Let's build an open space for all those struggling for a
City of Common Goods as an alternative to the market-city of
UN-Habitat's WUF
During the first week in September, Naples will be
the world capital of the struggle for the right to housing and to the
city of common goods; involving movements of struggle and local,
national and international organisations in solidarity meetings in
working-class neighbourhoods, in the exchange of experiences, the
sharing of strategies for struggle and the production of sustainable
alternatives.
The 2nd
USF, which will be held in Naples from 3 to 7 September 2012, was born
as an alternative in response to the World Urban Forum of UN-Habitat
(WUF). WUF's key-theme, “The Urban Future” seems more like a trade fair
than a serious summit where governments take on specific commitments to
confront the global urban and housing crisis.
So, the USF's 2nd
Edition Appeal underlines its support of the inclusive principles of the
World Social Forum (WSF) and the need, at a local, national and
international level, to develop the convergences begun experimentally
and positively at the World Assembly of Inhabitants in Mexico City in
2000 and further developed at the 1st
Urban Social Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2010, the World
Assembly of Inhabitants in Dakar, Senegal, in 2011, the World Habitat
Days in October 2011, and at the Peoples' Summit at Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, in 2012, to be carried on at the next World Assembly of
Inhabitants at the WSF in Tunisia in 2013.
The USF is setting out
to be a participatory platform extended to local, national and
international organisations and networks (such as the Habitat
International Coalition-HIC, No Vox, and the International Alliance of
Inhabitants-IAI), to discuss the problems caused by neoliberal policies
in local areas.
The Organising Committee has invited all those interested to sign the Appeal to the USF
. It has also invited organisations and networks to propose activities
within the framework of the four theme-days planned for convergence and
interaction between local, national, and international levels.
Among
those initiatives already in the program are: anti-eviction workshops,
assemblies on water as a common good, meetings of “housing debtors”,
inhabitants' cooperatives, against the criminalisation of the homeless,
and on the urban exclusion of migrants and nomads, an anti-speculation
stroll along the Bagnoli promenade, and a Tribunal on violations of the
Right to Housing, in front of WUF's location.
Debates
have been announced at the highest academic and social level, including
a dialogue between Edoardo Salzano, the founder of Eddyburg.it, a
radical urbanist website, and David Harvey, a world-renowned geographer
and critical thinker.
Last but not least,
the USF will be able to count on the presence of Raquel Rolnik, the
Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the Right to Housing, not
only during debates, but also at meetings in some working class
districts of Naples where there are dramatic violations of this right.
All
this will have an enormous impact on the city, reinforcing solidarity
with and between local struggles, and counterposing specific
initiatives, and a rather critical document, to UN-Habitat's platform;
whose pre-announced draft is unable to commit governments to resolve the
dramatic housing and urban crises that are shaking many societies.
Therefore,
even if the City of Naples, the Campania Region and the Italian
Government can justify their substantial economic and logistical support
for the WUF; their actual failure to reply to the proposals of the
Organising Committee in favour of setting up the USF, including
providing its logistics infrastructure, or welcoming participants
arriving from all over the world, is totally unjustifiable, and an
affront to democracy.
The time available
does not permit further delay: the Organising Committee has therefore
launched a strong appeal to local institutions, and in particular to the
Mayor of Naples, to the Campania Region and to the University.
The
Organising Committee is inviting you to sign the online appeal for
participation in the USF, to propose initiatives and to support the USF,
which is completely self-managed economically, and organised by
volunteers.
Listen to the Press Conference in
podcast on Radiolina
Further info: cel. 3202363156, and
www.forumsocialeurbanonapoli.org
The Organising Committee of the Urban Social Forum
The USF Calendar in preparation: July-September 2012
Throughout this month of July,
organisations belonging to the USF can propose initiatives to be
inserted in the calendar (debates, meetings, visits, music, events,
filmshows, etc.). These must be consistent with the Appeal and the need
to build convergences, so as not to disperse our strengths.
Organisations and networks can propose activities (workshops, seminars, visits and cultural activities that fit in with the calendar, based on 4 thematic days:
Day 1: The Right to Housing and to the City as a Common Right. Deconstructing Urban Planning Procedures: architecture must be participatory, taking into account local people's specific needs and resources, in order to satisfy the rights of all inhabitants, irrespective of their citizenship.
Day 2: Social and Democratic Reappropriation of the City of Common Goods, and opposition to privatisations - within a framework of social and environmental sustainability according to co-participatory and co-management procedures. Refusing to delegate to the organised crime of the mafias, speculation and systematic corruption, the administration of territories.
Day 3: Focus on the Right to the Sea as a Common Good - public ownership of beaches and the shore, involving organisations struggling for the right to Free Access to Beaches.
Day 4 (last day): The Right to the Environment and sustainable city relative to the countryside; and proposals to prevent the over-use and abuse of common goods (protection and management of public water, correct waste disposal and a culture of recycling, opposition to overbuilding).
The USF will conclude with a big Final Demonstration and Event.
Further information:
mob. +39 320 2363 156
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