France '06
From August 19th to September 3rd...
Every two years, hundreds of people get together for the Peoples' Global Action European conference. Since 1998, it has allowed to exchange practices, share knowledge, and establish bonds for better organization in common actions.
The 4th European PGA conference took place in summer 2006 throughout France, in decentralized fashion. It has been facilitated by the STAMP collective, a coalition of miscellaneous anarchist activist types, which, of course, welcomed contributions & help!
...what now?
The conference newspaper
A newspaper has been edited during the centralized moment of the conference. It contains some meeting reports, and miscellaneous personal accounts or story telling submitted by participants. It is available both in english and french.
Towards a post-conference reports compilation?
To add to the conference newspaper, we would like to issue a compilation of reports and impressions around these PGA encounters. If you would like to contribute texts, pictures or whatever, please get in touch with the journal working-group.
Topics
The topics which were tackled around during the conference included:
Struggles against structures and institutions of capitalism - autonomous spaces - gender and struggles against patriarchy - digital struggles and indymedia - education - social control and repression of protest- industrial society - DIY ecology - french spring uprisings and social revolts around Europe - racism and post-colonialism - breaking the activist ghetto - direct democracy and collective organization...
Schedule
From August 19th to August 27th, 2006
Decentralized gatherings in Frayssinous, Bellevue, Toulouse, Lyon and Dijon: five urban & rural sites simultaneously hosted discussions on specific topics, and carried practical projects linked with local concerns.
August 28th & August 29th, 2006
Cleaning & collective road-movie: with trains, hitch-hiking, buses, trucks, bicycles throughout France.
From August 30th to September 3rd, 2006
Centralized conference in Dijon: once altogether, reports on thematic discussions, new workshops & debates, sharing of strategical reflexions and action projects, decision-making on organisation, orientations and projects for PGA Europe.
Complementary info
Formats
Because we refuse the partitionning of life in roles and their hierarchisation, we decided to mix theory, dish-washing and revolution, and expected everyone to share concerns on logistics & daily-tasks, as much as interest for contents.
Besides strategical discussions, workshops, skill-shares and various meetings, the conference included DIY construction moments & practical projects. They allowed us to know each other better through common achievements, while paying attention to the relationnal dimension of the encounters.
Registration
Each decentralized location had physical, human & environmental constraints. Since room was limited, people were asked to register.
More information
If you want to receive post-conference infos, please subscribe to the pga-announce mailing-list.