Minutes of 2nd Open Space Meeting to establish Irish Social Forum - 3rd Open Space Meeting on F15

national | public consultation / irish social forum | news report Wednesday February 12, 2003 18:36 by Eamonn Crudden

Below are the minutes from the 2nd Open Space meeting to discuss the idea of an Irish Social Forum, from Sat. Feb. 1st 2003, at the Dublin Food Co-Op, St. Andrews Resource Centre, Pearse St., Dublin. The 3rd Open Space meeting to discuss the idea of an Irish Social Forum will be: Saturday 15th February, 2003, from 11am to 1pm at the Cultivate: Sustainable Living Centre, (at the former ?Viking Adventure Centre?), 15-19 Essex St. West, Old City, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. [ After crossing the Capel Street bridge from north to south, Essex St. West is the first right off Parliament St., walk along there and its on your right hand side, with big plate glass windows opposite the shop Does Not Compute. ]

Conall from Comhlamh, based on the proceedings of the last meeting of the
Open Space get-together, has email me and outlined potential DRAFT Aims,
Objective, Activities and Time-Line, Methodology and Target Groups for open
space/ Irish social forum, for the purpose of making it easier to involve
groups that are not involved yet. I see them as a faithful representation
of what we?ve achieved so far. It would be great if everyone had a look
at Conall?s DRAFT, have a think about it and we?ll see where we go from
here:

all the best,
Barry Finnegan (interim convenor of Open Space)
Ph: 01-8741223; Email: john.finnegan3@mail.dcu.ie
===========================

Minutes from the 2nd Open Space meeting to discuss the idea of an Irish
Social Forum, from Sat. Feb. 1st 2003, at the Dublin Food Co-Op, St. Andrews
Resource Centre, Pearse St., Dublin.

Attendees:
Willy Cumming from Socialist Workers Party
Conall O?Caoimh from Comhlamh
Deirde deBúrca from the Green Party
Ian McDonald from Comhlamh
Emer O?Siochirú from Feasta
Ciaran Moore from Indymedia
Joe Glynn from Earthwatch
Graham Caswell from Indymedia and Green Party
Barry Finnegan from Attac
Mark O?Connor individual capacity
Mary Kinane individual capacity
Aoife Ní Bhroin individual capacity

Unable To Attend:
Colin Roche from Oxfam
Davie Philips from Sustainable Ireland
Padraig Stack from Gluaiseacht
Donnacha O?Brien from ATTAC na hÉireann
Jean Summers from Debt and Development Coalition

Issues that the Open Space meeting discussed:

THE PURPOSE OF AN IRISH SOCIAL FORUM?:
- To bring people together.
- To build a Movement in Ireland.
- To be aware of and work with Social Fora (Porte Alegre, Florence etc)
in other countries.
- Tying to pull together an Irish place to discuss the big global issues
in an Irish context at the time of the EU Presidency.
- About building a network, an alternative structure of government.
- That after a physical social forum ?conference? that the process continues.
- To challenge, and to suggest and create alternatives to ?The Market is
the Only Solution? way of thinking.

THE FOCUS OF AN IRISH SOCIAL FORUM?:
- That the building of the process to create a social forum is a vital and
important part of what a social forum will be.
- Will an Irish social forum have a significance beyond Ireland?
- Should it be an Irish social forum (with EU participants) focused on Irish
issues?
- Should it be a European social forum that is hosted in Ireland and focused
on EU and/or global issues?
- Should we first have a Dublin Social Forum and take things one step at
a time?
- Partly focus on The Constitution of the EU (which is currently being drafted
and links to and will impact on Ireland, the EU and the wider world)?

THE PRACTICALITIES OF AN IRISH SOCIAL FORUM?:
- How large can we make it.
- It was seen that size depends, among other things on focus, timing, Irish
interest, funding and space.
- That this whole process is a difficult one, that there are fragmentations
between groups within sectors, and between sectors.
- Can the disparate agenda and focus of different individuals and groups
be fused into one agenda through dialogue and cross-sector learning?
- Through the Open Space dialogue currently ongoing, that by a certain date
this year, there could be a core of groups with institutional capacity which
could implement the actions and events, the bookings and funding and other
practicalities of an Irish social forum --- in other words, implementing
practicalities NOT setting or creating an agenda.
- That to begin the processes of a social forum each group should pair itself
with a group from a different sector with which it normally doesn?t have
much or any contact and with whom it doesn?t share focus, needs, fears,
aims, objectives etc [ eg: Comhlamh and say, a disability group ]
- That those who become involved with the process now should acquaint themselves
with the social forum Charter of Principles as set forth by the World Social
Forum. That we should NOT ask groups to sign up to these Principles until
there is consensus that this is what people want.

THE TIMING OF OPEN SPACE DIALOGUE / IRISH SOCIAL FORUM EVENTS?:
- To engage in the Open Space process up to June this year and that hopefully
by then the various sectors of Irish civil society will be involved to an
extent that we can begin to cement action for an Irish Social Forum. ?We?re
going to create an ISF in June this year? - would focus peoples minds.
- May 2003: The Sustainable Ireland Co-operative which hosts the annual
Convergence Festival have offered the use of their (sizeable) facilities
for a day during Convergence to the Open Space dialogue to discuss an Irish
Social Forum -- this would involve a very large meeting room where lots
of civil society groups will be meeting anyway and could be an opportunity
to promote the Open Space dialogue and the idea of an Irish Social Forum.
- Oct. 2003: The World Economic Forum will have its European regional meeting
in Dublin in October this year. It?s focus will be on ?competitiveness?.
It was suggested to have an Irish Social Forum simultaneously with this
event and perhaps focus on ?co-operation?.
- Jan. 2004-June 2004: Ireland will hold the Presidency of the EU. As a
result of Nice it remains to be seen whether an Intergovernmental conference
(IGC) will take place in Ireland. An Irish Social Forum should be held during
this time. perhaps more than one event or types of events could be organised.
- Deciding on the dates for a number of events will mean that the process
itself is up and running, make it more concrete and BE something on which
groups not involved yet could focus.
- That what we?re looking at here are two phases: Phase 1. Using existing
events to pull people in; Phase 2. Organising an event.

Activities Suggested:
- To create a questionnaire for civil society groups in Ireland as a means
to involve people in the process. [ for example: ?Why is globalisation
an issue / a problem for your group??. It could also include: concerns,
goals, objectives, priorities, difficulties and advantages of working with
other groups etc. Graham and Barry volunteered to work on this ].
- To create a booklet with information from groups who have been involved
with the Open Space dialogue/process to build an Irish Social Forum and
information from Irish and world groups who have been involved with the
World and European Social Fora. [ for example: why did you get involved,
how did you find it, what did you learn, what would you change ?? etc etc.
] [ Ciaran and Ian volunteered to work on this. ]
- A May Convergence event for the Open Space dialogue would be a good experience
for each sector to discuss issues prior to the event / and for groups not
involved in Open Space yet, to be exposed to a fellow sector group who is.
- Conall volunteered to contact Amnesty International and Troicre.
- Emer and Joe volunteered to contact the environmental sector groups.
- Ciaran volunteered to contact the Grassroots Gathering.
- Deirde volunteered to contact Afri.
- Barry volunteered to contact Latin America Solidarity Centre, the ICTU
and the Dublin Trade Council.
- Ian volunteered to contact the various Anti-War groupings.
- Other groups mentioned that should be contacted were: Conference of Religious
in Ireland (CORI), the Irish Country-Womens Association (ICA), Community
Exchange, The Wheel, gender issue groups, Small Farmers Association (SFA),
Credit Unions and Saint Vincent DePaul.

Other Points Raised:
- It was raised that the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU), to which the ATGWU in Ireland is affiliated, have supported the
social forum process in Porto Alegre, Brazil and Florence, Italy. Also that
the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) is aware of this development and
that it is essential to involve the ICTU and it?s affiliated trade unions
and the local union branches in the Open Space process to build an Irish
Social Forum.
- That the social forum process could be a model to build on for a participatory
democracy.
- That a social forum and the process involved in building and maintaining
it would create links between and generate debate/action on for example,
issues such as GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services), the WTO (World
Trade Organisation), EU commercial policy, quality of public services in
the ?developing? world and Irish bus and train drivers, with collective
processes for the environment such as Reclaim The Streets.

Summary:
There was consensus among those present that we decided to:
1. Set up three events -- create the space.
2. That those organising practicalities stay out of policy making -- that
the idea is to build a set of processes (not to set policy) that will continue
past an event.

* Minutes prepared by Barry Finnegan (interim convenor of Open Space)
Ph: 01-8741223; Email: john.finnegan3@mail.dcu.ie

=================================

Conall from Comhlamh, based on the proceedings of the last meeting of the
Open Space get-together, has email me and outlined potential DRAFT Aims,
Objective, Activities and Time-Line, Methodology and Target Groups for open
space/ Irish social forum, for the purpose of making it easier to involve
groups that are not involved yet. I see them as a faithful representation
of what we?ve achieved so far. It would be great if everyone had a look
at Conall?s DRAFT, have a think about it and we?ll see where we go from
here:

Draft Aim:
The aim of the network is TO BUILD A MOVEMENT in Ireland which
* increases the opportunities for members of the public to actively participate
in society
* encourages contact between the different sectors working to build
alternatives
and reduce poverty towards a sustainable and equitable world.

Draft Objective:
The objective is to create a Forum for popular participation.

Draft Activities and Time-Line:
The activities envisaged are:
* An Open Space event alongside the Convergence Festival, May '03
* A mid-sized event at the time of the World Economic Forum regional-group
meetings in October '03
* A Social Forum during the Irish Presidency of the EU, Jan-June '03.
(It is yet to be determined whether this is an Irish Social Forum, or a
European Social Forum in Ireland).

Draft Methodology:
The method is to create an open space for participation and dialogue without
predetermining the agenda for discussion. In this way Groups from a wide
range of backgrounds will be invited to be part of the network.

The role of the network is to organise the events without controlling the
agenda. Participatory methods will be used in the Forums.

Target Groups:
* The public, both as participants, and through awareness raising work
* Activists creating alternatives
* Organisations with an agenda for local and global equity and sustainability
* Media?
* Politicians?
* Others?

This DRAFT prepared by Conall O'Caoimh, Services Officer, Comhlámh.