At the World Social Forum 2002 in Porto Alegre, it was
decided that there would be regional Social Forums
later this year, and that the European Social Forum
(ESF) would take place in Italy, at the end of October
or the beginning of November. An Italian working group
did a great deal of preliminary work to determine
possible locations for the ESF, to consult with
networks of social movements in Italy, and to propose a
basic framework for the ESF. Meanwhile,
representatives from many different European social
movements were invited to a meeting in Brussels, to
discuss that proposal and to begin planning the rest of
the work.

A summary of this meeting can be found here:

 http://www.beroul.uklinux.net/esf/brussels-09-03-2002.html

One the main priorities now is to extend the ESF
network to include as many European social movements as
possible. Please circulate this message to all such
movements that you are in contact with.

More information on how to get involved should be
available very soon, as ESF mailing lists are created.
In the meantime, I've created a temporary mailing list,
esf-uk-info, where I'll post any information I receive:

 http://lists.southspace.net/admin/esf-uk-info

Benjamin Geer
ATTAC London