A-Infos (en) France, MEDIA, Le Monde Article on Libertarian Social Forum

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FROM ANARCHISTS TO "OTHERWORLDISTS" Le Monde - 15.11.03
They gathered separately from the main march, so as not to be
straightaway drowned in the massed throng. The anarchists
left Place des Fêtes (19e arrond.) shortly after 12.30, on
Saturday 15 November, to get to Place de la République and to
march then behind the main "no-global" groups. While they
recognize having gladly taken advantage of the momentum
generated by the European Social Forum - in which a good
number of them participated - the libertarians of all types
chose to isolate themselves deliberately.

Before starting off on their own march through the streets,
where they hoped to be close to 6000, anarchists organized
their own gathering: the Libertarian Social Forum, held from
the 11th to 16th November in Saint-Ouen and Ivry-sur-Seine,
in Paris. The differences in these projects, which are subtle
and sometimes hard to pin down, are basically that "the ESF
is workings towards the building of a new form of social
democracy", as Wally Rosell (Fédération Anarchiste)
explained. "They want to manage society so that the poor are
less poor. We want social equality, in the context of a
self-managing, federalist society", he added.

The absence of a clearly identified project within the ESF
leads them, however, to adjust their aim. Grassroots
militants are spared, the targets being the organizers of the
ESF, judged to be guilty of secretly being concerned only
with their electoral future. "We have nothing to do with this
type of power or pressure group strategy", assured Chantal of
the Organisation Communiste Libertaire (OCL), after a meeting
held on Friday evening in Saint-Ouen. In the same vein,
Guillaume Davranche (Alternative Libertaire) considered
"laughable, those calls to the social movements for the
better-known militants to 'finally accept their
responsibilities' by presenting themselves at elections".

In a rather confused political landscape, what one does in
practice is of course the surest means to be identified by.
Unlike the ESF, the LSF reserveded space for free debate, had
free entry, and also "self-managed catering" and a children's
area based on voluntary involvement.

Jean-Baptiste de Montvalon

ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE EDITION OF 16.11.03

[translation by nmcn/ainfos]


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