Networked solidarity? on the interactions between labour, NGOs, political groups and the squares

General objective of the workshop is to evaluate the recent experiences of networking and solidarity between, on the one hand, the horizontal square movements, free information movements, student movements, indigenous movements and so on and on the other hand more vertical political groups and institutions like progressive unions, NGOs and civil society organisations.

There is a significance in such experiences for our walk to dignity, in order to see possibilities for alliances that could harmonise many struggles for creating better worlds. We hope to contribute to this on-going discussion during the World Social Forum in Tunis, where various activists from various generations, regions and movements meet each other.We would like to pay particular attention on the new to experiences of solidarity that has been putting forward an emancipatory vision instead of (or together with) a vision of positive changes within the existing system. Important examples were Spanish, Greek, UK, and 14N general strikes in Europe, Oakland, West Coast, May 1st general strikes and Walmart strikes where students, artists, hackers, IWW members, Occupy activists had collaborated around factory, work place, hospital and university occupations. These are only several among many interactions happening between rank and file labour activists, community and union organisers and activists from new horizontal grass-roots movements in recent years.