Australian Social Forum

Australian Social Forum (is not dead) attends ESF 2008 in Sweden (is pining for the fjords)

ÂÂok, I am flying to London on Monday, spending the next 2 weeks attending Drupalcon in Hungary and meeting various semantic, social and web people in Austria, UK and Ireland.

From the 8th I’ll be in MalmÃ¶ volunteering at the European Social Forum in administration and media with the express purpose of getting first hand experience organising such an event.

I’ve also registered for an Australian Social Forum stall - 510 Euro (700 AUD approx) but may not actually set-up. It would just be me doing it so is perhaps a little absurd.

Speaking of absurd, it reminds me of The Dead Parrot skit from Monty Pythons Flying Circus “he is not dead, he is pining for the fjjords’

a bit like me and my lonely stall

big ups to Jose Ramos for the encouragement and a shout-out to the Melbourne Social Forum and Byron Social Forum grass-roots community activists doing things around the country

I’ll be blogging and making media during the trip

cheers

-Niccolo

Another Europe is possible!

The European Social Forum is coming to MalmÃ¶, Sweden!

From September 17th to 21st 2008 the European Social Forum (ESF) is being held in MalmÃ¶, in the south of Sweden. The forum is by far the biggest meeting place for social movements and a progressive civil society in Europe - with the aim to create a better Europe and a better world. More than 20 000 people are expected to participate in MalmÃ¶. During five days over 200 seminars and workshops will be mixed with even more culture, film, music, informal meetings, activism and demonstrations.

ESF 2008 will kick off on the 17th at 6pm with an inauguration, speakers and performers from all over the world, from the local to the global. The cultural program starts beforehand at 12 noon. From Thursday to Friday there will be seminars and workshops all day, from 9.30am - 9pm, on Saturday and Sunday from 9.30am - 12.30am. Saturday is the day for the big parade/demonstration, leaving from RosengÃ¥rd in the afternoonand ending up in Pildammsparken to finish off the day with a big party. During Sunday there will be a closing event from 1.30pm to 4pm, with presentations and and open discussions around the results from the forum days.