.PGA-Europe Meeting

Leiden 17-19 december 2001

1st Results
European Consulta process, new docs
Consulta Social Europea, Documento de Presentación (ca)

Dear people,

The current PGA-Europe convenors, MRG-Catalunya and the EuroDusnie collective (Leiden), held a first meeting to discuss the state of the PGA network and our future plans. A report of this meeting has been published separately from this email on the caravan list. Both have formed a PGA workgroup and are enthusiastic about shared ideas and analyses about the current state of the network and the possibilities of bringing it further. As most of you know there is much to improve.

We see it as an important challenge to work on a useful and transparent communication and organizational structure for the European network- one which is relevant for the different grassroots groups and movements that identify with the PGA hallmarks and are affiliated with the process in Europe. We see it as our role as convenors to facilitate this process, not to direct it in any particular political direction, since this is done at the conferences. We intend to achieve this aim in as inclusive and transparent a way as possible. We do not underestimate the work that lies ahead of us, and we plan to take our time. The road we take is as important to us as the aims we have set.

In Barcelona, we met and discussed amongst ourselves, with ex-convenors and people from the global support group. We have formed for ourselves a pretty clear picture of the network and think it would be a good next step to start developing the technical and thematic workgroups for the European Network. If there is interest in setting up European PGA workgroups we would like to be informed about this.

In a later stage we will also be sending out a questionnaire to the caravan list to get a sense of what thematic campaign areas people would like to work on (which might involve the global campaigns that came out of Cochabamba or European-specific struggles), and also to get feedback regarding the more technical and logistical areas of the agenda.

We would like to invite all those who are interested in devoting serious time, thought and energy to the PGA process to join this meeting. However, it is NOT meant as a general assembly and we will not be discussing purely political matters. Rather, we see this as a working meeting for those who want to get more deeply involved with the European PGA network. We are inviting all those who want to contribute to the technical and logistical work of building an effective and sustainable process of communication and coordination among radical grassroots struggles in Europe.

In order to make this an effective meeting, we ask that you come well prepared. It would be very helpful if you have read the report from our Barcelona meeting and have discussed the agenda for this meeting with other people from your collective or affinity group. If you are planning to attend this meeting, please send a note at least one week in advance to us at: pga@squat.net

Include some information about your collective, why you want to attend this meeting and what topics you are interested in.

Agenda for the next PGA-Europe meeting 17-19 december, convened by MRG and EuroDusnie
EuroDusnie, Boerhaavelaan 345 in Leiden (Netherlands)
website: http://eurodusnie.nl

* Barcelona: European Convenors Meeting, November 2001
Report at A-Infos: www.ainfos.ca/01/dec/ainfos00120.html