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German Free Workers Union Plans International Anarcho-Syndicalist Solidarity Conference
March 18, 2002 - 10:50am -- jim
German Free Workers Union
Plans International Anarcho-Syndicalist
Solidarity Conference, Essen, August, 2002
i2002 International Solidarity Conference Newsletter 01
Table of Contents:
-- Preface
-- Ideas & Action
-- Website
-- FAQ
-- We already need your support
-- Communication
Preface
Dear comrades,
This is the first i2002-Newsletter. It is available to all of you that
asked for subscription to the i2002 announcement list. To learn more on handling the list, see the instructions at the very end of this newsletter.
We have been very busy in organizing the conference for the past few months. Once we started the concrete preparations, the organizational issues as well as the discussions about the character of the conference, we will now start to provide more detailed information.
Whereas most issues related to the organizational aspects (rooms, food, accomodation etc.) can be managed by the organizing comittee, the character and the contents of the conference is a topic that is largely related to the suggestions of the workers attending the conference. Of course we have some ideas, too which we would like to present in this newsletter. Please keep in mind, that it are suggestions and that they are
in an early stage of discussion.
We have received quite a lot of mails from many regions in the past few weeks, asking for more detailed information. In order to avoid redundance, we compiled a "Frequently asked questions" document, that deals with many of those questions. The first revision of the FAQ is included with this newsletter. It will be more detailed and more comprehensive once the preparations for the conference go ahead.
the i2002 organizing commitee
--------------------
Ideas and Action
--------------------
We have developed a number of ideas for creating some kind of "umbrella" that may connect all the discussions at i2002. Those ideas are in an early stage yet, but we nevertheless like to present them for discussion. Provide your own ideas, suggest and prepare working groups on different subjects.
1. At the end of "guaranteed" working conditions?
The first thesis is that capitalist globalization tremendously
accelerates the process of cracking-up sectors of (more or less)
"guaranteed" working conditions, forcing the workers into a large scale of precarious and informal jobs with ever lower wages and ever more "flexibilty". This process comes with an ideological backup of "you are no longer a worker, but a manager of your workforce". And as managers don't
need social security systems, those systems are increasingly deregulated, in order to force us to accept any exploitation at any condition.
The level of abolishing "guaranteed" working conditions differs within the distinct regions of our planet. But the process itsself can me monitored everywhere around the world. Even in regions where one might think that this process is already at its very end, we can see, that within the maquiladora in Mexico or Indonesia for instance, workers are forced to change their sweatshop labor with even worse homework conditions.
The capitalist idea, that every kind of workforce might be bought
somewhere else at even lower costs, affects workers in the industrialized countries as well as those in the (already) deindustrialised regions. Millions of us have no chance but to leave their homes and begin moving around the planet to look for some kind of income, mostly within "illegal" working conditions with all its consequences.
We need to reflect and investigate this process from an
(anarcho)syndicalist point of view. The capitalist intentions to divide our class into large scales of isolated micro-classes, with no common relation but concurrence and suspicion, may need new concepts of reflection and organizing. We therefor would like some sort of investigation at the conference on how the process described affects our class in the distinct regions. As we are sure, that there will hardly be any sector or branch not beeing affected by this process, we suggest, that every working group at the conference should investigate the specific consequences for its sector or branch as one part of its discussions.
2. What working groups would you like to prepare?
You should discuss, what kind of working groups you would like to see at the conference and think about preparing them. Make your suggestions! We will compile them and publish them with the next newsletters. You should be aware of the fact that well prepared working groups with texts published and translated in advance, may contribute to a succesful course.
-------------
Website
-------------
A website dedicated towards preparing the conference is up now in an initial stage at http://www.fau.org/i2002. Information is available in English, Spanish, French, German an Esperanto. As many translation work is to be done, texts are not always up the same day in the different languages. If you have capacities for translations, please give us a notice. We can need any help possible! If you have your own website running, please link to us!
---------
FAQ
---------
These are a number of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) concerning the conference. As preparations advance, there will me more answers, or more detailed ones.
For updated versions of the FAQ, take a look at:
http://www.fau.org/i2002/en/faq.html
1. QUESTIONS ABOUT CONFERENCE TYPE
1Q1 Who is invited?
1Q2 How do we invite?
1Q3 Who runs the conference?
1Q4 Since when has the conference been planned?
1Q5 Workshops
2. QUESTIONS ABOUT CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION
GENERAL MATTERS
2Q1 Where will the conference take place?
2Q2 When will the conference take place?
2Q3 How many participants are expected to come and from which of the world's regions?
2Q4 Are there plans for demonstrations in the framework of the conference?
FINANCIAL MATTERS
2Q5 How much must a person pay to participate?
2Q6 Financing of expenses
2Q7 What can I do in order to financially support i2002?
LANGUAGE PROBLEMS
2Q8 Which is the language-of-conference?
2Q9 In which ways can I help in translating?
GETTING THERE, AND "FORTRESS EUROPE"
2Q10 Will participants who need an invitation document get one?
PARTICIPANTS' LODGING
2Q11 Will there be night accomodations in store?
2Q12 Participants who arrive earlier and/or stay longer. Round-trips.
2Q13 Are the locations adapted for use of wheelchairs?
2Q14 Can I bring my pet?
CONFERENCE CATERING
2Q15 How will the catering be organized?
2Q16 Will there be vegetarian/vegan food?
Information materials, and cultural programme
2Q17 Are the participants to bring propaganda materials etc.?
2Q18 Can I have a bookstall?
2Q19 Can I show a video?
2Q20 Can I make music / a cultural contribution?
TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT
2Q21 Are there on-location reproduction and/or copying facilities?
1. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT CONFERENCE TYPE
1Q1 Who is invited?
The conference's objective is to have discussion, exchange of experiences, and enhancing international solidarity of workers fighting their struggles without depending on state or capital -- self-organized, federalist-based and aiming to create a free, self-managed society. Therefor in the first place the invitation goes out to anarcho-syndicalist, revolutionary syndicalist and unionist militant workers. In order for us to speak one common language we have worked four preconditions together with the
invitation that are recognized as all participants' common ground. In i2002 you have not a congress of organizations but an open conference of militant workers. As it is not an objective to have agreements between organizations it is not necessary for the militant workers participating to be delegates or mandated by an organization.
1Q2 How do we invite?
The invitation for the conference is spread in various ways. It can be found in media perceiveved by anarcho-syndicalist, revolutionary syndicalist and unionist workers. And we have asked the sections of the International Workers' Association (IWA) and a couple of other organizations to forward the call to their members and to announce the conference through their structures and media.
1Q3 Who runs the conference?
The conference is run by the Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union (FAU-IAA) [Free Workers Union, an IWA section]. The members of FAU have decided in referendum with great majority to organize the conference.
1Q4 Since when has the conference been planned?
Planning the conference started early 2001. By the end of the referendum in fall 2001 the actual organizing preparations and content definition have begun.
1Q5 Workshops
Workshops make an important part of the course of conference. The objective of the conference ist to have exchange of experiences and to further develop international solidarity. This is best done in workshops. As soon as you want to propose and prepare a workshop (by industrial branch or other specific thematics) please contact us at i2002@fau.org. In order to have a process with outcome we would like preparation materials
for the workshops to be present early in time. The exact details about workshops we will describe later. Additionaly, we try to create space and opportunities for spontaneously setting up workshops during conference itself.
2. Questions of conference organization
General matters
2Q1 Where will the conference take place?
The conference will take place in Essen in Germany. Essen is in the center of a region named Ruhrgebiet (area of the river Ruhr). The Ruhr area is an old industrial region with eight million inhabitants to it. Until ten years back from now it was the center of steel industry and coal mining. The conference will take place in the "Zeche Carl", which is a former mine building currently used as a location of a cultural center. Essen is easily reached by car, by railway and through Dusseldorf Airport.
2Q2 When will the conference take place?
The conference will take place from 29 August until 1 September 2002. We ask participants to arrive during Thursday. The conference will be opened with a full assembly on Friday morning and it will be closed after another full assembly on Sunday around noon.
2Q3 How many participants are expected to come, and where from?
We expect about 200 or 250 participants to come. It is our wish that workers from all continents take part in this conference.
2Q4 Are there plans for any demonstrations in the framework of the conference?
At the moment we do not plan any demonstration linked to the conference. Our objective is to use the given time in the most intensive ways possible for discussion and exchanging experiences.
Financial matters
2Q5 How much must a person pay to participate?
To participate you will have to pay about 60 Euro (equalling around 55 US Dollar) per person for the whole conference. Included are: breakfeasts and warm midday meals Friday to Sunday, the conference materials, coffee, tea and mineral water during all the conference time. According to where you will be accomodated you should additionally take into account 6 Euro (5.50 US Dollar) every day for tickets for bus and/or underground railway. You cannot pay for only one or two conference days. We try to let participate free of charge as much as possible people from other than Western Europe, Australia or the USA.
2Q6 Financing of expenses
We try to let participate free of charge as much as possible people from other than Western Europe, Australia or the USA. Additionally, we will try to have paid part or whole of their expenses travelling from these regions. To which extent this can be done will depend on, among others, the solidarity from all participants. (see 2Q7). We will ask with registration if waiving the conference charge and/or paying of travelling expenses is individually needed and we will contact the comrades who say
so.
2Q7 What can I do to financially support i2002?
For certain aspects of the conference we will depend on donations. This applies especially to the paying of travelling expenses and waiving of conference charge i.e. paying the conference expenses for participants from the Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe regions. We therefor ask all participants in financial situations that make them able to donate for these objectives to do so e.g. in standing sponsor for a particular participant. The exact modalities we will publish later.
Language problems
2Q8 Which is the language-of-conference?
The language-of-conference is English. For the full assemblies on Friday and Sunday we are trying to provide for simultaneous interpreters at least for Spanish, French, Russian and German. We ask the participants to organize themselves the translations needed for workshops and for speeches peripheral to the conference.
2Q9 In which ways can I help in translating?
We will ask you with registration which languages you can understand and wether you are able to support us in translating during workshops and speeches peripheral to the conference.
Getting there, and "Fortress Europe"
2Q10 Will participants who need an invitation document get one?
The German state, part of "Fortress Europe", will demand from participants from patrticular countries to present an invitation document with a security from a German citizen as guarantee. With our normal invitation, we will ask the participants if they need secured invitations like these and we will do our best to make them accordingly.
Participants' lodging
2Q11 Will there be night accomodations in store?
There will be a limited number of night accomodations in two- and three-bed rooms for about 20 Euro (18 US Dollar) as the price for one person staying one night. There will be an unlimited amount of cost-free nightly sleeping-places for people who bring their sleeping-bags and isolating mats. There are plenty of hotels in Essen -- we will gladly compile information -- however the hotel bookings will have to be made by the participants themselves who wish so. With registration we will ask you
which kind of overnight stay you want. Because some overnight
accomodations are not reachable without public transport you should additionally take into account that you will need 6 Euro (5.50 US Dollar) every day for tickets.
2Q12 Participants who arrive earlier and/or stay longer. Round-trips. Some participants asked us if there is a possibility to arrive already before conference and/or to stay longer than the conference would require. Generally this possibility exists. We know of Syndicates in FAU who would be interested in organizing information events in their city with participants to the conference before or after it. We will try to co-ordinate this as far as possible but we ask you to understand that we cannot at this moment guarantee for every such case that this can be done.
We try to establish contacts - generally, participants who will stay in Germany for longer should take as a basis that it is them theirselves who organize their stay.
2Q13 Are the locations adapted for use of wheelchairs?
The conference rooms can be accessed and used in a wheelchair. Attention: Wheelchair-compatible accomodations really need to be negotiated with us as early as with registration. Please also as early as possible negotiate
with us further assistances.
2Q14 Can I bring my pet?
It is not possible to bring your pet to the conference.
Conference catering
2Q15 How will the catering be organized?
In the conference charge there are included the costs for breakfeasts and midday meals Friday till Sunday. The conference charge cannot be reduced in order to exclude these meals. Vegan an vegetarian food will be offered. We ask you to understand that we cannot have regard to food allergies.
After all in the surrounding of the conference location there are stores, snackbars, and restaurants like the one in the congress location building itself.
2Q16 Will there be vegetarian/vegan food?
There will be vegetarian food, and there will be vegan food. To minimize coordination effort we chose to not offer warm meals that contain meat. Those who must have meat or want it will find stores, snackbars and restaurants for self-supply in the surrounding of the conference's location.
Information materials and cultural programme
2Q17 Are the participants to bring propaganda materials etc.?
At the conference there will be opportunity to have little stalls for
presenting newspapers, books etc. and sell them. Furthermore the opportunity exists to show videos at the conference's periphery. We would appreciate very much if participants could bring every kind of material showing their activities. We try to install computers, printers and copy-printers where texts can be printed on-location in a limited number. The language-of-conference being English, we would welcome some material showing participants' activities brought there already in an English translated version. In the conference rooms there will be portable wall-boards etc. where reports on actions and other activity can be put.
2Q18 Can I have a bookstall?
There will be space for a couple of small bookstalls. Their number being limited, we will ask with the registration if you want to bring a bookstall in order for us to co-ordinate this.
2Q20 Can I show a video?
We will be able to have both one or more video beamers and TV sets with video recorders. So participants are welcome to bring videos documenting their activities. The language-of-conference being English, we would like the videos having English soundtrack or English subtitles. Please note that types of video format in use in Western Europe (e.g. VHS) generally
differ from those used in some other regions. Whether we will be able to provide you with recorders of e.g. the NTSC video format is a question yet to be answered later on.
2Q20 Can I make music / a cultural contribution?
The conference's location provides the participants with opportunities of spontaneously making musical and other cultural contributions -- as long as they do not depend on any technical equipment. Participants who bring their guitar will surely bring joy to everyone.
Technical equipment
2Q21 Are there on-location copying and/or reproduction facilities?
Yes - there will be a conference office where copies and prints from files can be made in a small number. Copies in large amounts must be paid accordingly.
----------------------------------
We already need your support
----------------------------------
Can you help with translations?
For i2002 there are, among others, a lot of translations to be made. This includes texts for the website, texts for the working groups etc. We therefor are looking for comrades that can help us with the translations. This includes all sort of translation between German, English, French, Spanish and Esperanto (We would like to add Russian later). So once you can translate one of these languages into one of the others, please
contact us at i2002@fau.org. We will set up a list for the translaters and coordinate them.
-- Promote i2002 in your media!
Link us to your website. Publish an article about i2002. Tell comrades and fellow workers.
-- Make donations!
For certain aspects of the conference we will depend on donations. This applies especially to the paying of travelling expenses and waiving of conference charge i.e. paying the conference expenses for participants from the Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe regions. We therefor ask all participants in financial situations that make them able to donate for these objectives to do so e.g. in standing sponsor for a particular participant. The exact modalities we will publish in the next newsletter.
----------------
Communication
----------------
a) At the moment any communication concerning i2002 may be obtained and distributed using the following channels:
for any communication with the i2002 organizing group
The announcement list of the organizing group. You should subscribe to it, to get the newsletter regulary. As there still ist a problem with the mailing list robot, please send a mail to i2002@fau.org for subscription to the list.
The conference website. Provides information in English, French, Spanish, German and Esperanto.
There will be a second mailing list, i2002-discuss, later this year for direct communication between those attending the conference. We keep you informed once it is running.
b) If you want to send us any documents by surface mail, please send them to:
i2002
c/o FAU-IAA
Wolfstrasse 10 HH
D-53111 Bonn
Germany
c) If you would like to send us a fax, the number is ++49 228 963 77 74"
German Free Workers Union
Plans International Anarcho-Syndicalist
Solidarity Conference, Essen, August, 2002
i2002 International Solidarity Conference Newsletter 01
Table of Contents:
-- Preface
-- Ideas & Action
-- Website
-- FAQ
-- We already need your support
-- Communication
Preface
Dear comrades,
This is the first i2002-Newsletter. It is available to all of you that
asked for subscription to the i2002 announcement list. To learn more on handling the list, see the instructions at the very end of this newsletter.
We have been very busy in organizing the conference for the past few months. Once we started the concrete preparations, the organizational issues as well as the discussions about the character of the conference, we will now start to provide more detailed information.
Whereas most issues related to the organizational aspects (rooms, food, accomodation etc.) can be managed by the organizing comittee, the character and the contents of the conference is a topic that is largely related to the suggestions of the workers attending the conference. Of course we have some ideas, too which we would like to present in this newsletter. Please keep in mind, that it are suggestions and that they are
in an early stage of discussion.
We have received quite a lot of mails from many regions in the past few weeks, asking for more detailed information. In order to avoid redundance, we compiled a "Frequently asked questions" document, that deals with many of those questions. The first revision of the FAQ is included with this newsletter. It will be more detailed and more comprehensive once the preparations for the conference go ahead.
the i2002 organizing commitee
--------------------
Ideas and Action
--------------------
We have developed a number of ideas for creating some kind of "umbrella" that may connect all the discussions at i2002. Those ideas are in an early stage yet, but we nevertheless like to present them for discussion. Provide your own ideas, suggest and prepare working groups on different subjects.
1. At the end of "guaranteed" working conditions?
The first thesis is that capitalist globalization tremendously
accelerates the process of cracking-up sectors of (more or less)
"guaranteed" working conditions, forcing the workers into a large scale of precarious and informal jobs with ever lower wages and ever more "flexibilty". This process comes with an ideological backup of "you are no longer a worker, but a manager of your workforce". And as managers don't
need social security systems, those systems are increasingly deregulated, in order to force us to accept any exploitation at any condition.
The level of abolishing "guaranteed" working conditions differs within the distinct regions of our planet. But the process itsself can me monitored everywhere around the world. Even in regions where one might think that this process is already at its very end, we can see, that within the maquiladora in Mexico or Indonesia for instance, workers are forced to change their sweatshop labor with even worse homework conditions.
The capitalist idea, that every kind of workforce might be bought
somewhere else at even lower costs, affects workers in the industrialized countries as well as those in the (already) deindustrialised regions. Millions of us have no chance but to leave their homes and begin moving around the planet to look for some kind of income, mostly within "illegal" working conditions with all its consequences.
We need to reflect and investigate this process from an
(anarcho)syndicalist point of view. The capitalist intentions to divide our class into large scales of isolated micro-classes, with no common relation but concurrence and suspicion, may need new concepts of reflection and organizing. We therefor would like some sort of investigation at the conference on how the process described affects our class in the distinct regions. As we are sure, that there will hardly be any sector or branch not beeing affected by this process, we suggest, that every working group at the conference should investigate the specific consequences for its sector or branch as one part of its discussions.
2. What working groups would you like to prepare?
You should discuss, what kind of working groups you would like to see at the conference and think about preparing them. Make your suggestions! We will compile them and publish them with the next newsletters. You should be aware of the fact that well prepared working groups with texts published and translated in advance, may contribute to a succesful course.
-------------
Website
-------------
A website dedicated towards preparing the conference is up now in an initial stage at http://www.fau.org/i2002. Information is available in English, Spanish, French, German an Esperanto. As many translation work is to be done, texts are not always up the same day in the different languages. If you have capacities for translations, please give us a notice. We can need any help possible! If you have your own website running, please link to us!
---------
FAQ
---------
These are a number of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) concerning the conference. As preparations advance, there will me more answers, or more detailed ones.
For updated versions of the FAQ, take a look at:
http://www.fau.org/i2002/en/faq.html
1. QUESTIONS ABOUT CONFERENCE TYPE
1Q1 Who is invited?
1Q2 How do we invite?
1Q3 Who runs the conference?
1Q4 Since when has the conference been planned?
1Q5 Workshops
2. QUESTIONS ABOUT CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION
GENERAL MATTERS
2Q1 Where will the conference take place?
2Q2 When will the conference take place?
2Q3 How many participants are expected to come and from which of the world's regions?
2Q4 Are there plans for demonstrations in the framework of the conference?
FINANCIAL MATTERS
2Q5 How much must a person pay to participate?
2Q6 Financing of expenses
2Q7 What can I do in order to financially support i2002?
LANGUAGE PROBLEMS
2Q8 Which is the language-of-conference?
2Q9 In which ways can I help in translating?
GETTING THERE, AND "FORTRESS EUROPE"
2Q10 Will participants who need an invitation document get one?
PARTICIPANTS' LODGING
2Q11 Will there be night accomodations in store?
2Q12 Participants who arrive earlier and/or stay longer. Round-trips.
2Q13 Are the locations adapted for use of wheelchairs?
2Q14 Can I bring my pet?
CONFERENCE CATERING
2Q15 How will the catering be organized?
2Q16 Will there be vegetarian/vegan food?
Information materials, and cultural programme
2Q17 Are the participants to bring propaganda materials etc.?
2Q18 Can I have a bookstall?
2Q19 Can I show a video?
2Q20 Can I make music / a cultural contribution?
TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT
2Q21 Are there on-location reproduction and/or copying facilities?
1. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT CONFERENCE TYPE
1Q1 Who is invited?
The conference's objective is to have discussion, exchange of experiences, and enhancing international solidarity of workers fighting their struggles without depending on state or capital -- self-organized, federalist-based and aiming to create a free, self-managed society. Therefor in the first place the invitation goes out to anarcho-syndicalist, revolutionary syndicalist and unionist militant workers. In order for us to speak one common language we have worked four preconditions together with the
invitation that are recognized as all participants' common ground. In i2002 you have not a congress of organizations but an open conference of militant workers. As it is not an objective to have agreements between organizations it is not necessary for the militant workers participating to be delegates or mandated by an organization.
1Q2 How do we invite?
The invitation for the conference is spread in various ways. It can be found in media perceiveved by anarcho-syndicalist, revolutionary syndicalist and unionist workers. And we have asked the sections of the International Workers' Association (IWA) and a couple of other organizations to forward the call to their members and to announce the conference through their structures and media.
1Q3 Who runs the conference?
The conference is run by the Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union (FAU-IAA) [Free Workers Union, an IWA section]. The members of FAU have decided in referendum with great majority to organize the conference.
1Q4 Since when has the conference been planned?
Planning the conference started early 2001. By the end of the referendum in fall 2001 the actual organizing preparations and content definition have begun.
1Q5 Workshops
Workshops make an important part of the course of conference. The objective of the conference ist to have exchange of experiences and to further develop international solidarity. This is best done in workshops. As soon as you want to propose and prepare a workshop (by industrial branch or other specific thematics) please contact us at i2002@fau.org. In order to have a process with outcome we would like preparation materials
for the workshops to be present early in time. The exact details about workshops we will describe later. Additionaly, we try to create space and opportunities for spontaneously setting up workshops during conference itself.
2. Questions of conference organization
General matters
2Q1 Where will the conference take place?
The conference will take place in Essen in Germany. Essen is in the center of a region named Ruhrgebiet (area of the river Ruhr). The Ruhr area is an old industrial region with eight million inhabitants to it. Until ten years back from now it was the center of steel industry and coal mining. The conference will take place in the "Zeche Carl", which is a former mine building currently used as a location of a cultural center. Essen is easily reached by car, by railway and through Dusseldorf Airport.
2Q2 When will the conference take place?
The conference will take place from 29 August until 1 September 2002. We ask participants to arrive during Thursday. The conference will be opened with a full assembly on Friday morning and it will be closed after another full assembly on Sunday around noon.
2Q3 How many participants are expected to come, and where from?
We expect about 200 or 250 participants to come. It is our wish that workers from all continents take part in this conference.
2Q4 Are there plans for any demonstrations in the framework of the conference?
At the moment we do not plan any demonstration linked to the conference. Our objective is to use the given time in the most intensive ways possible for discussion and exchanging experiences.
Financial matters
2Q5 How much must a person pay to participate?
To participate you will have to pay about 60 Euro (equalling around 55 US Dollar) per person for the whole conference. Included are: breakfeasts and warm midday meals Friday to Sunday, the conference materials, coffee, tea and mineral water during all the conference time. According to where you will be accomodated you should additionally take into account 6 Euro (5.50 US Dollar) every day for tickets for bus and/or underground railway. You cannot pay for only one or two conference days. We try to let participate free of charge as much as possible people from other than Western Europe, Australia or the USA.
2Q6 Financing of expenses
We try to let participate free of charge as much as possible people from other than Western Europe, Australia or the USA. Additionally, we will try to have paid part or whole of their expenses travelling from these regions. To which extent this can be done will depend on, among others, the solidarity from all participants. (see 2Q7). We will ask with registration if waiving the conference charge and/or paying of travelling expenses is individually needed and we will contact the comrades who say
so.
2Q7 What can I do to financially support i2002?
For certain aspects of the conference we will depend on donations. This applies especially to the paying of travelling expenses and waiving of conference charge i.e. paying the conference expenses for participants from the Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe regions. We therefor ask all participants in financial situations that make them able to donate for these objectives to do so e.g. in standing sponsor for a particular participant. The exact modalities we will publish later.
Language problems
2Q8 Which is the language-of-conference?
The language-of-conference is English. For the full assemblies on Friday and Sunday we are trying to provide for simultaneous interpreters at least for Spanish, French, Russian and German. We ask the participants to organize themselves the translations needed for workshops and for speeches peripheral to the conference.
2Q9 In which ways can I help in translating?
We will ask you with registration which languages you can understand and wether you are able to support us in translating during workshops and speeches peripheral to the conference.
Getting there, and "Fortress Europe"
2Q10 Will participants who need an invitation document get one?
The German state, part of "Fortress Europe", will demand from participants from patrticular countries to present an invitation document with a security from a German citizen as guarantee. With our normal invitation, we will ask the participants if they need secured invitations like these and we will do our best to make them accordingly.
Participants' lodging
2Q11 Will there be night accomodations in store?
There will be a limited number of night accomodations in two- and three-bed rooms for about 20 Euro (18 US Dollar) as the price for one person staying one night. There will be an unlimited amount of cost-free nightly sleeping-places for people who bring their sleeping-bags and isolating mats. There are plenty of hotels in Essen -- we will gladly compile information -- however the hotel bookings will have to be made by the participants themselves who wish so. With registration we will ask you
which kind of overnight stay you want. Because some overnight
accomodations are not reachable without public transport you should additionally take into account that you will need 6 Euro (5.50 US Dollar) every day for tickets.
2Q12 Participants who arrive earlier and/or stay longer. Round-trips. Some participants asked us if there is a possibility to arrive already before conference and/or to stay longer than the conference would require. Generally this possibility exists. We know of Syndicates in FAU who would be interested in organizing information events in their city with participants to the conference before or after it. We will try to co-ordinate this as far as possible but we ask you to understand that we cannot at this moment guarantee for every such case that this can be done.
We try to establish contacts - generally, participants who will stay in Germany for longer should take as a basis that it is them theirselves who organize their stay.
2Q13 Are the locations adapted for use of wheelchairs?
The conference rooms can be accessed and used in a wheelchair. Attention: Wheelchair-compatible accomodations really need to be negotiated with us as early as with registration. Please also as early as possible negotiate
with us further assistances.
2Q14 Can I bring my pet?
It is not possible to bring your pet to the conference.
Conference catering
2Q15 How will the catering be organized?
In the conference charge there are included the costs for breakfeasts and midday meals Friday till Sunday. The conference charge cannot be reduced in order to exclude these meals. Vegan an vegetarian food will be offered. We ask you to understand that we cannot have regard to food allergies.
After all in the surrounding of the conference location there are stores, snackbars, and restaurants like the one in the congress location building itself.
2Q16 Will there be vegetarian/vegan food?
There will be vegetarian food, and there will be vegan food. To minimize coordination effort we chose to not offer warm meals that contain meat. Those who must have meat or want it will find stores, snackbars and restaurants for self-supply in the surrounding of the conference's location.
Information materials and cultural programme
2Q17 Are the participants to bring propaganda materials etc.?
At the conference there will be opportunity to have little stalls for
presenting newspapers, books etc. and sell them. Furthermore the opportunity exists to show videos at the conference's periphery. We would appreciate very much if participants could bring every kind of material showing their activities. We try to install computers, printers and copy-printers where texts can be printed on-location in a limited number. The language-of-conference being English, we would welcome some material showing participants' activities brought there already in an English translated version. In the conference rooms there will be portable wall-boards etc. where reports on actions and other activity can be put.
2Q18 Can I have a bookstall?
There will be space for a couple of small bookstalls. Their number being limited, we will ask with the registration if you want to bring a bookstall in order for us to co-ordinate this.
2Q20 Can I show a video?
We will be able to have both one or more video beamers and TV sets with video recorders. So participants are welcome to bring videos documenting their activities. The language-of-conference being English, we would like the videos having English soundtrack or English subtitles. Please note that types of video format in use in Western Europe (e.g. VHS) generally
differ from those used in some other regions. Whether we will be able to provide you with recorders of e.g. the NTSC video format is a question yet to be answered later on.
2Q20 Can I make music / a cultural contribution?
The conference's location provides the participants with opportunities of spontaneously making musical and other cultural contributions -- as long as they do not depend on any technical equipment. Participants who bring their guitar will surely bring joy to everyone.
Technical equipment
2Q21 Are there on-location copying and/or reproduction facilities?
Yes - there will be a conference office where copies and prints from files can be made in a small number. Copies in large amounts must be paid accordingly.
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We already need your support
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Can you help with translations?
For i2002 there are, among others, a lot of translations to be made. This includes texts for the website, texts for the working groups etc. We therefor are looking for comrades that can help us with the translations. This includes all sort of translation between German, English, French, Spanish and Esperanto (We would like to add Russian later). So once you can translate one of these languages into one of the others, please
contact us at i2002@fau.org. We will set up a list for the translaters and coordinate them.
-- Promote i2002 in your media!
Link us to your website. Publish an article about i2002. Tell comrades and fellow workers.
-- Make donations!
For certain aspects of the conference we will depend on donations. This applies especially to the paying of travelling expenses and waiving of conference charge i.e. paying the conference expenses for participants from the Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe regions. We therefor ask all participants in financial situations that make them able to donate for these objectives to do so e.g. in standing sponsor for a particular participant. The exact modalities we will publish in the next newsletter.
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Communication
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a) At the moment any communication concerning i2002 may be obtained and distributed using the following channels:
for any communication with the i2002 organizing group
The announcement list of the organizing group. You should subscribe to it, to get the newsletter regulary. As there still ist a problem with the mailing list robot, please send a mail to i2002@fau.org for subscription to the list.
The conference website. Provides information in English, French, Spanish, German and Esperanto.
There will be a second mailing list, i2002-discuss, later this year for direct communication between those attending the conference. We keep you informed once it is running.
b) If you want to send us any documents by surface mail, please send them to:
i2002
c/o FAU-IAA
Wolfstrasse 10 HH
D-53111 Bonn
Germany
c) If you would like to send us a fax, the number is ++49 228 963 77 74"