International conference launches campaign for Cologne protest
Over 500 activists from across the European Union attended the conference of the European marches held in Cologne on 23 and 24 January.
The conference – called to plan a series of marches, a mass demonstration and a counter-summit around the Heads of Government conference in Cologne this summer – was the biggest and most representative yet to date by Euromarch networks, and shows that interest in its campaigning continues to grow.
Whilst virtually every country of the EU was represented, nearly a half of the conference came from German organisations and the German Euromarch network, the biggest international delegations coming from France and Denmark.
The British Euromarch network had only three activists present, but were joined by delegations from Reclaim the Streets, the Campaign for Free Education and the Socialist Party, the latter being organised as part of a Committee for a Workers International (CWI) delegation.
The discussions at the conference revolved around four ‘big ideas’ and a series of workshops covering a range of related subjects. The four main themes were
A mass international demonstration in Cologne on 29 May (brought forward a week because of the change of dates of the official conference)
marches from various parts of Germany to Cologne
an international march from Brussels to Cologne
The occupation of trains to get to the Cologne demonstration
The aim is for the Cologne demonstration to be as big and of the same character as the 50,000 strong international demonstration in Amsterdam in June 1997 - this time in Germany the most important country in the EU.
The marches through Germany will start from Prague, Basal in Switzerland, Berlin and Hamburg. International delegations will be encouraged to join them were possible.
It is hoped to have between 1,000 and 1,500 people on the march from Brussels to Cologne setting off on Tuesday May 25. The Spanish Euromarches have already pledged to send 100 marhcers on it.
The occupation and requisitioning of trains to get to Cologne is seen as a major feature of the campaign – on the lines of the trains that were successfully requisitioned by over 1,000 Italian unemployed people to get to the Amsterdam demonstration.
It not only provides free transport to the demonstration but makes the point about the rights of free transport for unemployed people.
The stress on this aspect however, was controversial with many delegates (mostly) from Northern Europe, doubting that it could be done successfully.
Plans were also discussed for a ‘Balkans’ (paid for) train to start in Northern Greece to travel through Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and into Germany – although the logistical problems in doing this seem far from resolved.
There is also a strong ‘global’ dimension planned for the Cologne events. Hundreds of landless peasants are planning to come from Brazil although again there are logistical problems with this.
There will also be delegations from the South Korean trade unions (who have already built some links with the Euromarches) and the World-wide March of Women.
The final part of the conference was to agree a political appeal for the events. This included a series of key demands which could form the basis for campaigning:
A guaranteed and fair income
A massive reduction in working hours without loss of income or increased flexibility
Equality between men and women
Equal (levelled up) social rights across Europe
Equal rights for all irrespective of ethnic origins
Opposition to the stability pact, which will create further impoverishment
the defence of welfare provision
A massive redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor
Overall the conference was a big success. It was cumbersome and sometimes chaotic but there is clearly a lot of enthusiasm for the campaign and certainly the conference was broad enough and representative enough to make the campaign a big success.
In Britain the Euromarch Liaison Committee will be taking early steps to bring together all interested parties to discuss the campaign in this country.