Summer University of Social Movements and Solidarity: five days of meetings to gain insight and rally for common causes

As our struggles for social, economic and environmental justice are international, Emmaus International invited several representatives from groups in India, Burundi and Benin to the Summer University for Social Movements and Solidarity 2023, from 23rd – 27th August in Bobigny, France.

This year, the Summer University of Social Movements and Solidarity was full to capacity. Some 2000 people and organisations from civil society came from far and wide to take part in workshops and plenary sessions in order to unite our struggles. In particular, this Summer University offered an international forum to share practices, get to know each other and organise joint initiatives.

For Emmaus International, these discussions enabled us to go deeper in our reflections and keep up to date with the actions taken by allied organisations waging similar battles around the world. Our delegation was able to take part in several sessions to gain insight into these different struggles.

Firstly, we focused on gender equality, as outlined in demand 4 of our Global Report. We were also able to attend a round table discussion on anti-racist and decolonial feminism, enriched by the analyses drawn up by allied organisations such as the Iranian Sociological Association and Fédération de recherche sur le genre [Federation on gender research]. Saïd Bouamama, from Front uni des immigrations et des quartiers populaires (FUIQP) [United front for immigrants and working-class neighbourhoods], poignantly stated that, “The fate of African descendants (who are exploited) in Western countries and the fate of Africa cannot be dissociated”.

The collective management of the commons (third demand of our Global Report) and environmental democracy were also at the heart of discussions, with speeches by the Human Rights League of France (LDH) and Remix The Commons. “The public should be involved in setting up water management, with their knowledge of local needs as users, without any prior technical knowledge provided by experts. This is collective intelligence”, said one speaker.

Another discussion focussed on the rights of people experiencing migration, with first-hand accounts from members of organisations such as the Coalition Internationale des Sans Papiers et des Migrants [international coalition of undocumented persons and migrants] and the Malian Association of Deportees. As this issue is close to Emmaus International’s heart, we jointly ran this workshop with CRID, a collective of international solidarity associations. As a reminder, “Welcoming the most vulnerable with dignity, no matter their suffering” is the first demand of our Global Report and the issue of migration has been a priority for our movement for many years, reiterated during our World Assembly 2022 in Uruguay.

Photo credit: Universités d’été des mouvements sociaux 2023 / Facebook