections in 2004. While they create European laws to control labour, we cannot organise effective coordination between our trade unions. Just imagine, for example, how much a continent-wide strike for a European minimum wage could accomplish. For all these reasons, the proposal presented by the French mobilisation committee is a real advance. The comrades want the next ESF preparatory meeting (Paris, December 7-8) to elect a "European steering committee" of "around 100 people". This, they argue, should "be composed of representatives of European networks and of the national mobilisation committees. Its composition must reflect "¦ diversity of movements and networks, diversity of representation from countries, particularly eastern Europe and the Balkans. It should ensure that women are properly represented among the delegates. The steering committee is an open structure whose composition will be decided in a transparent manner, and whose membership list will be in the public domain. In order to assure the continuity of its work it is highly desirable, if not indispensable, to seek continuity within the committee's membership." Further, they propose the election of a secretariat of "around 20 people". This body "will be responsible for all the tasks of preparation, coordination (notably with the relevant local councils) and the material organisation of ESF 2003. It will work under the political direction of the European steering committee (which will guarantee its functioning), and in close liaison with the French mobilisation committee. Its constitution must also reflect a balance between the different social movements." The CPGB will be arguing for a Socialist Alliance member to be elected onto this new steering committee. It was ridiculous that the SA had not been represented on the platform of any of the meetings in Florence. Nor was there an SA stall or SA workshop. Instead, the SWP's front organisation, Globalise Resistance, was pushed to the fore. Not because it is any kind of real organisation, but because in Florence all SWP members put on their GR hats. Of course, the SWP has a right to do as it pleases. But as the majority in the SA and its effective leadership the comrades should take their wider responsibilities seriously. Neither the ESF nor the SA should primarily be seen as a means of recruiting into the SWP sect: rather they should be regarded as an historically unmissable opportunity to unite the left and rebuild the working class and revolutionary socialist movement in Britain and throughout Europe. That the ESF needs a leadership of the kind now being proposed is blindingly obvious. Thus, it seems incredible that it should be seriously discussed for the first time after the first ESF. However, the reasons for this become clearer when one takes a closer look at the ESF's parent organisation, the World Social Forum, and the political groups that have dominated both formations. They share a tendency to bow before the so-called 'anti-global movement'. Although the WSF and the ESF are clearly dominated by leftwing and revolutionary political organisations, they have gone to great lengths to hide behind trade union affiliates, NGOs, charities and various fronts. In an attempt to 'prove' that they do not want to dominate the nebulous anti-capitalist movement, political parties even decided to have themselves 'banned' - only on paper, of course. In Brazil, the Workers Party (PT) was instrumental in setting up the first World Social Forum in 2001. The PT, whose Luiz Inacio 'Lula' da Silva has just been elected president, took it upon itself to initiate the setting up of a WSF secretariat and the WSF international council. The composition of both is a little arbitrary, to say the least. The secretariat consists of eight Brazilian comrades, who have appointed 68 further council members from all over the world. None of the 76 have been elected at any time. Nor are they accountable to anybody. However, the secretariat drafted the 'Charter of principles' and ruled that everybody who wants to participate in any regional forum must agree to abide by it. This text says - amongst other things - that "neither party representations nor military organisations shall participate in the forum". In Italy, Rifondazione Comunista - the main organisation behind the ESF - has so far supported the formulation and argued against other organisations who wanted to challenge the WSF. It fits in well with Rifondazione's aim to be "contaminated by the movement", which is how the PRC describes its attempt to merge with the growing anti-capitalist sentiment in Europe. Just like the PT, this has been done in a semi-liquidationist and rather opportunist way: anti-capitalists are afraid of the old, undemocratic parties - so let us pretend we are not one. Despite having more than 5,000 members, scores of paper-sellers, numerous posters and a generous number of stalls in Florence, Rifondazione, the driving force behind the event, was not participating in any official capacity. But there can be no doubt that the party has also played an exemplary role in bringing together the left across Europe. It has initiated a debate on a new "European political party" and is involved in a number of unity projects. Yet clearly, the comrades are engaged in a highly problematic attempt to hide their party when it comes to operating within the movement. Not surprisingly then, the proposal from the French comrades is still infected by the 'movement bug'. They have produced a "call to social organisations and movements". The long list includes "trade unions, community movements involved in popular education and local development, organisations of environmentalists and ecologists, farmers' organisations, cultural networks, feminist networks and migrant organisations". But the comrades still shy away from the p-word. Political parties will again be in the forefront of organising the next ESF. There can be no doubt that the Communist Party of France (PCF) and Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire will play dominant roles in the preparations. The idea of the 'anti-capitalist movement' in France organising an event such as the ESF by itself is even more unlikely than in Italy. The PCF and LCR are the only groups capable of organising such a huge event. As an aside, Lutte Ouvrière has not shown up at any of the ESF meetings - as usual, the comrades refuse to get involved with something that is not 100% to their liking (or not sufficiently 'revolutionary'). The reality of ever closer European integration driven from above demands an urgent and forceful answer from below. Although the ESF as currently constituted is of course not the answer, it has helped to bring the organised European left closer together. It is part of the overdue process of the reformation of the working class across Europe. A democratically elected and accountable steering committee and secretariat will help inch forward the necessary process of unification. Tina Becker