International Socialists

Report from the European Social Forum, 6-9 November

Tony Hartin reports on an important step forward for the European Left

Tuesday 7pm – Standing in the queue for my flight to Pisa it becomes obvious that the people in front and behind are also bound for the ESF. In fact the flight is half-full of conference goers. Announcements about ESF are made in-flight by the stewardess.

Tuesday 9pm – We meet trouble at Pisa passport control. Foreign passports are scrutinised at great length, bags are searched and there are a couple of deportations of people arrested at a recent anti-nuclear protest in Scotland. However, after customs we are met by a group of COBAS/antagonistas. They make welcoming speeches and then drive us through the back streets of Pisa to their social centre. The circuitous route is to avoid the waiting Polizia (we saw them along the way). Berlusconi’s media has been talking up trouble...

The social centre is a mixture of squat and organising centre. Banners are being painted in the yard, there is an extensive library and media centre, a couple of meeting rooms, kitchen, bathroom and a bar. Our hosts make more political speeches – there is a protest near Pisa tomorrow that we will all be going to – they cook us a pasta meal and we all make friends over several beers. We sleep where we were standing.

Wednesday 7am – We are woken to another meal prepared by our hosts, and we have some time for the Pisa sights before the rally. The headline in the Berlusconi papers is "Demonstration today – Pisa trembles."

Wednesday 11am – we assemble at Pisa stazione for the buses to a nearby US military base – Camp Darby. There are many protesters, also many Carabineri in full riot gear. The Italians start chanting Bastardi! and Assassini! These riot cops are the brutes of Genoa. We pile on buses bedecked with red flags and make our way to the US base to many a stirring Italian revolutionary song.

Wednesday 3pm – Buses have been shuttling demonstrators all day long and we set out on a march some 5,000 – 10,000 strong. The march is in high spirits and many a great speech is made outside the main gates of the camp. Our contingent of 30 UK protesters (those on our flight) is greeted with much joy. The Carabineri preparations seem as if they were expecting an invasion by the red army. We are told by our Italian hosts that there will be no attempt on the fence as we must all get to Florence.

Wednesday 8pm – After a rousing send-off at Pisa station we arrive in Florence. At the Pizzeria where we eat, the waiter asks us for a red flag to hang in the window. A plain red flag is not satisfactory – it has to have writing on it – so we give him a Socialist Workers’ Party flag with fist symbol. He is happy. We make our way to a sports stadium where we will sleep for the next few nights. The stadium – completely taken over by the conference – is another world in itself – a space free of sexism and worries of theft. There is much mixing of languages – everyone wants to be able to communicate with each other. Every morning we are woken by a political speech arguing why it is necessary to get up and go to meetings. In the bathrooms people are whistling the Internationale – when we reach the chorus it is sung simultaneously in half a dozen languages.

Thursday 9am – There is a massive crowd outside the registration centre for the conference. People are banging on the windows with impatience to get in. Organisers were hoping for 20,000 delegates – in fact around 60,000 registered. The conference is centred in the Fortezza Basso – a huge Renaissance fort. It is a riot of politics, chants, flags and meetings. Each morning and afternoon sees simultaneous meetings of thousands. The central building in the Fortezza is awash with dozens of organisations’ tables – books, flags, newspapers, songs, debates and information.

Friday – The numbers arriving at the forum continue to increase. Our sports stadium is jam-packed with people, yet it continues to function smoothly. Everyone has a willingness to get along – it makes living much easier. Buses are free for us as is entrance to museums and parks. Food and drink is discounted. Florence adopts the epithet "Aperta Citta" – the Opened City.

At the Fortezza the constant mill of leftists is giving way to spontaneous chants, marches and speeches. It feels as if we have captured the Fort and are planning our next step to take the city. The mixing of the international groups is ongoing. I have dinner with Polish comrades, drinks with the Dutch comrades, chants with the Greek comrades.

Saturday 11am – The IS tendency contingent forms in the Fortezza and marches to an assembly point for the main march – due to start at 3pm. Our contingent stretches for city blocks and is some 3,000-4,000 strong.

Saturday 1pm – 300,000 have already assembled two hours before the march is due to begin. We start the main march now, two hours early, in order to leave room for more to assemble. Our march jam-packs the city streets from pavement to pavement. International contingents march at the front of the march, headed overall by striking Fiat workers. In our contingent, we assemble in international groups – the Turkish comrades head the Greeks – Globalise Resistance, High School students and university students make up the front. The Scottish Socialist Party happens to march in front of Refondazione. The Refondazione comrades demand that we teach them English chants, and in turn they teach us some Italian ones.

Saturday 3pm – We reach the working class districts of Firenze. Residents line the streets and cheer, or hang white sheets with painted slogans from their windows. Many houses are closed though – we are later to find out why: The vast majority of Firenze’s population are on the streets behind us in the Italian contingents. This is despite weeks of Berlusconi’s propaganda about there being blood on the streets today.

Saturday 5pm – Our part of the march reaches the sports stadium endpoint. People are still assembling and starting to march at the beginning point. We are now 600,000-800,000 strong. Three separate marches are taking place purely because there is no more room on the march route.

Saturday 8.30pm – The march is still arriving at the end point where a fantastic concert is in progress. Our numbers now reach one million – this in a city whose population is only 400,000. Not a single Carabineri has dared to show their face and there has not been a single incident. This is a most powerful argument against Berlusconi and his ilk who tell us that we need the police and that another world is not possible.

We now know that it is possible – we saw it in action for the last four days. This event has been a tremendous step forward for the European Left.