OWL The voice of the third pole in European Social Forum Another world is possible!

The 5th European Social Forum took place in Malmo, Sweden from 17 to 21 September 2008. Around 20000 people and 400 organisations from around the world registered to participate in the forum. The forum was inaugurated among music and festivities on the evening of the 17th and in the next four days around 700 seminars, workshops and cultural events took place around Malmo. ESF is a place where thousands of people who aspire to a better and more just and free world come together to share their experiences and to exchange ideas and views.

Organisation for Women’s Liberation actively participated in the forum. A three member delegation, including Azar Majedi, Shahla Noori and Karim Noori voiced the necessity of the creation of a 3rd Pole in opposition to the two poles of terrorism i.e. state terrorism and Islamic one; to inform the participants of the vibrant women’s liberation movement in Iran; and the daily battle of people of Iran against the Islamic Republic of Iran. OWL succeeded in spreading the message of freedom, equality and secularism. 

OWL organised a seminar, participated in panel discussions, demonstration, Women’s Assembly, organised a book stall, sold many copies of two books by Mansoor Hekmat “No to the war of terrorists, the third alternative speaks out” and Azar Majedi’s “Women’s Rights vs. Political Islam” and distributed more than 4000 copies of leaflets and pamphlets to introduce OWL, its aims and its activities.

Political Islam, women’s rights and international conflict
On the morning of Thursday 19th a seminar was organised with the above title. Despite difficulties to find the venue, around 150 people participated in the seminar, all seats were taken, so people were sitting on the floor in the hall and out in the corridor to listen. This seminar was warmly and enthusiastically received by the audience. At the end of the seminar many, particularly young people came to the table to buy the two books by Mansoor Hekmat and Azar Majedi. Many asked for contacts information and showed interest to contact OWL.

Azar Majedi first gave a brief introduction on formation of political Islam as a contemporary movement. She then talked about the situation of the world after September 11 and dwelt on the so-called “war on terror” waged by state terrorism led by the USA, which in reality is the war among two poles of terrorism. This war has reinforced political Islam as a false “liberation ideology” among sections of population world wide, particularly in the Middle East. 

Azar stated that Islamic movement, thanks to this destructive war, has been able to portray itself as an anti-imperialist force and has found backing and support among sections of young generation, leading to a voluntary veiling of some young women for political reasons, rather than religious ones. She maintained that there are two decisive factors in order to marginalize political Islam.
1) Solving the Palestinian issue in a just way;
2) Overthrow of the Islamic Republic in Iran by mass movement. Finally she discussed the necessity and urgency of the creation of the third pole by the decent, civilized and freedom loving people in the world. Azar’s speech was applauded warmly by the audience.

At the end questions were raised by the floor which opened an interesting debate. One of the issues discussed was the Kurdish question and its role in this conflict. The video of this seminar will be available on OWL’s website in the near future.

Security for Europe, security for whom, no to the bomb!
On Sunday morning a panel discussion was organised by Women’s for Peace, European Feminist Initiative (IFE), and Network against Honour crimes on the above theme. Azar Majedi, Maj Britt Theorin, a member European parliament from Sweden, Lillian Halls-French from IFE, France and Ulla Kloster, Waging Peace, Finland took part in the panel. The panelists talked about the danger of the atomic bombs and its new development, about reactionary and militaristic treaties signed by the European Union, e.g. the Lisbon treaty, the role of women in safeguarding peace, the destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon as a result of the ongoing terroristic war and the necessity of creation of the third pole.

In the second part the discussion was opened to the floor. An interesting and heated debate started. The issue of biological deterministic presented by one of the panelists was challenged by Azar Majedi. She disagreed that the setting of quotas for women’s participation in such negotiations will make the world a safer place. She maintained that it is one’s political views and world outlook that determines one’s position not their gender. She stated that Even if Hillary Clinton were to win the presidential election in USA, the militarist policies of the US would not change significantly. The panel ended by wording a statement to the forum. The idea of forming a third pole against the two poles of terrorism was formulated in this statement.

Women’s Assembly
For the first time, there was a women’s assembly on the first day of the forum. Many different feminist organisations had participated in organisation of the assembly, among them IFE, the Network against Honour Crimes and Women for Peace. OWL was invited to participate in this assembly and took part in the discussion. Around 100 activists were present at this assembly. At the end a brief resolution was formulated to demand the more visible presence of Women’s organisations and feminist issues in future social forums.

Demonstration
On Saturday a huge demonstration was organised. Around 10 thousand people participated with their banners condemning capitalism, demanding a more just, freer and more egalitarian world. The demonstration took 4 hours to reach the end. An atmosphere of festivities, activism, determination and protest was visible throughout the demonstration. After a long walk people gathered in Pildamns Park in Malmo. There were many stalls presenting different literature and music. We presented OWL’s literature among the people and discussed our views. Independent European TV interviewed Azar Majedi on the Forum and OWL.
We are proud to announce that we played an active and positive role in ESF. We participated in many debates and were able to voice our message for a better world, a free and egalitarian world. We called upon the participants to join us to build a strong movement to oppose the chaotic situation created by the war of terrorists. The idea of the creation of the third pole was very well received by many and we hope we will continue toward forming this movement. OWL made contacts with many new organisations and found new comrades. OWL worked closely with IFE and Network against Honour crimes. On Saturday Azar Majedi participated in the coordination meeting of IFE.

Organization for Women’s Liberation
24 September 2008