we are meeting together in European Social Forum at Malmö to discuss urban social movements and the future of concrete urban actions and collaboration.
Seminar: RECLAIMING THE CITY
Resisting evictions, demolitions, gentrification, privatization, speculation…
* Seminar at ESF Malmö, Rosengård Värner Rydénskolan
* Thursday, Sept. 18 2008, 9:30-12:30
Neo-liberal policies, financial globalization and global city competition heavily affect urban life and struggles. Millions of people from lower classes get pushed out of their neighborhoods and houses. Based on an exchange of recent experiences with struggles against neo-liberal urban transformations in Istanbul, Germany, and Russia we want to discuss options for internationalized resistance.
The financial market driven globalization as well as the globalized competition between places and regions heavily affect urban development, urban life and urban struggles across Europe . As a consequence millions of people from the lower classes get pushed out of their original neighborhoods and houses. Among the reasons are post-fordistic urban transformations and renewal projects in favor of the wealthy, rocketing rents and reduced subventions for housing costs of unemployed, gentrifications and the cleansing of “slums”, privatizations and real estate speculation, mega projects, tourism and big events, racist exclusions, the control of informal forms of work and housing, the disciplination of unconformity…
From our experiences with struggles against these processes many questions arise:
How can local struggles against the consequences of these processes develop effective international networking, advocacy and targeted campaigning? How to achieve the RIGHT TO HOUSING in an Europe of workfare and privatization, of house demolition and social exclusion, of speculation and real estate violence? Which role does the EU play or should it play? How to link alter-globalization with community organization in the neighborhood? Which solidarity vision for the relations between territories and regions? Which role can urban issues and local movements play within a rescaling of anti-hegemonial struggles? What can be common claims among urban struggelers related to the global financial sector? How to build land/housing rights and urban campaigns targeted at trans-national financial investors, banks, institutions? How to internationalize our struggles?
Based on an exchange of recent experiences with struggles against neo-liberal urban transformations we want to try to discuss some of these questions.
ASSEMBLY OF URBAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
* Saturday, Sept. 20 2008, 9:30-12:30at Enskifteshagen, Tält 2
This ASSEMBLY, open to all activists for urban/housing/land rights, will discuss concrete steps for improved international cooperation on urgent action, campaigns and reflection. It should try to fix the implementation of agreements built during ESF meetings. Let’s develop effective, targeted and transparent international networking! Let’s build a roadmap for unity of urban social movements !
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