As we still fight WTO in Geneva today, as we prepare for COP15 in Copenhagen

“The day the political landscape changed forever“, was how Fritjof Capra referred to events of N30, Tuesday 30th of November 1999, in his book The Hidden Connections. He was referring to the day when 1000´s of global justice activists came together and succeeded in shutting down the first WTO (World Trade Organisation) talks in the US using (mostly) non violent direct actions (NVDA) in the north western US city of Seattle. This was the event which brought the “globalisation” debate to the mainstream. It has been misleadingly described as anti-globalisation, what it should be accurately described as is anti corporate globalisation.

10 years on and again there is rubber bullets, tear gas and flames in the streets. This time in Geneva, as people from all over the world converge in the lead up to COP15, the climate change talks in Copenhagen… amongst others, the Social and Climate justice caravan.

A thing born once in Seattle amidst tear gas and protest > happy birthday indymedia

10 years later – attempts to shut down the WTO in Geneva

From rubber bullets, tear gas and flames in the streets of Seattle to the streets of Geneva today

This Is What Democracy Looks Like – the story of the battle of Seattle

Anti-WTO demonstration in Geneva (euronews- no comment)

(this article first appeared on Indymedia Ireland | more info here N30 )

10 years ago today, The Battle in Seattle: yeah, didn’t we – shut it down – didn’t we

As a lookback to some of the events of those days, some of the things that grew out of that space, here’s a few reminders. From what was then a radio streaming network on Pacifica radio, Democracy Now, was there on the streets reporting:

The Battle in Seattle: WTO Talks Inaugurated, As Thousands of Activists Demand Human Rights (N29)

http://www.democracynow.org/1999/11/29/the_battle_in_se…talks

Listen to the days audio show: http://www.archive.org/download/dn1999-1129/dn1999-1129…b.mp3

Today we are broadcasting from Seattle, Washington, where delegations from 130 countries are meeting this week for a historic round of trade talks at the World Trade Organization. Tens of thousands of activists from all over the world–from labor groups, to environmental activists, to farmers, to women’s groups, to many others representing a wide range of civil society–have also converged on Seattle for what the Wall Street Journal has said will be “the mother of all protests.”

The Battle in Seattle: French Farmer Jose Bove Leads Protest at Mcdonalds (N30)

http://www.democracynow.org/1999/11/30/the_battle_in_se…armer

“Shut McDonalds Mcglobalization” of agriculture around the world—a phenomenon they said has been brought about by the decisions and policies of the World Trade Organization.

Unions Take to the Streets in Seattle: A Conversation with United Steelworkers of America (N30)

http://www.democracynow.org/1999/11/30/unions_take_to_t…ts_in

Thousands of steelworkers marched yesterday in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization’s trade policies. The steelworkers have been some of the most militant and vocal of all the unions that have converged on Seattle.

The Battle in Seattle – follow on audio stories from Democracy Now:

Wednesday, December 01, 1999 – The Battle in Seattle—Tens of Thousands of Protesters Shut Down the Inaugural Sessions of the World Trade Organization

http://www.democracynow.org/1999/12/1/the_battle_in_sea…ns_of

audio – http://www.archive.org/download/dn1999-1201/dn1999-1201…b.mp3

Thursday, December 02, 1999 – The Battle in Seattle: Hundreds Arrested and a Look at the WTO and the Environment

http://www.democracynow.org/1999/12/2/the_battle_in_sea…ested

audio – http://www.archive.org/download/dn1999-1202/dn1999-1202…b.mp3

Friday, December 03, 1999 – The Battle in Seattle: Demonstrators Block Jail Entrance, Demanding the Release of Hundreds of Protesters

http://www.democracynow.org/1999/12/3/the_battle_in_sea…block

http://www.archive.org/download/dn1999-1203/dn1999-1203…b.mp3

Monday, December 06, 1999 – Battle in Seattle: Ralph Nader and Vandana Shiva Face Off with the Clinton Administration and Procter and Gamble

http://www.democracynow.org/1999/12/6/battle_in_seattle…r_and

http://www.archive.org/download/dn1999-1206/dn1999-1206…b.mp3

Jim Page – Didn’t We (music song about the day, lyrics at end of article)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW6u75jBLec

http://www.jimpage.net/lyrics.htm#didntwe

A thing born once in Seattle amidst tear gas and protest… Indymedia

Many things grew out of those days in Seattle, one of them has grown from strength to strength and is perhaps the best metaphor like tool we can use to understand the new ways of doing things: Networking, building up and using efficient, open and honest tools of communication: Indymedia. (infos at http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/about.shtml )

The bi lingual film “i“ or ”Eye of the storm”, made by IMC-Argentina, is a beautiful film which shows the birth and growth and magic of “a global network” . It focuses on the rise of Indymedia and how participative media grew during the economic and social crisis in Argentina. (watch trailer at http://ithefilm.com/ )

Independent media films about Seattle N30:

This Is What Democracy Looks Like

This film, shot by 100 amateur camera operators, tells the story of the enormous street protests in Seattle, Washington in November 1999, against the World Trade Organization summit being held there. Vowing to oppose, among other faults, the WTO’s power to arbitrally overrule nations’ environmental, social and labour policies in favour of unbridled corporate greed, protestors from all around came out in force to make their views known and stop the summit. Against them is a brutal police force and a hostile media as well as the stain of a minority of destructively overzealous comrades. Against all odds, the protesters bravely faced fierce opposition to take back the rightful democratic power that the political and corporate elite of the world is determined to deny the little people.

watch film at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-20072061863625…1122#

Showdown in Seattle

The Seattle IMC made their own film after N30 entitled Showdown in Seattle and they should be watched to get a fuller picture. The film has been broken into 5 parts

Pt 1 – Seattle Prelude

Pt 2 – People Unite Police Riot

Pt 3 – Occuppied Seattle

Pt 4 – Unwilling Cautives

Pt 5 – What Democracy Looks Like

Full video is stored on Archive.org – http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_186_a_showdown_in_s…attle

The Battle of Seattle – from indy street reporting to Hollywood blockbuster

Democracy Now – Battle in Seattle: With A-List Cast, New Film Re-Creates Historic Protest Against WTO (September 18, 2008)

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/18/battle_in_seattle…_list

In November 1999, tens of thousands of global justice activists, environmentalists, union members and anti-capitalist activists helped shut down the World Trade Organization in Seattle. It was a watershed moment for the movement against corporate globalization. The story of the Seattle protests has now been turned into a fictionalized film featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. We speak to the film’s writer and director, Stuart Townsend, as well as David Solnit, one of the key organizers of the WTO protests and co-founder of the Seattle WTO People’s History Project.

film website: http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/

watch film online (via chinese type youtube) – http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDUxMDg1MDg=.html

fuller report with links etc at – N30: The day the political landscape changed forever

http://itsafunnyoldworld.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/n30/

From WTO in Geneva to COP 15 in Copenhagen…. the Social and Climate justice caravan and the battle to change the world.

Two important summits take place at the end of 2009 in Europe: the 7th conference of ministers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva and the UN climate summit in Copenhagen (COP15). With a week between them, 60 activists from the global South will travel across Europe through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Denmark. They will draw attention to the consequences neoliberal globalization and climate change have on their lives and show how to fight against them. Together with local activists, they look for alternatives to free trade and the privatisation of resources, and unite the North and South in their fights for another world.

So outlines the Social & Climate Justice Caravan, which is already busy in Geneva… http://www.climatecaravan.org/

From rubber bullets, tear gas and flames in the streets of Seattle to the streets of Geneva today.

Thousands protest WTO in Geneva – Property Damage and Tear Gas (2 days ago)

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/11/442437.html

Up to 4-5000 people today marched in Geneva protesting ahead of the WTO meeting in an International Demonstration as part of a week of action and debate around the WTO Ministerial which runs from 30th November to 2nd December.

The mobilisation is seen very much in relation to the COP15 UN climate conference taking place in Copenhagen 7th – 18th December.

This afternoon clashes broke out as parts of the crowd attacked property smashing windows of banks and shops and setting a number of cars on fire. Police used tear gas, concussion greandes and water cannon. Further protests are scheduled with the WTO meeting starting on Monday 30th November, ten years exactly since the famous Seattle WTO protests.

Related links>

Euronews – They (Anti-capitalism protesters) accuse the WTO of not doing enough to tackle climate change, claiming it is a mouthpiece for the interests of multinational corporations.

http://www.euronews.net/2009/11/28/geneva-ravaged-by-an…tors/

http://vastminority.blogspot.com/2009/11/anti-wto-riots….html

Seattle Grows Up

In the lead up to the massive COP15 goings on in Denmark next month, a recent article “Seattle Grows Up” from Naomi Klein reported;

A decade ago, in a New York Times comment piece published after Seattle was shut down, I wrote that a new movement advocating a radically different form of globalisation “just had its coming-out party”. What will be the significance of Copenhagen? I put that question to John Jordan, whose prediction of what eventually happened in Seattle I quoted in my book No Logo. He replied: “If Seattle was the movement of movements’ coming-out party then maybe Copenhagen will be a celebration of our coming of age.”

He cautions, however, that growing up doesn’t mean playing it safe, eschewing civil disobedience in favour of staid meetings. “I hope we have grown up to become much more disobedient,” Jordan said, “because life on this world of ours may well be terminated because of too many acts of obedience.”

The Seattle activists’ coming of age in Copenhagen will be very disobedient (klein article – alternative title)

The climate conference will witness a new maturity for the movement that ignited a decade ago. But that does not mean playing it safe

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009…hagen

Related video from Democracy now:

Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries For The Climate Crisis.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/23/naomi_klein_on_c…t_why

Well, the latest column I wrote for “The Nation,” is about this line that you can draw from Seattle to Copenhagen. I call the column “Seattle Grows Up,” because I think we’re also seeing an evolution of a movement that can to world attention on the streets of Seattle. I think there has been a profound deepening of the coalition between groups that are primarily focused on poverty, on development, on debt, and environmental groups that have traditionally been focused on environmental issues. We saw that in Seattle, the beginnings of that coalition, with the famous “Teamsters and Turtles” coalition. Now we are seeing something much deeper.

It is this idea of climate debt that is bringing together groups, like I was saying, Jubilee South, like Action Aid, groups that have been mostly focused on anti-poverty and development and are now are seeing climate change as the single greatest barrier to human development around the world, but also seen the call for climate reparation as an opportunity for, to quote Angelica Navarro, Bolivia’s ambassador to the climate negotiations, who I was talking about earlier, when she talks about the need for the developing world- developed world to pay our climate debt, she says if this happened and we would have a Marshall Plan for planet earth, which is a very exciting prospect because it means you have the opportunity to tackle simultaneously two of humanities most intransigent challenges, most intransigent problems, climate debt on the one hand, and inequality on the other. So, the bringing together of these two forces. That is what’s going to be really, really exciting in Copenhagen. And a lot of the people, a lot of networks that grew out of Seattle are going to be activated in Copenhagen and have only grown stronger in recent years.

Ok, so thats a quick trip down memory lane, happy birthday INDYMEDIA…

Back to Jim Page to finish the story which has only begun…

Didn’t We

November 30th, ‘99

history walkin’ on a tightrope line

big money pullin’ on invisible strings

gettin’ into everything

so deep, it’s hard to believe

it’s in the food and the water and the air you breath

and the chemistry, the bio-tech

the banker with the bottomless check

the corporations and the CEO’s

and the bottom line is the profit grows

the money talks, you don’t talk back

they don’t like it when you act like that

 

but didn’t we

shut it down

didn’t we

 

November 30th, ‘99

it was a Tuesday mornin’ when we drew the line

it was the WTO comin’ to town

and we swore we’re gonna shut it down

and they stood there with their big police

they had the National Guard out to keep the peace

with the guns and the clubs and the chemical gas

but still we would not let them pass

and they raged and roared and their tempers flared

and there were bombs bursting in the daylight air

and they’d run us off, do us in

but we came right back again

 

yeah, didn’t we

shut it down

didn’t we

 

November 30th, ‘99

millennium passing as the numbers climb

and the people came from everywhere

there musta been 50 thousand out there

there were farmers, unions, rank and file

every grass roots has it’s own style

there were great big puppets two stories tall

there were drummers drummin’ in the shoppin’ mall

there were so many people that you couldn’t see

how that many people got into the city

and the WTO delegates too

but we were locked down, so they couldn’t get through

 

yeah, didn’t we

shut it down

didn’t we

 

November 30th, ‘99

lockdown at the police line

and they’re hittin’ you with everything they got

but you ain’t movin’, like it or not

and they’re tyin’ your wrists with plastic cuffs

and they’re loadin’ you up on a great big bus

and they’re takin’ you down to the navy base

pepper sprayin’ you right in the face

try to break you down, try to get you to kneel

but you got the unity and this is for real

and they can’t break a spirit that’s comin’ alive

that’s the kind of spirit that’s bound survive

 

didn’t we

shut it down

didn’t we

 

the media loves on the glitter and flash

and the newspapers talkin’ out a whole lot of trash

about the violence of the people in black

and how the cops were so tired they just had to attack

and the secrets hidden in that deep dark hole

that they call City Hall may never be told

the mayor’s out doin’ the spin

the police chief quit so you can’t ask him

well they can swear to god and all human law

but I was there and I know what I saw

and the visible stains’ll wash away in the rains

but this old town’ll never be the same

 

’cause didn’t we

shut it down

didn’t we

 

it’s the greatest story ever told

David and Goliath, how you be so bold

standin’ up to the giant when the goin’ gets hot

and all you got is a slingshot

well they tell me that the world’s turned upside down

you gotta pick it up and shake it, gotta turn it around

you gotta take it apart to rearrange it

I don’t want to save the world I want to change it

don’t let ‘em tell you that it can’t be done

’cause they’re gonna be the first ones to run

just take a little lesson from Seattle town

WTO and how we shut it down

 

yeah, didn’t we

shut it down

didn’t we

The Gracia community garden radio documentary trilogy and accompanying article

1 – Entering, Breaking ground, dreams of a greener barrio.
2 – Murals and kids
3 – Lauras garden tour

VIDEO : Hort de Gràcia Web: http://horteres.org/

The Gracia community garden radio documentary trilogy and accompanying article Springtime in Europe and the Earths life’s cycle is in bloom again. The 3 parts of the radio documentary capture magical moments in the recent history of one of the most exciting projects in Barcelona at present, our community garden in Gracia. This article was written after a lovely Valentines weekend of much open, shared and participative activity; the highlight of which was our collective mural day in the garden. It is hoped that some of the life, current ideas, projects, tools, spaces, bargains, oddities, dreams, passions and goings on of the city and her peoples are communicated here-in.

Friday… Thinking about winning

Saturday… Painting pictures and feeling like we are winning

Sunday… Sharing passions, playing and doing, Remembering the South.

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Friday… Thinking about winning

After work, print off the Transition Handbook freely due to creative commons and begin reading. Our BCN en Transición groups are in between the “mulling” and
“setting up of steering group and designing its demise from the outset” (step 1 of the 12 steps) stages of this wonderful viral movement that has exploded in the last 2 years, thanks to the vision of Rob Hopkins and his crew in Kinsale, which might just be the answer to both climate change and peak oil. Eitherway, communities are organising and resilient communities are (re)forming, horizontal, seemingly chaotic organising is happening and dreams of less oil dependant communities are slowly becoming realities. Much that has been lost in the recent years of the “oil age” is being remembered; old skills, stories, recipes, building techniques as well as local culture and resilience and for an ever widening and diverse group in BCN, we too we are thinking positive and dreaming boldly. We envisage each already established and much celebrated barrio (neighbourhood) organising itself on the TI guidelines… The recurring themes of the book which stood out; Vision, positivity, celebration, enjoyment… as well as the idea of the “English pragmatic” idea of a clear and simple structure on top of, around, through which can be spun the chaotic and colourful web of life…

Walk down carrer (street) Urgell, alongside its recently reclaimed car lane which is now a protected 2 way bike lane and takes you right into the old town, this is a consequence of the some say “over successful” BiCiNg near free public bike rental system. Arrive down to one of my local haunts, the Moroccan café in the Barri china (the “Chinese neighbourhood”- the old red light, cheap booze, drugs and naughty bars zone from Picasso´s time), the multi cultural hugely alive city centre area of Raval. This café is the place to go for the best bocadillo (roll) in the city, let alone do they fry up the marinated Halal chicken on the grill with chopped onions and peppers thrown on, they cut the roll and pull out much of the inside to make more room for what goes in; salad, meat, chips, sauces… hhhhhmmmmm. Along with this a tasty mint tea and you’re sorted for the day. Also ideal way to catch up on world events, from the Arabic perspective, by watching Al-Jezeera, still highly emotional after recent events in Gaza, all this for a reasonable 4 Euros.

Catch up with a few friends, then down to one of the many little spaces that has done so much for the diversity that is Barcelona, with its critical takes on art, culture and politics and all the networks within networks that make it up. We went down to Riereta, the local on caller (street) Rieretta in which the amazing network KRAX are presently working out of, “KRAX investigates, connects and empowers urban creativity that responds to “cracks” in the city.” Friday night saw a small group of about 20 people came down to explore the critical theme of “What would it mean to win?” Sprawled out on cushions on the floor and with a few Xibecas (litre glass bottles of tasty BCN beer for @ E1.20) in hand we watched 2 films and after had a productive little chat;

- “Léxico Familiar (Retrato de John Holloway)“, de Marcelo Expósito, 28mins
- “What would it mean to win?”, de Zanny Begg y Oliver Ressler, 40mins

The first film Familiar Lexicon is a close up interview in Spanish with John Holloway, about the theme he has been exploring: Changing the world without taking the power. The film raised many critical ideas about how the fight for a different world is being waged, from refusing to play “their” game, to the creation of new ways at looking at the world, new ways of communicating with each other, new spaces for experimenting and building in… The film finishes with examples from the Zapatistas in Mexico, with their creativity and boldness, as they occupy and destroy as well as empower, learn, excite and imagine another world.

The second film “What Would It Mean To Win?” was filmed on the blockades at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany in June 2007, where people did feel that they were indeed winning. The original was in English and German, and we watched a subtitled version, I think done by the KRAX network. Some of the people speaking on the film were part of the Turbulence collective, who have been thinking and talking about radical ideas, strategies etc and who brought out a free magazine prior to the G8 protests in which they posed the simple, yet absolutely critical question “What would it mean to win?”

Arising from the ideas posed and proposed in the films we talked about new spaces, new dialogues, new strategies led to a quick few words about the very quickly growing “movement” as it was called by George Monbiot that is the “climate camp” network; the thousands of people coming together to engage in critical dialogue, skill sharing, leading to a direct action against a climate criminal, last year Kingsnorth coal-burning power station. The movement has also gone viral and spread to more countries, Ireland is currently organising for their own camp this summer, and recently in Chicago; the largest act of civil disobedience to happen in the US. And more importantly people are organising in Denmark prior to COP15, which is the UN summit on climate change, it will also be 10 years since, returning again to Holloways argument, N30, the 30th of November in Seattle when organised passionate direct action shut down the WTO, as eco systems thinker Fritjof Capra called it “the day that the political landscape changed forever.”

A beer or 2 in local bar with friends and home early enough on the metro. (the city has a very good system, regular, cheap, till 2am on Friday, all night on Saturday, if your lucky you can catch the “lucky carriage” at about 4am, packed with people coming from one party off to another, singing, drinking, handstands… it’s a little bit illegal, but its fun)

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Saturday… Painting pictures and feeling like we are winning

Up early enough, laze and read a bit, a quick egg and cheese tortilla (omelette) and a cup of tea up on the roof terrace called el “bosque de la esperananza” (the forest of Hope), alongside the Jamaican bar, our very own little “greening the city” roof zone and hopefully soon also food production zone. Fine sights from one of the many roofs in Gracia, beyond the densely filled roof terrain is the 2000 year old inner city core of Barcelona, and beyond that still is the clear view of the “centre of the world”, the sea of the Medi-terranean, and beyond that still the horizon, that which reminds you of your own strange strange existence on this little ball flying in the heavens…

Not too much to daydream this morning, theres work to be done! Head down c/ Verdi; lots of people buzzing about, into the market, each neighbourhood still has its own food market and they are hives of life. In my one there is even a second hand book stall, you take what you want and leave a donation, granted there’s a fair bit of 1987 sport annuals and the like, but amongst them, you can find the odd gem or 2 (Umberto Eco, Henry Millar, and the like) From there into a Chinese shop to pick up a few packets of chalk for the garden, for the kids, and for the bigger kids like me, another few streets and I’m at the new 4 month old oasis on Carrer Banyoles, our local hort comunitari, or community garden for those unfamiliar with Catalan.

As you walk down the quite little street of carrer Banyoles, the first thing that hits you is the fantastic mural outside of the garden, on the wall. Its from the opening weekend 4 months back and was painted / sprayed by a couple of top level local grafitistas. Today we are having another mural painting day, this time though, it is a communitarian open participative day of learning, sharing, doing… Basically how it happened; a mural artist Kevin from NYC (New York city) who has done a bit of Muralismo in Mexico, was spending some time here in BCN, he dropped down to the garden 2 weeks back and made the proposal, it was quickly supported and this day was choosen to engage in this participative act of art which does many many things on many many levels. Audio doc 2 captures this in more detail. The theme of the mural was, more or less, Greening the city, and its structure was simply to paint basic colored forms of a city at the lower level and from that to grow plants and greenery coming from the gardens, roofs, windows… a vision of what a happier, healthier more eco effective city might look like.

People started arriving and adding their bits onto the ever growing wall… initial questions like “what size”, “what about the perspective”, “what should go here” soon eased, as the new muralistas themselves started to ease and just get into the flow of the day, I think the slowness of the action played a significant role, as little by little, people started talking to each other a bit more, well the ones that didn’t know each other previously…It unfolded as the day itself did and by evening time, and many little blobs added for windows, the city in the city, had taken on a funny creative life of its own; lots of funny, personal, details like bras, knickers, trumpets, cats, dogs, banners, kites, bikes… the painting of all these led to a feeling of deep happiness for many, this was indeed something special. During the time we talked about some of the ideas about last nights films and how this garden was in fact exactly one of those things from which things is growing. We are not playing their game, we have made our own. The garden is a space to grow food, which in itself is a huge step in a more sustainable existence, but its far more; a place to learn in, for strangers to meet, music to be enjoyed, to dream in, play chess, experiment, be alive in.

We also might have already got a world record for the biggest painted Aubergine? The side wall had 2 skulls sprayed on it, from a previous time when our solar (empty building lot with its building removed) had a squat on it, and this was artwork done in a room. The thing is that these skulls were giving one of the kids of el tribu (the tribe- the gardens alternative education group for 1 – 4 years olds) nightmares, they were also high up, 2 floor up, so creative means had to be employed. The result; the 1.2.3 whhhoooop, whereby 8 brush poles were connected together and a paint roller placed on the last one. With this one dude held the roller end after dipping it in pinky purply paint, then 1,2,3 and he flung it upward. At the same time, the dude or dudette on the other end, lifted it up and ran into the wall to roll on lines of the paint. The shades of colour were changed and with time, they got it finished, its about 10 metres wide and 6 high, it looks great and its viewable from the street when the garden door is closed. We are not actually sure if it is the worlds largest painted aubergine, if it is, great… if not, no worries, as Kev said, and I can confer: “It makes me smile as I pass by on the street”.

So as darkness rolled in, we parted our separate ways. From there I stopped off in one of my local bodegas, which are old style wine shops, where you buy directly from the large barrels of wine inside, the simple sustainable system that existed long before supermarkets and the like… On a matter of drink and economy, the difference between Ireland and Barcelona was the following; coming back with wine for a communal party in Horta sometime back, I walked with a 5 litre bottle (empty water bottle) filled with quality red wine, that’s nearly 10 pints, and it was cheaper than one pint of Guinness in some pubs at home, here you can buy a litre of wine for 1 euro! Anyway, drop into the local bodega and pick up 2 litres of wine and head on to friends apartment down by Universitat, the main part of the city university, which like the rest is under student occupation in a fight of resistance against neo liberalism and the bologna plan. In my friends apartment we talk with and play with Adrian, our friends 2 year old baby boy. It’s extraordinary the fun one can have when communicating with non language; funny faces, sounds, mimicking movements, playing the drums on the yoghurt tubs…

Then we catch the metro out to the barrio of Sants, to go to La Bahia, one of the cities many squatted social centres, this one is an ex 80´s disco bar turned into a cheap venue for artistic parts of the BCN social movements, this night it was a cabaret, I think some of the old makabra people were involved. This is a free in, bring your own booze, or buy cheap booze there and thereby assist the collective and the space directly. For a feel for the diversity in this social centre, political, artistic network with free stuff to do, you can check out the weekly calendar of events, the Info Usurpa. There are about 50 social centres in the city, and many more squatted spaces, some of which open irregularly as collective activist, social, artistic, community spaces, theres a lot of different types.

We got there late enough, just caught the tail end, had a few sups, then back on metro to Gracia to a fine old Cuban bar for a beer. Then drop into another nodal point in the Gracia barrios social network; the ateneu Rosa de Foc, (where on Thursday we screened the film “the plunder” about the struggle in Ireland against shell) for a last can of Estrella (star, the main local beer from Damm) and to catch the late night tango and salsa dancing that was happening before hitting the hay after a lovely creative healthy day of living. (An Ateneu translates as a local cultural association resource space. “Rosa de Foc” is Catalan for “rose of fire”, which was what Barcelona was called during Spain’s civil war 1936-39, when it was the heart of resistance against the fascist coup led by Franco, as well as being, for a short while perhaps the best example of an anarchist revolution in action, until its bloody end in the “civil war within the civil war”, when Stalin’s communist forces quelled the revolution, George Orwell wrote much about these tragic events in his acclaimed novel “Homage to Catalonia” which he later portrayed in his later more famous book, “Animal Farm”- His story was the loose basis for the excellent film Tierra y Libertad / land and freedom by Ken Loach )

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Sunday… Sharing passions, playing and doing, Remembering the South

Up early and into Raval again, this time to be on time for our meeting with Mike from the Transition town network, he is responsible for bringing out the monthly Transition newsletter. Before hand I wander up to the rambla Raval where there are celebrations as it is the feast day of St Eulalia, the patron saint of the city, there was a orchestra playing on a stand and behind that was an amazing participative playful exhibition, KATAKRAK, it rocked; recylcled beds, bikes and bits of pieces turned into games of play that look like animals. The kids were really excited; it was a beautiful thing to witness.

From there we got a bite to eat in Organics, a vegetarian restaurant, Mike was over for work reasons and his daughter who is doing sculpture in the city also joined us, we had an informal chat during which Mike took notes with the intention of writing an article for the Transition newsletter about how things are going for the BCN transition group which is growing and we are taking our first steps.

Some of the things talked about

- “Barcelona”, going from a place with a bold urban history to it becoming stale, merely seeking to entice more and more weekend tourists in on planes to spend their euros, while pushing out local communities… it was hip, its now stale, BUT, it could again play a lead role for future movements of urbanism.

- How the Transition model might land very well on the structure of the city of Barcelona, with its very well established Barrio structure, each still with their communal heart, the central food market. (most being beautiful 19th century steel frame construction buildings) as well as the participative role the community plays in their barrio which is most identifiable when they have their barrio festivals, not only the celebration on the streets, but also the creation of floats, street art, music etc… everyone participates, the grannies and 4 year old kids can still be seen dancing in the streets in the wee hours…

- The urban story of Barcelona, with its violent history, its loaded meaning. The city has played a huge part in the identity of the Catalans, as different from the Spanish. In the late 1700’s, the French and Spanish teamed up to lay a siege at the city. On finally winning, they entered the walled city, evicted about a fifth of the population, razed their houses and turned the area into a huge military fort, the Ciutadella, from which to control the masses. The newly homeless made their way to the beach and about 50 years later a french engineer designed a very very tight grid iron neighbourhood for them with a strange orientation. Barcelenetta was the result, and its orientation was so that, if there was future revolts, the cannons in Ciutadella could be wheeled directly to the line of the street and shoot down… Later for the World fair the hated fortress was removed and turned into a park, the green lung of this dense grey city; Parc Ciutadella.

- How the Eixample model, the grid iron system which was born when the city walls were pulled down in the 1860´s, might be well able to take the extra layer of each block being recovered, its inside turned into a green space again, as is happening under the fantastic Pro Eixample programme, but how also, another layer could be added; eco effictiveness, green zone and roofs as food production zones, and a grey water treatment plant on site to reycyle water for the plants. If its possible to do in 1, its possible for all… Thats a lot of city, from grey to green.

- Mike asked us about the role anarchism plays, if any, in the city today. There were differing views from not much, to perhaps not so much in terms of end point of “without leaders” but definately in terms of organising, the way meetings form or round assemblies, the sense of DIY get up and just do it, the sense of local organisation… Although they lost the war, maybe the battle never ended? There are indeed some similarities between anarchism and the Transition movement; grassroots bottom up organisation, decentralised locally organised autonomous groups, horizontal open networking and organising, loose informal spontaneos assembly times, ie “open space”, direct action, the community does not sit back and expect “the powers” to solve things, they organise themselves to, as Rob puts it the Transition model is something about “Unlocking the collective genius of the community”.

- The term “transition” is a very loaded term here in Barcelona, as it was the term used when fascism ended and Democracy came into being. This happened after the death of Franco in 1975 and it was a difficult time, in many ways, like somewhat in Ireland, it touches too raw a nerve. Within the spanish Transition network there is some debate about this, but perhaps the movement might assist in coming to terms with the phraseology?

- How there is such a huge need for the Transition movement to really address the city, as Rob said “If we don’t crack the cities, then we haven’t really done that much.” Claudia participated in the recent Transition city conference in Notthingham which helps us greatly. But also, if indeed, we manage to “crack” the city of Barcelona, then that opens much avenues for the entire spanish speaking world. As part of our problem here is that the movement is very much in English speaking world, but, in saying that, we have begun translation work of both texts and videos to assist here.

- How one of the big keys and something which already is so strong here, is the idea of “partying to change things”, rather than the doom and gloom, how festivals and positive events play such a part, on that note, it was pointed out that the following week there was a party in the local garden in Gracia.

Ironically enough in terms of exploring transition culture; this barrio was first created as a food production zone for the city if and when they would be under siege. Anyway, After lunch we split, Claudia biked upto the garden in Gracia, while Mike and myself walked to St. Antoni, the Eixample area just outside raval, there we talked in greater detail about the great Pro Eixample programme. We entered and visited a fine reclaimed block and talked about the idea that with water recycling, energy harvesting and energy collection, the block could sustain much of its inhabitants in the post-oil age…If possible it would be great to test one of these blocks. We got the metro up to gracia, and again went through a different urban scale, the old indepandant town outside the city of BCN, now one of her barrios but with some fine urban plazas, passing through Placa John Lennon, we swung a corner and entered the garden. Again, as the previous day, there was much activity, Claudia had already arrived and was engaged with another English girl in the garden, who had been involved in transition and permaculture movements in the UK, turns out she remembered me from last summers climate camp, busy then catching words with people for the camp radio, both during quite times at the front line, and not so quite, when cops had entered and struck many people. Mike enjoyed seeing the garden and himself and Claudia headed away, while I stayed to paint a giant chess board on the remaining concrete area of the garden, some others in the garden joined in to help and we shared nice stories and dreams, one girl had cycled from England to Barcelona.

The painting took longer than I had expected so I was a bit late up to Can Masdeu (one of the most amazing projects in Europe, maybe even beyond; Rurban Revolution) for the talk with speakers from Latin America about how things are going there, even though it was a few hours since it started, the discussion was still in full flow, with many people eager to continue to hear more from that part of the world which is seeing such change in recent years. My two Latin American friends there found it a very exciting talk; it seems there is even more now to be learnt in Europe from Latin America, in these times of economic crisis. There I also got to meet Joseph, a student from New York, who had got in contact with us and was keen to plug into to eco things going on in BCN, he is a skater dude who has done lots of interesting work with his final year hi school class, including going to Bioneers and presenting a short film they made about local food action work in their neighbourhood.

Walking back through the trees, from nature, back into the dense urban mass of BCN, we discussed how exciting these times were, that with the crisis there is even more possibility or opportunity for radical change to happen quickly. How indeed it does feel that the “Blessed Unrest” that Paul Hawken is talking about is really happening and how beautiful a pleasure it is to participate in things. We metroed back into Gracia, went to local bodega for another cheap glass of wine and chilled out with some nice old 50s, early 60s rock and roll, happy, content, energized and buzzed up to what the future holds in store.

(This article was first published on indymedia Ireland and recieved some coments. A  short news post was also put on Indymedia Barcelona)

The climate camp “movement” is growing: engage, teach, learn, demonstrate alternatives, skill share, be moved, prepare, take direct action

Al Gore: “I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants.”

Next Monday The largest act of civil disobedience will happen against global warming in the US. A large protest has been called at a coal-fired plant in Washington, D.C, 11,000 people are expected. In the days leading up to the protest, youth climate activists are organizing a conference called Power Shift ’09. Thousands of student activists plan to lobby lawmakers on Capitol Hill, urging them to rebuild the economy through bold climate and clean energy policy.

Looks like the “climate camp movement” is continuing to grow globally and momentum is building in the lead up to COP15… Ireland too are organising thing for this summer. Also Greenpeace´s “lawful excuse” court battle win might open the flood gates for more direct action…

On September 24, 2008, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York city:

“If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.”

To find out why things are so critical have a quick view of the trailer of his recent film; An inconveniant truth:

From Yesterdays Democracy Now show:

(listen to full audio  here )

JESSY TOLKAN: We’re a coalition of fifty really diverse organizations that range from young evangelicals to young people from indigenous communities across the country to college students. We have united around a bold vision for what we think needs to happen on climate change.

We are pushing for aggressive, short-term reductions on carbon in our country, on the range of 25 to 40 percent reductions by the year 2020 and 80 to 95 percent reductions by the year to 2050. We want an immediate moratorium on coal in this country. We want unprecedented levels of investment in clean energy infrastructure and technology. And we really want the Congress and the President to usher in a new green economy and help create millions of new green jobs.

AMY GOODMAN: I’m looking at a piece in the British paper, The Guardian, about what’s happening here, this massive amount of young people coming to Washington. It says, “The massive sign-up drive has generated a fierce rivalry between different universities to see who can bring the largest number of participants. With only 48 hours to go, Middlebury College trails the University of Vermont by only four participants with 194 coming.”

Ben Wessel, who’s leading the recruitment drive at Middlebury, says, “We are bringing over 10% of our whole student body.”

Inspirational stories continue to pour in from around the country. “One sorority in Texas has rescheduled its initiation because the dates conflicted with Power Shift, while a group in California has started its epic train journey across the States to avoid having to fly.”

AMY GOODMAN: What’s the plant you’re protesting?

DANNY CHIOTOS: It’s the Capitol Coal Plant that’s just blocks from the US Capitol. It’s providing the US Capitol and federal buildings with heat and cooling. It’s not an electricity-generating plant. And this plant is a symbol of where our Congress is at right now. We need to push them to make that transition away from coal.

And it’s not just about this plant. This plant is a symbol of a bigger problem, that we’re addicted to coal and that coal is killing people in West Virginia, in the communities that I come from.

And we have the opportunity right now to transition to create millions of green jobs all around the country and ensure that the transition happens in the places where it’s needed the most, and ensure workers in the coal industry and fossil fuels industry can find employment in these green industries.

Jessy Tolkan, Executive director of the Energy Action Coalition. Danny Chiotos, member of the Student Environmental Action Coalition.
http://www.capitolclimateaction.org/ + http://www.powershift09.org/splash
full DN! feature: Power Shift: Youth Climate Activists Swarm D.C. for Weekend of Organizing, Lobbying and Protest
http://i4.democracynow.org/2009/2/26/power_shift_youth_…swarm
+ http://blip.tv/file/get/Demnow-DemocracyNowThursdayFebr…7.mp4

Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law
So read a leading article in the UK´s Independant after 6 Greenpeace activists historic court win using “lawful excuse” in support of their direct action of scaling Kingsnorth coal power station in Kent, the site of last summers Climate Camp actions. On Sunday December 12, 2008 the New York Times included the Kingsnorth defence in its annual list of the most influential ideas that will change our lives. Under the heading ‘Climate-Change Defense, The’ the newspaper said the verdict ‘shook up the world of green politics’.

So who knows, the precedent is there (the same legal strategy was used when the Ploughshares finally won their courtcase), there is sure to be arrests next monday, but perhaps they will use the Greenpeace case to back up their calls for supporting Gores calls to action…?

Heres a short vid from last years direct action and police violence from Kingsnorth, as part of climate camp 2008:

Eitherway, what ever happens, fair play to the US activists. I have been in some direct contact with a few of them from Barcelona and there is definately very exciting things happening there, yes Obama has played a bit in the collective bold dreaming, and from that organising to action, but its more than that. We will see how Monday goes, it would be nice if we could let them know we support their actions and wish them well in their direct actions, confrontation with police, court time, and possibly jail time.

Climate change Coverage on Democracy Now! + largest act of civil disobedience against global warming in US
The DN! feature was one of 3 on the critical theme of Climate change, full show can be found at:
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2009/2/26
The other 2 features were:

* Member of UN Environment Panel Warns Greenhouse Emissions Rising at Alarming, Unexpected Rate
We speak to Chris Field, a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about his warning that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is rising more rapidly than expected in recent years. Field says the current trajectory of climate change is now much worse than the IPCC had originally projected. On Wednesday, Field told a Senate panel droughts caused by global warming could make parts of the American Southwest dangerous to live in.

* Study Finds Unprecedented Growth in Climate Change Lobbying
A new report from the Center for Public Integrity reveals that the number of global warming lobbyists has increased by more than 300 percent in the past five years. In the past year, some 770 companies hired over 2,000 climate change lobbyists and spent an estimated $90 million to influence federal policy on climate change. We speak to the report’s lead author, Marianne Lavelle.

(This article was first published on Indymedia Ireland go there to view lots more Related infos)

I´ll leave you with words from George Monbiot about the UK climate camp goings on: “I find this movement the most exciting thing that I´ve ever been involved in”

An experiment with streaming audio, projecting video and the interaction between real and virual worlds took place in Dublin’s new social centre

Back in 2005 we made a short 4 minute documentary video after our succesful streaming experiment to connect the Digital Hub with the Dublin social centre, seomra spraoi (room of play in Gaelic / native Irish) as part of the “future of digital media”.  The film is viewable on Archive.org

Although it was a successful stream, it did cause some contreversay within the Indymedia Ireland collective, but we were trying to push the boundaries of communication limits in the Network Age

(very) DIY poster announving the communication action

For some time here in Barcelona, and globally via email etc, many of us have been talking about an inititiave that is simple, practical, ecological, cheap to do and can be a massive benefit to healthy urban communites. Some precedents exist already: New York City is perhaps the best that I have heard of. Perhaps Erik might be able to provide links for this. Some say it is impossible to do it here, I disagree, I think it is not only possible, but that it is feasible, and as the “eco awareness” grows and the city looks for answers to its eco problems, this is a simple, small, nice step.

This mail is to propose the idea to you, see what you think, seek support, seek your knowledge, ideas etc. Its also an invite to learn about, visit, share experiences and learning with us in the existing catalyst and example of this idea, that is alive and growing as I type: the new community garden in Gracia, Barcelona.

Mobile garden, Image from Gracia hort gallery

The idea is to seek legal authorisation to turn existing unoccupied urban solars (the sites where buildings once stood, but now demolished and awaiting re-construction) in green zones, breathing spaces for the city. This could happen at a series of levels:

1- Simply, gaining permission to enter a “grey zone”, break open the concrete, open up the earth again, enter biochar to the soil, plant certain carbon storage planting…and let it grow untill time comes (if it comes) for the site to be cleared and built upon.

2- As above, but using the space as a food production zone, a community garden, along with all the beneficial affects involved with that.

Presently Barcelona has big problems; pollution, water crisis, lack of green spaces, hi electricity use in hot summers…all of these, to an extent are related to 2 big problems we collectively need to adress and start solving; climate change and peak oil. While this project would not solve all the problems, it might begin a process by which a strategy might develop and from that, eventually, the problems might be solved.

As things stand at present, BCN is a very dense urban city, very little greenery, all this adds to the effect of heat island, that makes it even hotter in summer, this project, initially would help alleviate that effect. Presently in Gracia, my barrio and where we are trying to develop a transition initiave, a new space has been opened; our lovely urban community garden, or in catalan, HORT COMUNITARI GRACIA. This garden, is 4 months old, has much support from and is used by the neighbourhood, all types of people. A half hour audio documentary about the opening of it can be listened to here. This solar had been abandoned for 5 years and now it is amazing and growing. The thing is that people have not asked to use the space, they have taken it, they have occupied the space, and with that it could be evicted and returned to a grey zone. If we manage to develop this project I am outlining, well then, maybe our garden, and more, far more, might exist for many years. The NYC garden, apparently, uses mobile gardens, so when they have to move, they can simply to the next vacant lot.

Mural time @ the hort, linked from HORT COMUNITARI GRACIA website

Arial view of BCN and the the solar which is now a (TUGZ) Temporary urban green zone

Mural detail: A Greener and more colorful city

PRECARE in Brussels, Belgium are successfully carrying out this type of temp legal space occupation project with buildings: supports an emerging network of urban projects in negotiations for temporary use of buildings

Knowledge of their existence came through KRAX, the BCN node of www.citymined.org

As Bucky Fuller, might have put it: We must learn again how to steer our little “Spaceship Earth“…

This article is in regard to the Zero Carbon Caravan (ZCC) and related ideas in lead up to COP15, in Copenhagen December 2009,which will be one of the most important times in our collective human story. The creator of the ZCC idea is Chris Keene, supporter of CAT (centre of alternative technology) in Wales. CAT are responsible for the ZERO CARBON BRITAIN project.

The article written here, arises from email to Chris and it will change as our ideas do. This very exciting project, of critical value, simply adresses the pressing issue of our time…. Adapt or Die

Hi Chris, good to hear from you. apologies i was distant for last few months, was focusing on things here in BCN.

As you may or may not remember from our radio days at last years climate camp on transitioning, i am an architect eco-urbanist (examples: Dublin | Barcelona), with that im working in the world of transforming cities to more sustainable systems. Im lucky to be working with EIG (eco intelligent growth) and we offer LEED systems for spain and portugal, amongst other things. We are also collaborating with one of our gurus and whose practical design philosophy, C2C (cradle to cradle) we support and base our thinking / action on, 1999´s TIME magazine “hero of the planet” Bill Mc Donough. Regarding human poo and how it can be used, view old vid of plans with chinese government for using it on urban scale, as part of plan for 12 new eco cities there, Im assuming his team explored issues of the bad elemants that you refer to and have sorted how to treat them (this is type of question modern science thankfully is adreessing) William McDonough on Ecocities in China. I will ask around at work for more on that.

You can view the other half of C2C in talk the german chemical engineer, greenpeace activist and creater of EPA (environmental protection agency) gave here in BCN recently as part of the first GEF (global eco forum) : Michael Braungart, design and responsability (part 1)

Regarding electric cars, in full agreement, not only cars, elec bikes and motos too. we are currently exploring these themes for Barcelona, where, due to success of the public biking system BiCiNg, they might well take off

Regarding the immediate dismassal of the idea etc regarding biogas workshops and projects for the zero carbon caravan, im not so sure, as all our actions, i think are based on sensible little steps (untill big quick ones come, if and when they do), so, untill we reach the utopia of full elec and clean transport, little steps which are positive should, i feel, be explored and supported…
Apart from the somewhat beneficial steps toward eco living, in physical terms, any real project which moves beyond mere talk is, in my opinion, positive, it can act as catalyser in communities and from that we move toward our goal(s).

On that note, as im sure you know, there are many people with many views, in terms of end goals, organisational structures, views on how to get there. the key is inclussivity and working together. i know its far from easy, but to be succesful, this has to be appreciated and continually explored, re-assessed, worked on (as always, work in progress….)

regarding the stereo world zero carbon gig: YES YES YES.
multi stereo events in physical world, all connected together in 1 global interconnected network, is for me, THE KEY TO CHANGING THE WORLD!. ive previously experimented and created spaces (in that mix of local here, global everywhere via web radio stream etc)
2 experiments:
Indymedia radio support for WSF 2007 from Kenya (world social forum, 3 way radio show focusing on theme of “housing”)
“Streaming from the gaff” (4 min documentary of Indymedia Ireland’s first live stream for “future of digital media” forum in dublin 2005)

finishing off id like to bring it back again to urbanism and another song, perhaps the second last: the model urban city, re sustainable design, is for me, and many more: Curitiba, in South Brazil, its success is due to the then mayor and architect Jaime Lerner. hes says “cities are not the problem, they are the solution. Each city can be sorted in 3 years” he proscribes urban acupuncture and smart systems thinking. He finishes off many of his talks requesting the “audience” to help him sing the Sustainability song, see it here at end of his TED talk.

I feel things are growing, i feel we will get there, i have HOPE that this is the case, its what drives me!

I think the key for us, is that we have a road map, a design idea that we feel works and from that we work toward getting there, so there in full agreement of critical things like CAT´s ZERO CARBON BRITAIN,

Anyway, keep it up, let me know more about how you feel about the project, are people starting to roll into the idea, what problems to you see, how do we get around them, what about tek end?? id suggest hooking up with hamish and richard who ran climate tv last year at climate camp, they were / are still part of the undercurrents vid activist network. the indymedia network, i think, will play critical role in the global network side of thing, im connected a bit there, but im far from a tekky, but ive mates who will support. also i think the key will be the radio side of things, getting as many stations around planet to tune into and play our transmissions, either live or archived, this is the type of project which can go viral, ie, explode, once the basic structure is there, its simple and it works, once one can click and participate, more can and will, this amplifies the whole thing… in time (still a few years away) it will be the norm!

Regarding radio network, id suggest the AMARC ( World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) network too, at the G8 in scotland 05, we did live radio project with them from edinburgh direct to african communities. They are currently broadcasting from the current World Social Forum from Belém in Brazil. Id also suggest looking at the very successful INDYMEDIA tv network from g8 at germany in 06: G8-TV. Another team we should connect up with are the radio team from London who were responsible for Climate radio last August, Dissident Island.

Id like to propose to the transition town network the idea, i think that would be nice and do-able, both benefit, both actually same thing, more or less. on that note we are currently working on translation project for transition films at present.

Im cc-ing a few people on this mail, in hope that they might be excited about these ideas, maybe add their inputs, and from that, be invovled in very exciting action soon for global ecological change.

Regards from BCN

dunk

Now back to Bucky…

Buckminster Fuller TV interview 1974 – World Game Synergy Anticapatory

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Another World is possible! Is it? If so, how?

(this article was first published on IMC-IE)

In Brazil, more than one hundred thousand people are gathering for the ninth World Social Forum. A crowd of some fifty thousand kicked off the event Tuesday with a march through the Amazon city of Belem. The World Social Forum gathers social movements from around the world under the theme of ‘another world is possible.’ It’s timed to coincide with the gathering of corporate leaders in the Swiss town of Davos.

Watch latest vids from WSF TV. Listen to AMARC live radio broadcasts.

All infos on main site: WSF 2009 @ Belém – Pará – Brasil: 27 jan – 1 feb

AMARC AUDIO # 1 : Walden Bello on role of WSF and beyond

Foro Social Mundial @ Kenya 2007 (mostly in Portugese)

IMC-BRASIL @ WSF 2009

Another World is possible!
Rallying around the call of “Another World Is Possible,” the World Social Forum has placed social justice, gender equality, peace, and defense of the environment on the agenda of the world’s peoples. World Social Forums have collectively expanded the democratic spaces of those seeking concrete, progressive alternatives to imperialist globalization.

Why Belém, Brazil?
The city was chosen to host the 2009 edition of the global forum in order to highlight the importance of the Amazon region for the entire world, and because its local cultural, political and economic reality is strongly linked to many WSF issues, such as bio-diversity, climate change, ethnic and cultural diversity, colonialism, militarism and the various connections between labour and production (from subsistence mineral extraction to hi-tech industry).

Another World is possible! Is it? If so, how?
This post is not a dig at the social forum process, rather a question pondering whether this process is of any importance to us now on the distant side of this planet of suffering. Currently, there is no mention of this event on indymedia.org, indymedia Ireland or some of the email lists circulating amongst those working in Irish social movements and beyond.

How do those of us, many miles away, and in a different sense, many worlds away from Belém view these goings on? Do we have anything to contribute, do we have anything to learn, are there ways in which this process / event can be improved upon? When first it started, many felt something special was growing. In Ireland we had our own social forum(s), for many, both global and local they felt there was hijacking moves being made, at other times it was felt just to be yet another thing not worth bothering about. 2 years ago, when the WSF happened in Kenya, some of us tried to “horizontalise” the social forum process, to connect different communities in struggle with others in similar situations on other sides of the planet, we used radio streaming technology to listen live to others` stories, to a small extent we succeeded. Communities in Barcelona listening to Mary Cummings from the north wall womens centre talking about their story about the topic of “housing” felt similar things at play, corruption, speculation, inability for normal people to get adaquate housing…

The question im simply trying to pose is, does this social forum process still matter? If not, why did it fail? And lastly, if its something which still matters, and it just seems not much is happening in our part of the world about it, what can be done to improve things?

World Social Forum 2008 – Global

The eighth World Social Forum 2008 was not organized at a particular place, but globally, which means by thousands of autonomous local organizations, on or around January 26. They are also known as the Global Call for Action.

World Social Forum 2007 – Kenya

Others are not traveling to Narobi but are staying at home to support the network by attempting to widen the discussion with the Global Listening Nodes project: a proposal to Syndicate content from different nodes in social centers and other alternative media outlets during the WSF and combine it with content from Nairobi also. A kind of global collaboration on both virtual and physical. Basically getting more social centres and other spaces to open up during WSF as local nodes around planet for people to go to to firstly listen to stuff live from kenya, but also maybe where they could have 2 way systems: being able to participate in forum without physically being there.

Related: Indymedia radio support for WSF 2007 from Kenya

When Social Fora break down, break up, splinter…
The European Social Fora 2004 – London

Past World Social Forums

Past IMC WSF coverage : 2006: Venezuela | Bamako, Mali | Pakistan (Znet) : 2005: Porto Alegre, Brazil : 2004 : Mumbai, India : 2003 : Porto Alegre, Brasil : 2002 : Porto Alegre, Brazil : 2001: Porto Alegre, Brazil

Land art in defence of the Amazon @ WSF 09

Indigineous tribes @ WSF 09

WSF TV : daily 4 – 5 minute clips

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This project has taken off, with your help it will get a lot bigger: Turn on, Tune in, speak out

The impact of the World Social Forum (WSF) on the people of Kibera: “People think it is quite a failure” (radio file – transcript at end of article)

Several IMC members are traveling to Narobi, Kenya this month to support an Indymedia convergence during the seventh annual World Social Forum which runs January 20-25th. Media activists from Africa and around the world will be reporting in the World Social Forum, providing hands-on media production workshops, building two low-power radio stations in Kenya, and creating dialogue and cooperative production across borders.

Other IMC members are not traveling to Narobi but are staying at home to support the network by attempting to widen the discussion with the Global Listening Nodes project: a proposal to Syndicate content from different nodes in social centers and other alternative media outlets during the WSF and combine it with content from Nairobi also. A kind of global collaboration on both virtual and physical. Basically getting more social centres and other spaces to open up during WSF as local nodes around planet for people to go to to firstly listen to stuff live from kenya, but also maybe where they could have 2 way systems: being able to participate in forum without physically being there.

But the journey of the WSF has not been without its criticisms. Some claim that the Charter of Principles, which form the core of the WSF process, are not always adhered to with the result of alternative fora being created, as happened for the 2004 European Social Fora in London. Worse still is frustration with the entire social forum process, as happened at the 2002 Argentinian Social Forum because “Radical perspectives were not included within the forum’s debate.” But this year old and new African IMC´istas are working hard to attempt to take the WSF story to the next stage, and for that they are looking for ever more solidarity and collaboration.

WSF links : WSF official page | indymedia WSF page | WSF on wikipedia | Kenya Indymedia | Livre radio wiki | Global Listening Nodes | WSF 2007 in internatinal news : IPS | Ciranda | Lama | Demokrasia-Kenya-blog | Znet

Past IMC WSF coverage : 2006: Venezuela | Bamako, Mali | Pakistan (Znet) : 2005: Porto Alegre, Brazil : 2004 : Mumbai, India : 2003 : Porto Alegre, Brasil : 2002 : Porto Alegre, Brazil : 2001: Porto Alegre, Brazil

How you can help : Tune in: ((radiolivre)) (((imc))) International Radio Show | inform your community | make a listening node | contribute views to IMC-Kenya | Publicise locally | get local radio station to restream | donate cash to the project | tell us what else needs to be done

(This article was first published as a feature on Indymedia.org | Related posts appeared on Indymedia Ireland [1|2] Indymedia Barcelona and Indymedia Kenya)

The World Social Forum is an annual gathering of participants in social movements for global justice, timed to coincide with the World_Economic_Forum.

The World Economic Forum is a meeting of business and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland, which is converted into a military security zone during the meeting, making demonstrations and coverage by Independent Media nearly impossible. Participants at the World Economic Forum are overwhelming European or American and male; non-governmental organizations such as Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen have been excluded from meetings after raising concerns, and Greenpeace withdrew after finding the group uncooperative on issues such as climate change.

The World Social Forum is held in the southern hemisphere each year and largely made up of participants in social movements in response to the poverty, inequality, war, sexism, and state suppression generated by policies pushed by participants of the World Economic Forum, the World Trade Organization, and other forces of global capital.

Rallying around the call of “Another World Is Possible,” the World Social Forum has placed social justice, gender equality, peace, and defense of the environment on the agenda of the world’s peoples. World Social Forums have collectively expanded the democratic spaces of those seeking concrete, progressive alternatives to imperialist globalization.

Regional Social Forums meet throughout the year to support this work. Everyone is invited to the US Social Forum, June 27 through July 1, 2007 in Atlanta Georgia and the Midwest Social Forum. Our local School for Designing a Society will be traveling to the US Social Forum this year.

There have also been various other local Social Forums, European level, national level

Historically Indymedia has had a close relationship with the World Social Forum (WSF), as the Indymedia network of volunteer-run Independent Media Centers grew out of the same movement against neo-liberalism and for global justice that led to the WSF. The Indymedia network now includes over 170 Independent Media Centers on every continent but Antarctica. The Indymedia network has helped spread the world from the WSF from 2002 onwards, ensuring that an Independent Media Center is available at each WSF to allow diverse voices from the Forum to be heard.

This World Social Forum IMC will be focused on not only on reporting on the WSF, but on skill-sharing and solidarity between Indymedia and global justice activists. There will be workshops on web distribution of stories, audio production, radio station building, print publishing, silk screening, and consensus based decision-making. Another goal is to consolidate the energy of local activists in Kenya to resume and energize the formation of a permanent IMC in Kenya.

“Independent Media in Africa continues to be a challenge. While large parts of the populations in Africa still do not have access to democratic and independent media, they are lacking specifically access to more interactive media like the internet that enable not only to receive news but also to produce news globally. Thats why local, private and pirate radio stations or a free radio action and even small-scale newspapers form a strong force of independent media in many African countries. Devoted media activists maintain them. The WSF gives a great opportunity to continue networking between these local activists as much as discuss chances and possibilities to increase the use of the internet for networking and eventually producing more African news for within and beyond Africa,” says Fabian, one of the organizers on the ground in Narobi. And so, trying to create free software alternatives of producing low-band web radio .

Indymedia organizers are working to bring delegates from Kenya, Mauritius, Cameroon, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria and Mali to the World Social Forum Indymedia Convergence.

Watch www.ucimc.org and Kenya Indymedia as the stories unfold.

Audio interview and transcript:

The impact of the World Social Forum (WSF) on the people of Kibera: “People think it is quite a failure” (radio file)

Radio interview with Pastor Nick Macharia, PEPKAG and Tenderfeet. Related article including audio interviews  with Macharia: Macharias journey: Kibera and a story of Hope

( #GLN_Radio interview by phone, ((i)) WSF International Radio show : Barcelona, Dublin, Naorobi.
date : Monday 22 January 2007
Apologies for poor sound quality, interview done with audio recorder held to earpiece of phone in call shop in Barcelona)

((i))Africa – Ok so im on the phone here with pastor Nick Macharia who is speaking from Kibera, in Nairobi, in Kenya. The world social forum is on at the moment. Macharia can you tell us about the impact of the World Social Forum in Kibera, what people think about it, are they being listened to, are they getting a chance to tell their story to the world and can things be improved also?

Macharia – People think it is quite a failure, the impact has not been felt in the slums because one, the participation of the people in the slum has not been realised. Because apart from the organisers, they are buying some tee-shirts and taking them to the slum “Kibera for peace” and marching, there isnt much. Because people on the ground dont know even what the world social forum is for and the ideals, and again the occasion the _____________________ its very far away from the slum. If people from the slum have to participate they have to pay more than a hundred shillings 2 and 4, and they are not able to raise that money because they live below the povery line, less than dollar a day, so if you tell these people to give 2 or 3 dolars to attend that meeting, then it does not bring anything to them. Initially we thought that the best way was to take ask at a meeting where the problem is. we dont see the need of people going outside kibera to speak about the problems of Kibera and there is space and everything is there in Kibera. I think if are to make impact the organisers will see the importance of going to the people who really need these services and cutting off those people who only want to make cash out of the situation.

((i))Africa – And is there talk of some of the independant media people coming out to Kibera?

Macharia – Independant media – Yeah i recieved a telephone call from Daniela and she they told me about the kind of people who will be coming to Kibera to _________________ among the peole there and to see for themselves what we are doing there. And Im glad because _____________________________ in the afternoon, they told me we will meet here in town and go there and they are waiting to do some interviews and perhaps to give our overview over the whole thing.

((i))Africa – Aswell as the situation, what message can come from Kibera or is coming from kibera? Has Kibera something to tell the world, has it something to offer the world in terms of people working together or solidarity, or just trying to deal with situations as best you can?

Macharia – I think the message is very clear that these people feel abused. Now that we are living in times when the information is accessible to them and now they know what they need and they can be able to ___________ more clear because they are more informed than they used to be. I think the message is if people are sincere to come and help the Kibera people they should come directly to them and give land assistance directly. But when that assistance goes through other stages sometimes they feel people are using them to make ______________ as they want.

((i))Africa – In terms of the housing situation, are things getting better or worse for the people in Kibera?

Macharia – I think it is not right to even use the word house because houses are not there in the slum. You should call them ghettos or something because as far as i now from the stations of the courts? this a crown land, nobody can own a house there. They are not houses they are only some ineffectual things and these are not owned by the people who live in them,
they are owned by people who are wealthy. Because this is the only place which is near the town, many people move from rural areas, they want to come and look for greener pastures in the town, they will choose to come to Kibera where they can walk to the town to look for greener pasture and because of this you find that the issue of housing is not there becuase you can find one room with so many people living in the same room. Its quite pathethic because even toilets and other things like bathrooms and what have you, are not there.

((i))Africa – Ok, well we will do as best we can to try to get that message from Kibera out to the world and hopefully people will listen and find out more about Kibera and from that offer support more support or assistance or whatever in the future. So Macharia, thank you for your time and tell the people of Kibera that we are thinking about them and waiting to hear from them.

Macharia – Yeah, thankyou very much.

Macharia in the slums of Kibera

Is this the DEATH of (y)our garden ?

Builders and machinery have moved in, trees and plants have been taken up and it looks like it might be the end for the Dolphins Barn Community Garden, which celebrated its first birthday on Wednesday the 12th of April. Presently the garden crew has 54 people on its mailing list and there have been at least twice that in the garden.

After nearly a year of what turned out to be a really positive experiment in sustainable urban gardening, re-establishment of community, healthy use of derelict space and the creation of new friendships, things have taken a change for the worse… but it might not be the end. There is the possibility of revisiting matters later in the year, but the gardening project has been put on hold for the moment after a number of meetings with the owners of the land where the garden is established.

Dolphins barn community garden birthday party on good friday

On Sunday the 19th of March, 2 days after a very successful open day: Paddy’s Day spud planting, we were visited in the garden by one of the directors of the White Heather Industrial Estate, on whose land the garden exists. He had received a letter from the City Council stating that their estate needed to be cleaned up or else they would receive a fine. We had made unsuccessful attempts to establish contact with the owners at the beginning of the project. After that discussion it was felt that “His only real request was that we tidy up a bit”, he mentioned that there might be building work in the future and that we might have to move our newly planted orchard. He also stated that no planning submission had been made at this stage but that they were looking at “development” of the area. Curiously enough at the same time on Indymedia, someone quite irate called Concerned resident Dolphins Barn appeared out of the blue and stated that “One of the factory owners at the moment is very disturbed by these trespassers”. From that time on communication was kept up between the garden crew, the industrial estate and the council, who had already given some months previous a €600 grant to the garden. A deadline of the 10th of April was agreed on for a final decision from White Heather as to whether we would be allowed to carry on working in this space, which for many has become a very special space to spend time living, learning and working simply as a human being.

Unfortunately we have not been successful in getting permission from the industrial estate to keep gardening but we have permission to watch the spuds grow. But the story is not over yet, join us this Friday for the first birthday party of the garden and we’ll see how things unfold. We are currently in discussion with the council about looking for another more permanent plot to set up a garden, if you know of any please let us know.

Brief timeline
(Quotes taken from garden email list, many different contributors)

-12 April 2005 – Dolphins Barn community garden comes to life; ground broken, trees planted, dreams realized.

2006:
-19th March – Garden crew meets in garden with and has initial discussion with one of White Heather Industrial estate directors, on whose land we have worked on for nearly a year with no problems. Outcome of that: “His only real request was that we tidy up a bit.”

-26th march – Meet again in garden with same director, a different tone this time: “While he acknowledged that there had been some improvement in the garden’s appearance compared with last weekend, he told me that at this point he considers that our use of the land is trespass and that we are going to have to leave. He recommended that we remove anything of value.”

-2nd April – First sighting of “a number of workmen on the site from JC Devereux, including a skip, a mini digger and a small loader.”

-3rd April – Meet same director again, this time: “I asked him expressly if we could do any further planting and he said no. We are free to come down and ‘watch the potatoes growing’ (exciting!!), but nothing further should be done.”

-7th April – By this time a series of discussions had been set up between the garden crew, the city council and the industrial estate director. Mainstream newspapers wanted to run a story about what was happening but the garden crew decided through consensus that it was preferable to put this off until after the 10th of April, which was the date the director had given when he would have a final stand on things.
”I’ve just spoken with Willie Morrogh (City Council) who had a meeting with the White Heather director and the litter warden this morning. Anyways, the litter warden signed off on the cleanup. Despite this, it appears that the White Heather director is not prepared to allow us to continue to use the site (apart from watching the spuds…….feckity feck). The primary reason given is security (and liability).”

-10th April 2006 – No change of view from directors: “time to take action.”

Where to from here?
It must be stressed that the White Heather Industrial estate have kindly permitted us to use the site throughout 2005. but that due to the landscaping plans for the site, the fruit trees and bushes have been relocated to the Phibsboro garden. We still hope that there will be a community garden in the future where the present garden now exists, but if not there are other avenues open for exploration. In conjunction with the long term plan that prompted the picking of the dolphins barn patch we hope to find somewhere along the botanic spine and with that try to encourage more people to get involved with the result of creating more gardens throughout the city.

So if we have to move there are other possible locations on the Botanic Spine that we are thinking about:
1- The empty green lot, 200m down the canal after Margaret the gardeners, at Donore bridge.
2- IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art); the gardens, this was discussed and some artists said they would help make an official proposal to IMMA, that was originally to be an independent garden if there were numbers.
3- War memorial gardens and accompanying lands, very nice on banks of Liffey: a new Liffey valley plan is being drawn up at present.
4- Phoenix park, huge, definite space there to be used.
5- Phibsboro garden- support what is there and build on it, lots of land up there, that’s where the dolphins barn trees are at present.
6- Sheriff St, I haven’t been there in a while, but that was the catalyst for all this to begin with, we started the tree walk there and planted a good few trees there, there is room in the empty green patch, seeing as the razor fence came down last year, the ground is not the best as it is reclaimed land.

Sites outside the spine:
Landsdowne Valley (some spare land by the Dodder)
Drimnagh Castle.
Also, some of the allotments by Sally’s bridge are unallocated.

Development plans for the Dolphins Barn and Rialto area
Planning consultants from the UK came over late last year to carry out a consultation exercise with the local community in relation to the redevelopment of the area. Although the emphasis was on a large triangle of land north of the South Circular Road including the former John Players factory, there will be some attention given to the canal bank area. A harbour and footbridge are currently planned for the area where our garden now is. However, seeing as a community garden is undeniably good for any area, bringing as it does considerable social, educational, ecological and health benefits, we ought to be included in the plan and given our own patch. (http://www.indymedia.ie/article/72988 )

The bigger picture
Although on the global scale the garden has not changed the world, it has been an attempt to turn a simple idea into a reality. For 12 months now our garden has existed, grown and taken on a life of its own, from a small number of rain soaked beginners clambering around a fence to stick a few hazel trees into the ground there are now a large and ever widening crew who have shared their workload, stories, food, skills, jokes, dreams, time together. For many it has already been a beautiful experience. In today’s age we are fast approaching a peak oil crisis, resource wars are already happening as our demand for consumption escalates with the result of ruthless pirating for oil like we have seen in Iraq for the last few years. One major pull on oil reserves is the energy needed to transport the food you eat on your table from where it was grown; food miles.

Botanis Spine, a greenway and CPUL for Dublin City
A recent idea has emerged to remedy this, the CPUL, continuous productive urban landscape, which are local food production threads in cities. Dolphins Barn garden was the first node in what we hope will become a CPUL for Dublin city; the botanic spine, so named as it is a circular feedback loop which connects with the botanic gardens in Glasnevin, which we hope will act as the brain of the network as ecology becomes more of a critical matter in cities. After dolphins barn a second community garden node was created in Phibsboro and there are a series of other spots along the route, which could be turned into local community gardens. Perhaps the city council might embrace this idea and become a leader in sustainable city development. We submitted these proposals to both the head city architect and the head city planner and were twice scheduled to meet the planner, Dick Gleeson, but on both occasions he was pulled away at the last minute.
We also envisage this thread being a greenway, a non motorised transport route, a bikeway or walkway, which would act as a connecter of the communities that the spine threads through. Last year we organised a forum in the community centre in Sheriff Street to discuss all these ideas with one community, but unfortunately that was cancelled, plans are underway for another one. We organise bike rides along the route the last Sunday of the month and there is one scheduled for the end of this month.(http://www.dublin.ie/botanicspine/ )
Heritage council – what are greenways http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/walkways/project7.html

So what next?
(taken from gardener email)

a) I have tried to contact Willie Morrough but so far was just able to leave a message. I would like to get a more formal stance from DCC -

As DCC have established the 60 feet set back for buildings along that part of the canal perhaps we can use that to our advantage. If (long shot) someone in the council is supportive of community gardening initiatives like ours they could consider asking White Heather to allow us to stay as a more active, productive, positive way of landscaping the canal edge. White Heather would be under no obligation to do this probably but if it was suggested to them by DCC who knows?

b) The whole planning process can take ages so possibly we could keep gardening for months if White Heather were agreeable. They may just be using it as an excuse to get us out though.

c) If we are definitely out on our ear I’d be interested to know how many people in the Dolphins Barn area would be willing to campaign for a new space. I think we could find spaces in other parts of the city but it would be a shame to look like we were turning our back on Dolphins Barn at the first obstacle – that is if there is truly local interest. Time for people to show their true colours. We could circulate a flyer in all letterboxes telling people the situation and asking for support.

d) Be it Dolphins Barn or some other part of the city, we have formed a large and ever expanding group of people who are willing to put lots of energy into making their environment into a better place. It has been wonderful to watch people just turn up and ask what they can do – and get stuck in! If all that energy gets funnelled into a more
legitimate, secure place so much the better. We have the pictures to prove how great it can be!

e) I think we should think about putting together a submission to DCC highlighting the need for collectively run ‘productive urban landscapes’ – places which yield food at a local level but also as places which are social centres and points of interaction between people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. If the Dolphins Barn garden is no longer an option we can use the opportunity to find a properly accessible space without two walls to be climbed!

I know I, and a lot of other people, have left that strip of ground beside the canal behind after a days activity there, fingernails dirtied and totally energised by the experience.

It can only be good.

Related links:
Bringing Nature To Mans Domain – http://www.indymedia.ie/article/69689
Its gardening Jim, but not as we know it (Ireland from below, November 2005, page 5) -http://www.irelandfrombelow.org/
new community garden up and running in Phibsboro – http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74524
CPULS – continuous productive urban landscapes – http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0750655437/ref=sib_dp_p…68643
That eco idea is beginning to kick off in china – http://easa.antville.org/stories/1294501/
Greening the city Dublin – http://easa.antville.org/stories/960542/#1054312
City farmer’s urban agricultural forum – http://www.xaia.ca/cityfarmer/
What will we eat as the oil runs out? – http://www.indymedia.ie/article/70245
Convergence 7- feedback :building healthy communities, inspiring culture, redefining progress – http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69638&sea…gence

Audio:
-Ruth gives a history of the garden 8mins – http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/garden-tooth.wav
-Mixing the muck 7.5 mins – http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/garden.wav

(This article was first published on Indymedia Ireland )