Euro-March for jobs
PARTICIPANTS at the September preparation meeting for next year's European Marches against Unemployment, Job Insecurity and Social Exclusion expressed a number of complementary points to the Florence Appeal. These elements have been integrated in this text and will be integrated, alongside the Florence appeal, into a Manifesto which will be presented at the Brussels meeting on 1-2 February 1997. • The final document will need sense, power and clarity, so that it can mobilise the unemployed, people hit by job insecurity and exclusion, and all those who struggle at their side. The document should clearly criticise competition, the search for higher and higher profits, and neo-liberal logic, which, in Europe and the world, is causing a real social, human and ecological disaster. • We would like the Brussels document to develop certain elements of the
Florence Appeal, such as the right to housing, citizenship for those of immigrant origin, the "regularisation" of the situation of the "paper-less" (sanspapiers), the universal right to healthcare, and a decent income, including for young people. It should also pose the question of the environment, and the organisation of work today. It should call for solidarity with the people of the South and the East. This implies refusing any "fortress Europe," closed to the world, and closed in upon itself. • The European March against
Unemployment, Job Insecurity and
Exclusion will be a social mobilisation, an international struggle which seeks to realise a package of demands. At the
European level, this movement is open to associations, trade union organisations and individuals who see a place for themselves within this project. It will be autonomous of political organisations and institutions. While respecting this autonomy, it will be open to dialogue, and can receive the support of all those movements which struggle against social injustice, unemployment, and exclusion." The Calendar:
Preliminary European meetings on unemployment, job insecurity and social exclusion are scheduled for 1-2 February 1997 in Brussels. Five hundred persons are expected (50-100 for each country.
From March to June 1997 a monthly newspaper will be produced. It will report on the general situation and specific initiatives in each country, and the particular points of view of the participating organisations. The European Secretariat continually updates its files on signatory organisations. We will regularly issue a list, and a one-page description of each group's history and activities. This list will be available in several languages. A list might also be drawn up of individual speakers, specifying the theme of their talks and the languages they speak.
From April to June 1997 organisation committees in each country will organise initiatives: press conferences, seminars, demonstrations, "human chains" , concerts, and, of course, the marches. Symbolic actions such as occupying vacant housing. occupying unemployment and "temp agencies, "sit-ins" in front of ministries, can be programmed for the same day in different countries.
The marches get under way on the 15th of April. There will be simultaneous events in each country. Our objective is to gather more than 30 thousand people from different European countries at a demonstration in Amsterdam, probably on Saturday the 14th of June. A series of events is planned to mark the European Union Intergovernmental Conference, which will meet in Amsterdam on 16-17 June.
In October 1997, an evaluation meeting will be held. We will prepare further Europe-wide initiatives and consolidate the network. Organisation
Until the preliminary meetings in Brussels, the secretariat will be assured by the French Delegation. Mailings will go out directly from the European Secretariat to all Appeal signatories. In retur, we ask for a financial contribution to cover mailing expenses until January 1997: small associations: 200 French francs - small trade unions: 500 FFr; big trade unions: 1,000 FFr. Make your cheque payable to "Marches Europeennes 97" * Source: Synthesis of org discussions at the Par meeting of 21/22 S
Britain