Barcelona, 15th April 2004


Dear Mrs. Arundhati Roy

We are a Platform of different groups working as social movements in Barcelona (Spanish State), grouped under the name of Assemblea de Resistencies al Forum 2004 (Assembly of Resistances to the Forum 2004). We have been told you have been invited by its organizers to take part in the celebrations of the Forum 2004. Thereby we take the liberty to address you to explain how we see the celebration of the Forum 2004 in our town and ask for your cooperation.

We are against the celebration of this event due to several reasons; the most relevant among them being:

. The Forum 2004 is trying to take the name and external appearance from the different world forums that have taken place so far - Porto Alegre, Florence, Paris, Bombay- in an effort to make people believe it is something similar to the initiatives that the world social movements have followed in those places. They have invited very prominent and critical persons in the world of the social movements like yourself to present the event as some sort of critical performance about present day society. In fact it is an initiative of the authorities of the state (national, regional and local authorities), under the leadership of the local authorities trying to develop an ambitious real state and urban operation, as it can be seen only looking to the huge amounts of money that have been spent and invested in publicity, infrastructures and buildings, supposedly for the event. This operation is completing a gentrification process that will put Barcelona at the level of other European capitals. The organizers argue that the Forum initiative has only hired the installations but those buildings would had never been built but for the Forum. To us it is a serious fact that shows the integrating power of present day capitalism, to hide a real state operation behind the façade of seemingly the aims and methods of social movements.

. The Forum 2004 manifests itself to be an iniciative to allow people to meet and discuss democratically about the issues of peace, diversity and sostenibility. We maintain that these are not the true aims of the Forum but that the real objective is to develop a part of the town through a huge real state operation for the profit mainly of the building and financial industry and the politicians in power, and leading to a model of an extrovert city oriented to the benefit of business and the higher income groups and not to improve the quality of life of the great part of the population. Again, the buildings and their features that have been built in the Forum district show of their nature. Moreover, we consider that:

. It is difficult to assert of the aim of peace when among the main financial sponsors of the event are included major corporations who diverge so much from the stated aims as to invalidate them, such as arms producing industries (Indra, the only non-US company who supplies the US army), Telefónica (responsible in a good part for the late crisis in Argentina); Endesa (whose policies regarding the Mapuche people in Chile include deportation and violence); Damm (one of the few companies who chastised heavily those workers who took part in anti-war demonstrations); Nestlé (no need to waste words about its policies); just to name the most famous ones. Also, to prevent "breaking the line of consensus", Forum's promoters declared they could not make any declaration concerning the war in Iraq, and under the pressure of the Popular Party it was forbidden to include the three following themes in the Forum's debates: the Basque Country, Afghanistan and Palestine. We can talk of war in abstract terms, but not of real conflicts.

. It is difficult to support diversity when the whole of Spanish and Catalan policy for immigration if a tough policy that is becoming tougher every day, and the town authorities have supported in the last few years and very recently events making life very difficult for immigrants living in Barcelona. Not to talk about the programmes of repression and eviction over most of the city's occupied social centres. Squatters have already been alerted that they will not be tolerated during the event. The city must be cleaned-up for the Forum, and many occupied houses will be closed down, among them 3 historical social centres (Les Naus, Casa de la Muntanya and possibly La Hamsa), which have been working for Peace, Sustainability and Diversity in the city for more than a decade.

. It is difficult to believe in sustainability when the whole development made because of the Forum consists of a very high number of places with very heavy energetic requirements and the reconstruction of the sea side for sports and leisure activities, even if some very spectacular solar applications for the production of electricity have also been built.

. As for the democratic and participative character of the event it is clear that it has become a very important exercise in cynicism. It is true that social movements have been invited by the organising authorities ‘to take part’ in the event, meaning by it
to accept participation on the basis of the wishes of the authorities – a complete ‘from top- to down setting’- with no real participation whatsoever of the groups in their own terms allowed. Although quite a high number of social groups have accepted to take part in the event, the lack of true participation is so conspicuous that it has compelled even some civic organisations, usually well disposed towards the local authorities, to refuse to take part in the Forum, such as the Federation of the Neighbourhood Associations of Barcelona. Also, in spite of the substantial rewards that participation implies, quite a number of associations have taken a critical stand against it and many social groups are working actively against this event, some of them grouped in our Platform, some outside it. As for the population of Barcelona they see the event as a Summer spectacle and no hint of participation has been proposed or taken place.

We could add many other points to this letter but we do not wish to take too much of your valuable time. However, if you wish to have more information or have any specific questions we are prompt to provide them. We are adding to this letter the Declaration that was made in the Paris Forum as well as a Decalogue we have written for our work. We also wish to add that we have equally written to other important guests.

Paris Forum. Contre le Forum Universel des cultures (Barcelone 2004).
En 2004, les autorités de Barcelone et de Catalogne, le gouvernement de l'Etat espagnol de José María Aznar, ensemble avec des entreprises liées à l'économie de guerre et à des secteurs nocifs pour le milieu, organiseront le "Fórum universal de las Culturas", une opération gigantesque de spéculation urbaine sous le masque d'une rencontre des cultures, de la diversité et de la paix, en prétendant de s'identifier avec l'esprit de Porto Alegre.
Nous appelons les mouvements sociaux d'appuyer les actions face à ce Forum et de le démasquer aux yeux de la société civile européenne.
Assemblée des résistances au Forum 2004

Since we consider your presence in the Forum 2004 –whatever the critical character of your discourse here or even because of it-, will be used to legitimised the critical and participative character of the Forum, which we think we have shown to be fake, we hope you will understand that we would be very glad and grateful if you would decide not to accept the invitation to attend the Forum 2004, and manifest it. We really consider it is an important element to maintain the true nature of the emerging world social movements and not let them to become integrated into legitimating exercises of the globalised capitalism of our times.

Looking forward to your answer and thanking you in advance for it. Yours friendly


Assemblea de Resistencies al Forum 2004

Ten reasons against Forum 2004

1. Speculation
Barcelona City Council designs the city according to its economic interests and private capital instead of giving solutions to the city-planning needs. We can guess their interests when we compare the quick reconstruction of the site where the Forum will take place with the restoration process in underprivileged areas.
One of the most significant examples is the improvement of La Mina, an underprivileged suburb near where the Forum will take place Only €72 million to improve this area in comparison with the €2300 million for the Forum 2004.

2. The “new” Barcelona.
Barcelona is changing into a tourist and leisure city.
We don’t think that this change leads to an economic, social and ecological sustainability able to warrant its inhabitants a proper standard of living, with a proper job and a proper housing. This new model of city will turn our city into a place where citizens social needs will fall into oblivion on behalf of the tourist sector.

3. Forum 2004 is not respectful with environment.
It’s difficult to believe that the Forum worries about a sustainable environmental development when the work done supposes a change on the sea environment, a waste of natural resources, and the construction of huge buildings (hotels, conventions centers…)
We shouldn’t forget that ENDESA (one of the Forum’s partner companies) is the fourth European company in CO2 emissions.

4. Forum’s political and economic sponsors
Forum capitalist partners are Endesa Group, Telefónica, La Caixa, Toyota and El Corte Inglés, and its sponsors IBM, Indra, Iberia, Damm, Media Pro, Nestle, Nutrexpa, Randstad, Henkel, Leche Pascual, Coca-Cola, Roca, GL Events and AGBAR. Amongst them we found companies reported because of their agressions to environment and tribal peoples, reported by its own workers and consumers, and involved in war economy and corporate globalisation. Their participation in Forum 2004 gives them a renewed image, advertising and financial benefits.
On the other hand, the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat of Catalonia (Autonomous Government of Catalonia) and the Spanish Central Government are the political organizers. Does anyone think that they are giving support to the Forum values? For example, evictions, law on political parties (this law allows the Spanish Supreme Court to ban parties), anti-terrorist law, labour reform, corruption, public health and education privatization.

5. Forum organizers make immigration illegal.
They talk about multiculturality and human rights but they put obstacles in the way of immigration.
The bodies who organize the Forum are responsibles for the approval of immigration laws and for the fact that being immigrant means being illegal
We shouldn’t forget that police-forces have been repeatly reported due to its racist behaviors.



6.Forum 2004 supports war economy
It didn’t participate in the protests against Iraq’s war because Spanish Central Government it’s a co-organizer of the Forum. This Forum is not only organized by those who support war economy but by those who attack us with an everyday war against labour precariousness and precarious housing.
It’s insulting to see how defense budgets increase in order to perpetuate spain’s unity, while, on the other hand, social budgets decrease.
As another example, INDRA, an important company within arms industry, and el Corte Ingles, Iberia, La Caixa and Telefònica, all of them investing in arms technology, are Forum’s sponsors and partners.

7. Forum organizers are those who deal social problems with repression.
One of Forum’s messages is that everything can be solved with dialogue and that Spanish bodies gives us the participative ways to solve any problems. But the real message does not appear: a social control policy. They want to reduce us to simple consumers, culture consumers, political conumers, social consumers… If we don’t accept their policy and try to participate in an autonomous way, we are treated as suspects and the policies used against us are not those of dialogue but those of law and order. And when we observe that there are problems in our society, their usual answer is the police one.

8. Forum 2004: A non participative space where dialogue is a sham
Forum organizers are sparing no efforts to present the event as a cultural initiative open to everybody and able to assume social criticism.
They talk about paricipative democracy but the Forum is a predetermined event, done, talk and stipulated by those who rule. Citizen participation has been removed and now they want us to become passive audience, as if they need to justify the Forum with the participation of social movements.
Several social organizations and residents associations do not participate because their proposals where not accepted by Forum’s organitzators.


9. Multiculturality as globalization's fairy tale
Forum 2004 not only doesn’t take into account gipsy culture and has banned its participation in the event, but it is excluding the citizens who live in the area.

What does cultural diversity means when The Forum represses its own culture and language? Globalization's contradictions and complexities are hiding under the pretext of multiculturality.

Endesa, one of Forum’s partner companies, destroys the Mapuche people because they do not want to take part from its “multiculturality”.


10. Forum 2004: Where culture and values are merchandise
The Forum’s message is clear: Barcelona is its culture. When Forum talks about the creativity of the people from Barcelona, it sells them as trade mark image that will be used by the tourist sector. However, to do that, it deprives culture of politics: of critical turn of mind, of antagonist creativity, the disobedience that still will be vindicated by the social movements
The word “culture” is used to disguise the city conflicts and ,hypocritically, turn them into a touristic slogan: Barcelona, capital of peace.
We won’t let them use us as extras in a city turned into a theme park which cannot show the true diversity.