derive approdi writes:

Open letter from "DeriveApprodi" to the European movements

At the beginning of November, as decided during the Porto Alegre meeting,
the "European Social Forum" will convene in Florence. That Italy hosts the
meeting is particularly significant, since it is here that the impetus, that
began during the anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle in November 1999, has
resounded more strongly than in any other European country. The profile of
the anti-capitalist movement, its modes of organisation and expression have
been entirely redefined. The Genoa protests of July 2001 have not only
constituted the highest point of the "global movement" in quantitative
terms. They also have had concrete consequences for the history of Italian
politics. Despite the reverberation of September 11th, a new movement has
formed that has expressed itself at both the national and the local level,
through campaigns against war, against the repression of social movements
and for the rights of migrants. This has frequently resulted in the forging
of new relationships with diverse political actors, such as the trade unions
at the forefront of the struggle for the defence of workers rights,
currently coming under attack from a right-wing government.In more general term, a process of alliance-building is under way in Italy
following the experience of the Genoa Social Forum, which organised the
protests against the 2001 G8 summit. This process, based on an alliance of
highly heterogeneous elements, has the objective of creating an Italian
Social Forum. To be clear: this is neither a linear process nor a uniquely
positive one. Ambiguities, personal rivalries and short-sightedness are
ever-present factors. Indeed, the debate regarding the actual contents of
such a movement are often slow-moving. In particular, with regards to the
question of work in the most general sense of the word, the movement has
demonstrated an alarming simplicity in its political proposals which, in
contrast to the rebirth of the pro-action and radicalism of the trade
unions, risks bringing the process to a standstill.

Nevertheless it is important to note that the process of constructing both
an Italian Social Forum and the local Social Forums which began after Genoa,
has involved the historically radical movement (represented on the one hand
by civil disobedience, the former "tute bianche", and on the other hand, by
COBAS and the other Social Forums which form part of the Network for Global
Rights). These movements have emerged from a definite position of
marginality. But they now easily enter into confrontation with social and
political movements with very different histories and political cultures;
from non-profit organisations to some left-wing parties (in particular
Rifondazione Comunista and the Green Party, but also a part of the
Democratic Left), and from local administrations to trade union branches.

Those present at Porto Alegre recognised the true peculiarity of the Italian
situation. It was sufficient to look at the way in which the Italian
delegation was composed. Even more importantly, Genoa represented an
important moment of politicisation for a new generation. In parallel, many
men and women who stayed away from politics during the two decades that
followed the repression of the movements of the 1970s discovered new reasons
for commitment and activism in the "global movement". Thousands of
activists, who often did not belong to a specific political party, who
resisted the logic of representation and were suspicious of both the
structured components of the antagonistic movement and the moderatism of
the more institutional elements, have, in the past few months, organised
initiatives of various dimensions representing the richness of the Italian
arena.

The "European Social Forum" should not become a place for large
internationally-structured organisations (like Attac or the trade unions)
nor should it represent a simple and mechanical reproduction of the Porto
Alegre spirit. In our view, the European Social Forum should be an open
opportunity to meet, for exchange and collective development for all those
in Europe who are concretely working to build a new possible world. We
believe that there is no predefined European model to defend (the Rhine
capitalism moderated by the Welfare State). Rather, new forms must be
invented for the co-existence of the men and women who live in this
continental space. Above all, a new social space and a new productive
geography, materially shaped by the great transformation witnessed by the
last two decades, must be confronted conflictually and new forms and
subjects sought. Moreover, the Europe that we are interested in obviously
cannot conform to the institutional borders of the European Union. We side
unyieldingly with migrants - the women and men who cross these borders daily
and risk their lives. We seek to build forms of subversive cooperation among
movements and sections of social labor that those same borders, to the East
as well as to the South, would seek to divide in the name of dominance and
exploitation.

We are thus interested in a Europe that will necessary be one of movements.
We may no longer postpone the building of channels of stable political
communication at the European level. We believe that the November meeting
should be used to this end. For this reason we ask everyone, even those
suspicious of the excessively institutional character that this meeting
might take, to come to Florence. But we would like to go even further. The
magazine, DeriveApprodi, is more than ten years old. It represents an
important meeting place for a part of the political culture of the
movements of the 1960s and 1970s (in particular those in the legacy of
revolutionary labourism) and those, of the two following decades, that
refused to accept the restoration of capitalism as unavoidable. Together
with other magazines (from Luogo comune to Altreragioni, from Futuro
anteriore to Posse), DeriveApprodi is a technical and political laboratory
in which the fundamental features of a new form of society and productive
regime, shaped by the crisis of Fordism, have been defined. Topics which the
magazine has covered in the past include the transformation of work and new
migration, new techniques of social control, the transformation of the
Constitution and of citizenship and forms of abstention and disobedience.
All this without ever adhering to any organisational formula, but instead
giving space to the most original theoretical and political hypotheses
formulated in Italy in recent years.

Genoa also represented a fundamental cut-off point for the magazine: the
broad discussion which followed the July events produced, among other
things, a document (only partially expressing the positions of the magazine)
that we attach to this letter in Italian, French and German. We would like
to inaugurate a new series of DeriveApprodi on the basis of two central
points: the continuing vitality of the "global movement" and the pressing
need to overcome the narrow, provincially Italian perspective which up until
now has characterised much of the magazines contents. To these ends, we
would like to begin by proposing an ambitious aim: using the "European
Social Forum" as a point of departure, we intend to carry out an inquiry
into the status of the movement in Europe. For this we ask for your
co-operation.

It is not coincidentally that we use the term inquiry, in reference to a
theoretical and political methodology certainly among the most important
legacies of the labourist tradition from which most of us come. Inquiry is
an open cognitive process that produces transformation. While basing itself
on a few hypotheses, it continuously verifies and takes issue with them.
Moreover, the proposed inquiry presupposes a continuous exchange of ideas
and experiences among all those involved in various ways. For this reason,
we are not simply asking you to tell us what you think about the world (or,
more modestly, about Europe), but to be the protagonists of the analysis and
of your surrounding reality yourselves. You should therefore put aside, even
if only for a moment, all certainties, in the aim perhaps of discovering a
new potential for transforming the present.

We would like to ask you for a written contribution of between 30,000 and
40,000 characters, on the status of the movement in the environment in which
you are based. This account should retain a balance between telling the
story of the movements experiences and analysing them theoretically. You
are obviously free to choose the relevant setting (a city, the whole
country, a specific segment of political activity, etc.), starting from the
specificity of your own experience. In light of the fact that the magazine
must be ready by the beginning of November, in order to be distributed at
the European Forum, and that the materials must be translated, we ask you to
submit the contribution by September 10. However if possible, please send us
the rough draft as soon as you can in order to allow time for discussion.

In this project so far we have engaged several types of movements from
Germany, France, Spain, Holland, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland. We
are also active in promoting relations with Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and
the Southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. We are obviously open to any
suggestion that may be useful in broadening the scope of the inquiry. The
attached document provides a tentative first list of the issues that we
believe should be addressed. Please let us know if you find it useful to
refer to this list, even if only in order to criticise it.

The following is a random and non-exhaustive list of some of the problems
that we believe it is important to address. It goes without saying that even
at this point, criticism and suggestions are more than welcome. One
preliminary observation must however be made: in many of the questions, the
term movement (or antagonistic movement) has been used to indicate the
common background against which various political activities and initiatives
take place. It is possible that this term, which in Italy has its roots in
the history of the struggles of the 1970s, may not seem immediately clear
elsewhere: in Germany for example, the more precise translation would
probably be Linke, and not Bewegung. Whether or not this is a shared
reference is one of the issues which we propose to verify with the suggested
inquiry. We also propose to ascertain the relations of continuity and
discontinuity of the present movement with previous periods of social and
political struggles across the various situations.

1.

In the situation in which you are working, is it possible to indicate a
moment of radical change, an incident of social uprising, a campaign or a
single struggle that has positively transformed the movement in recent
years? Or, if your network was founded recently, what was the struggle or
campaign that brought it about?

2.

What consequences did the events of the global movement, starting in Seattle
in November 1999, have for your movement? How is the relationship between
the specific local (or national) and global dimension perceived? In this
respect, is there a difference with regard to the traditional theories and
practices of internationalist solidarity?

3.

What is the relationship with the European dimension? What is the general
opinion within the movement, or in your environment of reference, of the
current process of European unification? In particular, what is the opinion
of the European social model and of the borders of Europe? Even more
specifically, do local campaigns, for example on issues such as GMOs or
migration, perceive European institutions as their counterparts?

4.

In the last years, what have been the most significant and original social
struggles?

5.

How have the modes of activism changed over time? What are the fundamental
reasons that influence activists to take political action? What is the
relationship between activism, work and life?

6.

What are the principal means of communication employed by the movement? What
is the relationship between the communication network (e.g. Indymedia) and
the organisational structures of the movement?

7.

What is the relationship between the organisation of a single struggle or
campaign and more complex organisational processes? How is the relationship
with the organisation perceived?

8.

What are the qualifying objectives of the movement? Are platforms of demands
developed, or is the Porto Alegre "charter of rights" model followed?

9.

What is the relationship between individual groups, the spaces of the
antagonistic movement and other forms of social action and involvement?

10.

How has the relationship with the institutions, in the most general sense
including also political parties and trade unions, developed?Who are the
movements counterparts? In particular, what is the relationship to local
authorities and national government? Is there a strong tendency, on the left
in general, to see national government (or the European Union) as the
fundamental political factor in the resistance to neo-liberal
globalisationWhat are the relationships between the different components of
the antagonistic movement like - beginning from the situation in which you
are working - at the national and the European level?

11.

In the situation in which you are working, how do you evaluate the growth of
the far-right (both in terms of mass culture and as organised political
movements)? How do you structure your opposition?

12.

In sum (and this is in our view a fundamental question), what is the
movements relationship with labour? How are the changes in the modes of
capitalist production, of the 1980s and 1990s, viewed? What were the main
struggles of recent years as regards these changes? In what manner may the
social component of the movement be perceived as an expression of the new
forms of the means of capitalist production ?

Obviously, these are only some of the questions, purposely formulated in a
very general manner, to which we would like to give an answer by means the
proposed inquiry. It is important to say that our work should not be seen as
a cause for celebration. We are convinced that a new season has dawned for
the movements in Europe. However, we also believe that, precisely for this
reason, our analysis must pitilessly detect and expose the limits that today
are evident in the political composition of the movement. Our intention is
to collect diverse data that has in common only the recognition of the
relevance of the questions put forward. Besides the written contribution, we
would ask you to send us any type of material (articles, documents, flyers)
which you consider important for the subjects of the inquiry: part of this
material may indeed be published in the magazine, while others may be
circulated through the network.

During the days of the European Social Forum it would be important to meet
in Florence and collectively discuss the results of the work. We are also
considering enclosing with the magazine (which will be published in
Italian), a shorter publication in English which shall feature summaries of
all the contributions received.