The Third European Social Forum (ESF) will take place in London from 14-17 October 2004

I. Practicalities. 2

A. Locations. 2

B. Transport between venues. 2

C. Sessions and timings. 3

D. Accommodation. 3

E. Registration. 3

F. Websites and email 3

G. Note on translation/interpretation. 4

H. Office space. 4

I. Programme. 4

J. Culture. 5

II. Organising structure and process. 5

K. European Assembly. 5

L. UK Organising Committee. 6

M. Affiliation to UK Organising Committee. 6

N. Organising Committee Meetings. 6

O. UK Co-ordinating Committee. 7

III. Working groups. 7

P. Programme Working Group. 7

Q. Culture Working Group. 7

R. Outreach Working Group. 8

S. Other Working Groups. 8

I. Practicalities

A. Locations

The Forum will take place simultaneously in two separate venues, Alexandra
Palace and throughout the Bloomsbury area of London.

Alexandra Palace (see www.alexandrapalace.com) is a conference and
exhibition centre in the north of London. The present aim is to host most of
the plenaries and a large number of the seminars HERE. It will also contain
space for stalls.

Bloomsbury is an area of central London with several University colleges and
meeting halls. The present aim is to host all of the workshops and several
of the seminars here. It will also contain stall space. In addition, It has
the capacity to host a number of plenaries and cultural events. Requests
have been made to avoid a centre-periphery logic and ensure that Bloomsbury
also hosts some plenaries and that workshops and seminars are spread around
between the two venues.

It is difficult to judge the capacity of each location because a number of
arrangements have still to be finalised. The most frequently quoted estimate
for Alexandra Palace is that it can hold 21 plenaries and 112 seminars. This
would allow for 10,000 people in meetings at any one time. Two further
options have been presented to expand the capacity of Alexandra Palace using
marquees. However, the high projected cost of these options has made them
less favourable.

The Bloomsbury capacity is even less clear at this stage because it largely
relies on a patchwork of smaller rooms. One estimate, based on spaces so far
identified, allows for 8,000 people in meetings in Bloomsbury at any one
time, with the potential for 17 plenaries, 74 seminars and 173 workshops.

A map showing the location of Alexandra Palace can be found here: [Look for
the orange arrow]

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=529605&y=190089&z=5&sv=529605,190089
&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf&dn=783

A map showing the location of Bloomsbury can be found here: [Look for the
orange arrow]

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=530385&y=182210&z=5&sv=530385,182210
&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf&dn=783

B. Transport between venues

The fastest transport link between the Bloomsbury and Alexandra palace sites
is a train from Kings Cross to Alexandra Palace. There are 3 to 4 trains per
hour taking up to 20 minutes.

There are a number of options for underground and bus travel which average
out at about 45 minutes journey time between venues according to the GAL
transport planner. This estimate has been questioned by commuters along this
route who predict longer journey times.

C. Sessions and timings

The dates and timings of the ESF should be agreed at the next European
Preparatory Assembly in Istanbul (16 to 18 April).

The UK Organising Committee will propose that the Forum opens on the
Thursday evening (14th October). The sessions will each last for two hours,
with four time-slots on Friday and Saturday, and one time-slot on the
Sunday. The Assembly of the Social Movements will take place from 9.00-12.00
on the Sunday, and A demonstration will start around 1pm on the Sunday.

There has been some debate as to the need for a women’s day and a Youth
Space.

D. Accommodation

No firm information on this is yet available. The extent of privatisation in
the UK, the timing of the Forum during university term-time, and the sheer
cost of living in London makes accommodation a particular problem. Three
main types of accommodation are being investigated:

(1) Collective accommodation. The main focus here is on halls owned by
community and religious groups.

(2) Homestay. An appeal will go out for London residents to accommodate
delegates in their homes. The Kurdish Federation has indicated that they may
have access to 1000 beds amongst their community.

(3) Private sector. Ranging from cheap hostels to expensive hotels.
Investigations are underway to establish what block bookings can be made and
whether reduced costs can be obtained.

E. Registration

The UK Organising Committee has proposed registration fees as following:

At an advance rate

£20 unwaged; about 30 Euros
£30 waged; 45 E
£50 for organisation with an additional £30 per delegate; 76 E + 45 E per
delegate

Registrations on the day

£30 unwaged; 45 E
£40 waged; 60 E
£60 for organizations with an additional £40 per delegate; 90 E + 60 E

There will be a £10 (15 Euros) registration fee for delegates from the
Global South. The countries to which this would apply are yet to be agreed.
Arrangements will also be made for a Solidarity Fund.

F. Websites and email

The official ESF website is www.fse-esf.org.

The official, temporary website of the UK Organising Committee is hosted and
maintained by the Greater London Authority (GLA) at www.ukesf.org.uk/.

Unofficial websites related to the ESF in London can be found at
www.esf2004.net and www.esf2004.org

The email address for the UK Organising Committee is
ukesfcommittee@gn.apc.org This is currently managed by the GLA, which sends
out minutes of meetings but does not generally respond to personal requestS.

The GLA is also in charge of the process OF ’commissioning’ a host for the
new website. This will use open source software. The aim is to have this
website up and running by mid-May.

The European email address for the ESF 2004 process is fse-esf@fse-esf.org.
To subscribe to this address one needs to write to webmaster@fse-esf.org.

There are no official email lists associated with the UK ESF process at
present. However, the ESF-UK-Info list
(http://lists.mobilise.org.uk/wws/info/esf-uk-info) receives a number of
official postings.

A new Communications Working Group is currently being established which will
take responsibility for some of these processes.

G. Translation/interpretation

Interpretation and translation needs for the 2004 ESF will be met by the
Babels network, which provided the interpreters and translators for the 2002
and 2003 ESFs. The intention is that all of those providing simultaneous
interpretation and translation will be volunteers and that there will be
simultaneous interpretation provided for all the plenaries and seminars,
although at the moment there is a question of the feasibility of providing
simultaneous interpretation for all the plenaries / seminars in the
Bloomsbury area, because of the geographical spread of the different venues.

H. Office space

An office should be established from mid-April onwards. No decision has yet
been taken on the location of the office, or how staffing arrangements will
be met.

I. Programme

As with the previous ESFs, the programme will largely be structured around
three types of meetings, although there will also be several cultural events
and alternative/specific spaces that do not fit this core pattern.

(1) SEMINARS will mostly be medium-sized meetings with simultaneous
translation. They will be self-organised by networks and organisations. The
ESF process will encourage the proposers of different seminars to combine
them into one seminar.

(2) WORKSHOPS will usually be smaller self-organised meetings without
simultaneous translation. The proposers should not have to combine them if
they do not want to.

(3) PLENARIES will be large meetings with simultaneous translation,
organised by the whole ESF process. The plenaries will address aspects of
the themes of the ESF.

There is general agreement that it is better to have a smaller number of
plenaries and make workshops and seminars more integral to the event.

The UK Programme Working Group is now starting a consultation on the best
number of plenaries (8-10 or 20-30) and on thematic priorities [note: the
last European Assembly on 6-7 March agreed that there would be 20-30
plenaries]. There will be a limit of 4 or 5 speakers on plenary platforms;
half of plenary speakers should be women and there should be a strong
representation of black and Asian speakers.

Any group that adheres to the WSF Charter of Principles
(http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.asp?id_menu=4&cd_language=2) can
propose a seminar or workshop.

The process for proposing seminars and workshops should begin in the next
two weeks (it was supposed to start on 2 April). It is scheduled to end on
15 July, after which time a European programme group with delegates from
each European country will meet to merge seminars and change some to
workshops.

The UK Programme Working Group is also proposing that a proportion of the
space (10%-20%) is to be kept free after the deadline of the 15th July so as
to allow workshops and seminars to be held on topics that are deemed to be
suddenly necessary prior to the ESF.

Initially, workshop and seminar proposals will be made filling in a form
that can be returned by email (an address is currently being set up for this
purpose). This form will probably ask for the title of the proposed meeting
and a 50 word description of it, as well as a contact name and the names of
the groups backing the proposal. This process will then (probably) transfer
to the new ESF website once it is up and running in mid-May.

The next European Assembly in Istanbul will decide on themes for the event,
topics for plenaries and proposals for a Youth Space, a Women’s Day or
panel/s.

J. Culture

Culture (art, music, film, theatre, etc.) will be an integral part of the
ESF in London, with spaces set aside for cultural activity at both
locations.

The UK launch of the ESF Culture programme is scheduled to take place on 8
May in London.

Another closely associated initiative is the European Creative Forum, which
plans several events in the run up to the ESF in October (see
www.europeancreativeforum.org/). The first of these takes place at Area 10,
Peckham, London on 10 April.

II. Organising structure and process

K. European Assembly

As with previous years, the European Preparatory Assembly (EPA) is
officially the highest decision making body for the ESF process. It has so
far met twice in preparation for a prospective UK ESF, on 13-14 December
(see http://www.mobilise.org.uk/view/ESF/EuroAssemblyDec03 ) and on 6-7
March (see
http://www.london.gov.uk/ukesf/docs/minutes/minutes-euroassembly-6-7march-fi
nal.pdf ).

Both of these meetings took place at City Hall, the building of the Greater
London Authority (GLA). The next meeting takes place in Istanbul from 16 to
18 April. For further details, see

www.sosyalforum.com/esfistanbul/english/esfistindex.htm

The next Assembly will then probably take place in Berlin in late June or
early July.

L. UK Organising Committee

The UK Organising Committee is the main organising and administrative body
for the London ESF.

It was officially constituted at a meeting on 24 January 2004, which
provisionally agreed (subject to amendments) a founding statement entitled
"For a UK Organising Committee to host the European Social Forum in London."
This statement was amended on 5 February, and again at a special process
workshop at the European Assembly on 6 March. The latest version of this
document can be found here:

http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/dinamic.asp?pagina=fse_co_londres_ing

M. Affiliation to UK Organising Committee

Membership of the UK Organising Committee is by affiliation.

Affiliation fees are:

National organisation: £250 - £1,500; (380 Euros - 2280 E)
Regional organisation: £100 - £500; (152 E - 760 E)
Local organisation: £50 - £250. (76 E - 380 E)

It is also agreed that "no-one will be excluded from participation due to
financial hardship," and that organisations unable to afford the affiliation
fee can affiliate at a lower rate by putting a request in writing to the UK
ESF Organising Committee. More details, including a contact address and
affiliation form, can be found at www.london.gov.uk/ukesf/affiliation.html

Affiliates have the right to send one delegate to every meeting. The limit
of one delegate per organisation, or the requirement to be an affiliate, is
not strictly enforced at the present time. Observers are welcome.

Despite numerous requests, no complete list of affiliates is yet available.

N. Organising Committee Meetings

Meetings of the UK OC were initially held on a weekly basis on Thursday
evenings until mid-February. The frequency has now been reduced to monthly
meetings. These should take place on the last weekend of every month, with a
number held outside of London.

Additional meetings of the OC have been held in London on weekday evenings
to prepare for the European Assembly.

There have been six meetings of the OC to date. The first five were at the
GLA (in London), and the sixth was in Birmingham. The next meeting is also
scheduled for the GLA.

Attendance at the ’regular’ monthly meetings has been roughly 80 people.

O. UK Co-ordinating Committee

The UK Co-ordinating Committee (UK CC) was established on 5 February 2004
"to progress work between meetings of the UK Organising Committee (UKOC).
This body will be accountable to the UKOC and act within the framework of
its decisions. Members of the Coordinating Committee must be able to commit
a day a week to work on the project and may be nominated by affiliates of
the UKOC." (see

http://www.london.gov.uk/ukesf/docs/minutes/Minutes_UKESF_OC_05022004.pdf )

The Co-ordinating Committee currently meets weekly from 10:00 to 12:30 every
Thursday at the GLA. The limit of one delegate per organisation, the
requirement to be an affiliate, and the one-day a week commitment are not
strictly enforced at the present time. Observers are welcome

Attendance at these meetings is usually 25-30 people.

Although it is formally subordinate to both the European Assembly and UK
Organising Committee, the frequency of the UK CC meetings means that several
of the most important decisions have been made at this committee.

III. Working groups

P. Programme Working Group

An initial programme working group was established at the European
PREPARATORY Assembly on 13-14 December. This met on three occasions, the
last of which was 8 February, at which point it was re-established as a
sub-group of the UK Organising Committee. Currently meetings are held at
roughly fortnightly intervals at NATFHE (central London).

The group deals with issues of:

(1) Programme structure. This includes discussions about the relative
number and sizes of the plenaries, seminars and workshops, themes of the
programme and additional ’signalling’ to say if it is a debate, networking
or strategy meeting etc

(2) Programme process. How the programme is going to be decided including
the timetable and process for deciding plenary speakers, deadlines for
submitting seminars etc

(3) Programme Outreach. How we pro-actively seek and facilitate groups to
engage in the programme

It also tries to distinguish between the UK’s responsibility as host and its
role as one of many participating nations in the ESF.

Q. Culture Working Group

The Culture Working Group was established at the European Assembly on 13-14
December and has worked continuously since that time, although it is now
formally accountable to the UK Organising Committee. It has responsibilities
for creative development, outreach and production for the ESF 2004 culture
events. The idea is for culture to be interwoven into the workshops,
seminars, etc as much as possible, too, and not just seen as a peripheral
aspect.

Organising meetings are held at roughly monthly intervals at weekends in
central London.

A formal launch event for ESF Culture is planned for 8 May.

R. Outreach Working Group

This group met for the first time on Thursday, April 1st. Its remit is to
increase participation in the ESF (both preparation of and the event
itself), as well as producing and distributing publicity and responding to
requests for information. The priority has been to put together a leaflet
and information pack on what the ESF is and the different ways to get
involved. A directory of activist groups in the UK is also in progress. It
can be found at

www.esf2004.net/wakka/HorizontalsESFGroupDirectory

Some groups involved in outreach in the UK have sent reports on their
activities to the outreach group. The outreach group also liaises with the
Enlargement working group of the European Assembly and other groups across
Europe working specifically on outreach in their regions. The next meeting
is scheduled for April 21st.

S. Other Working Groups

All of the working groups are sub-groups of the UK Organising Committee and
so accountable to it, although in practice there is a pressure for them to
also be accountable and even subordinate to the Co-ordinating Committee as
well. A number of new working groups are in the process of being
established:

Accommodation

Communication

Finance

Fundraising

Transport

Venues