29 September 2011

Saturday 1 October 10am-5pm, Camden Centre, London, WC1H 9AU

 

On Saturday hundreds of activists, trade unionists and left politicians from across the continent are gathering in London for a conference to discuss the crisis and co-ordinate resistance.

Greek strikers, activists from the Spanish ‘Indignant’ movement, leaders of the French New Anticapitalist Party, the German Left Party and the Portuguese Left Bloc will all be there along with members of Attac, the European Left Party, COBAS from Italy and many more.

The full timetable is below. Do everything you can to be at this historic event. Please facebook, tweet and e-mail widely.  Click here for the Facebook event.

Register for Europe Against Austerity conference here

Final Agenda

10am-11.30am:
Opening session

The current crisis – meeting the challenge (Main Hall, Camden Centre)
Speakers: Pierre Laurent, President, European Left Party; Sevim Dagdelen MP, DieLinke, Germany; Bob Crow, General Secretary, RMT; Billy Hayes, General Secretary, CWU; Sonia Mitralia, CADTM, Greece; Professor Walter Baier, Vienna, Austria; Annick Coupe, Solidaires, France; Piero Bernocchi, COBAS, Italy; Lee Jasper, BARAC, UK
Presenting the G20 Mobilisation: Sophie Zafari (France)
Chair: Jeremy Corbyn MP

11.40am-1pm:
Parallel sessions

The Eurocrisis Debate – causes and solutions from a progressive perspective (Main Hall, Camden Centre)
Speakers: Elisabeth Gauthier (Transform, France), Professor Costas Lapavitsas (SOAS, UK), Professor Michel Husson (IRES, France), Steffen Stierle (AttacGermany) Facilitator: Hugo Braun (AttacGermany) This session debates the causes of the Eurocrisis and opens up perspectives for our movement to counter the crisis.

Education – No Europe for the Young (School Hall one)
Speakers: Xavier Diez, Deputy Spokesperson of the Unió Sindical de Treballadors de l’Ensenyament de Catalunya (USTEC-STES, Union of Education Workers of Catalonia, Professor Ken Jones, Department of Educational Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London, Elettra Anghelinas, COBAS – Italian Teachers’ Union, Professor Pat Ainley, Department of Educational Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London, Themis Kotsifakis, General Secretary of OLME, the Greek secondary teachers’ union, Chair: Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary, NUT

Uniting the Resistance: building for the 30th November (School Hall two)
Speakers: Alex Kenny (NUT), Paul Mackney (CoR), Paul Brandon (Right to Work)and a speaker from the People’s Charter.
This session will discuss and plan for the biggest possible mobilisation for the protest on 30th November in defence of public sector pensions.

Disability: impact of the cuts (School canteen)
Speakers: Sean Mc Govern (TUC Disabled Members’ Council); Roger Lewis (Disabled People Against Cuts)
Chair: Richard Farnos (Disability Advice Service Lambeth)

The new rise of racism, Islamophobia and the far right (Class Room one)
Speakers: Mohammed Kozbar (British Muslim Initiative, UK); Sabby Dhalu (One Society Many Cultures, UK), Weyman Bennett (Unite against Fascism, UK)

Taxation and Tax Harmonisation in Europe (Class Room two)
Organized by: Joint Social Conference (Franco Carminati) – Chair
Speakers: PCS (UK; to be confirmed); Louis Adam (France); Franco Carminati (Attac – Belgium),

1.10pm-2.20pm
Parallel sessions

Keep our Health Services Public (School Hall one)
Speakers: John Lister (KONP and Health Emergency),  Zbigniew Zdonek (doctor and campaigner gainst privatisation of hospitals, Poland), Vladimir Nieddu, (SUD Sante union, France),

Youth and Students fighting for a future (School Hall two)
Speakers: Sisko (school student from Courbevoie, near Paris), João Camargo (Precários Inflexíveis, the activist network against precarity in Portugal), Mark Bergfeld (NUS Exec, UK), Sean Rillo Raczka (ULU)
Co-chairs: Fiona Edwards (Student Broad Left, UK) and Jean-Baptiste Tondu (NPA, France)

The cost of war: imperialism and recession (School canteen)
Speakers include: Sevim Dagdelen MP (Die Linke, Germany), Kate Hudson (CND, UK), Chris Nineham, (Stop the War Coalition,UK)

Economic governance and the crisis of democracy at EU level (Class Room one)
Organized by: European Left Party and the Joint Social Conference (Franco Carminati) – Chair
Speakers: Marisa Matias MEP (European Left Party), Kenneth Haar (Corporate Europe Observatory)

LGBTQ resistance against Austerity (Class Room two)
Speakers include: Richard Farmos (QUAC, UK)

2.30pm-3.30pm
Parallel sessions

Mobilising against austerity (Main Hall, Camden Centre)
Speakers: Michelle Stanistreet (General Secretary NUJ), John Rees, (Coalition of Resistance, UK) strikers from Le Havre, France, Igor Urrutikoetxea (Basque trade union, LAB), and representatives from other strikes
Chair: Fred Leplat (Coalition of Resistance,UK)

One answer to the debt crisis in Europe : Citizens’ debt audit initiatives (School Hall one)
Speakers: Professor Costas Lapavitsas (Greek initiative for a debt audit), Andy Storey (Afri – Ireland), Myriam Bourgy (CADTM – Belgium)
Chair : Jonathan Stevenson (Jubilee UK)

Women, austerity and resistance (School Hall two)
Speakers: Monika Karbowska (CADTM France and Poland), Sonia Mitralia (CADTM, Greece), Elzbieta Fornaczyk (Trade Union “August 80”) and Grazyna Durkalec (Movement of social Justice of Walbrzych). 
Chair: Clare Solomon, (Coalition of Resistance, UK)

Roots of the crisis (School canteen)
Speakers: Michael Burke (Socialist Economic Bulletin), James Meadway (New Economics Foundation), Professor Ursula Huws (University of Hertfordshire)
Chair: Ozlem Onaran (Westminster University)

Full rights for migrant workers and asylum seekers (Class Room one)
Speakers: London Living Wage campaign, Emre Ongun (NPA France), Dave Landau (No-one is Illegal campaign)
Chair: Jude Woodward (One Society Many Cultures, UK)

Taking on the G20: the fight against austerity and global capital (Class Room two)
Speakers: Sophie Zafari (G20 Mobilising Committee, France), Guy Taylor (Globalise Resistance, UK), John Hillary (War on Want, UK)

3.40pm-5pm
Closing session

Uniting for an alternative: the way forward for the movement (Main Hall, Camden Centre)
Marisa Matias MEP, Left Bloc, Portugal; Olivier Besancenot, NPA, France; Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition, UK; Max Banc, Attac Germany; Elisabeth Gauthier, Transform! Europe; Len McCluskey, General Secretary, UNITE; Senator David Cullinane, Sinn Fein, Ireland; Darren Johnson AM, Green Party, UK: Themis Kotsifakis, General Secretary of OLME, Greece
Chair: Kate Hudson (CoR, UK)
Presenting the Conference Statement: Andrew Burgin (Secretary, CoR, UK)