Hundreds excluded from ’antisocial’ forum

by Matthew Tempest

A near stampede marred the opening ceremony of the 2004 European Social Forum
in London last night, as up to a thousand rain-soaked activists were barred entry
to the Southwark Cathedral reception.

Up to two thousand delegates queued in the London dusk and repeated cloudbursts
for the event which was due to kick off the three-day conference of European
global justice activists, only to find around half turned away. A potentially
dangerous bottleneck was created as organisers only admitted one guest at a time,
after a bag search, from a scrum of several hundred outside.

At first oblivious to the crushed crowd still waiting outside, the speakers, including Ken Livingstone, Gerry Adams and Che Guevara’s daughter, Aleida, began half-an-hour late. Repeated attempts to ram the door, chants and slow handclaps echoing from the cathedral graveyard then reduced the opening ceremony to a state of semi-siege as wet and disgruntled delegates, numbering at least as many as were in the building, protested against the poor organisation of the ESF outside.

There was no apparent threat of the direct action tactics of the May Day protests, but a mood of dejection and chaos forced organisers inside to apologise that the cathedral was "the largest venue we could book".

One usher confided that it was "bigger than when Nelson Mandela came here".

On stage, Ken Livingstone welcomed guests from across Europe to what he called "the largest conference in the history of Britain in over 2,000 years". The three-day gathering will see 500 events held in the capital.

He told the radical congregation of around 1,000 that there was "still a queue thousands long" in London yesterday evening to register for accreditation, and that today’s attendance for the first full day of the conference of grassroots socialists, environmentalists and anti-globalisation campaigners would be "20,000 to 30,000".

To cheers, he joked that the "last few days the media has woken up to the ESF - because my press officers have been rung incessantly to ask ’how much is it costing’?

"Let me tell you - it costs less than the G8 [which the UK will be hosting at Gleneagles next year] or the arms fair in London 18 months ago ... and if the media pay for entry, it will help defray the costs!"

Reflecting his view from his exclusive Guardian Unlimited interview yesterday, that Europe’s young were far from politically apathetic, Mr Livingstone boasted that the 5,000 delegates camping down in the Dome last night made it "the biggest youth hostel in Europe."

With a panel of Frances O’ Grady, the TUC deputy general secretary; Dr Aleida Guevara, the daughter of the late revolutionary Che; and globalisation academic Susan George; Mr Livingstone suggested that the war on Saddam Hussein was "precipitated" by the Iraqi dictator’s decision to switch the sales of oil from dollars to euros.

Mr Livingstone said : "Within my lifetime there will be a challenge against the dollar. China will emerge and say ’why trade in dollars?’

"Within a generation it will be the most dangerous time in world history."

Turning to the operation of world markets, he added: "All the people in the world have an interest in overthrowing the existing financial regime of the IMF and the World Bank,"

Before introducing Dr Guevara, the mayor revealed that in the last year of his current term, 2008, the Greater London authority would commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution.

Dr Guevara told the audience through a translator: "Socialism is still a possibility. Solidary is of paramount importance."

She quoted Mother Teresa to an audience of peace activists hailing from Russia, Poland, France, the UK, Spain, Germany, Australia and the US.

Today’s opening seminars, workshops, plenary sessions, concerts and films will test rumours that 36 hours of heavy downpours in the capital have left several of the venues and marquees at Alexandra Palace partially flooded.

· The Guardian is a media partner of the European Social Forum

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/esf/story/0,15212,1328176,00.html