Interview with Danish journalist Berti Videl in order to bring closer to the anti-capitalist groups in Spain the new politic scene being arranged in Denmark, within the current Danish rule in EU.

1. What are the organisations and what are their political tendencies that compose the most important platforms that will participate during the protest?

There is a very broad variety of organisations that will be implied with the protests during the Danish EU-presidency. There is three different platforms (so-called networks) and at least 44 organisations planning activities. Almost every Danish left-wing group is represented among the organisations. And with them there is a number of trade-unions, social movements, ecological movements, anti-EU movements, international solidarity movements etc. The far right "Danish Peoples Party" is also planning to make activities against the EU during the presidency, though they are not within any broader platform.

As already said, there is no less than three different platforms:

1. The network "Stop the Violence" is gathering variuos political and humanitarian organisations - from the far left to the center of Danish politics, including both anti-EU organisations pro-EU organisations. This network will mainly solve practical problems and coordination of the activities going on. They will also try to provide a direct dialogue between the official EU-summit and the grasroot activities. This network has no commun political claims. www.ngoforum2002.dk

2. The network "Stop the Union 2002" is the platform of the Danish anti-EU forces. In my opinion the members of this network is semi-nationlistic groups focussing on the nation-state and the claim of Denmark leaving the EU, even though many of them mainly is dominated by the left (with a traditional CP-view on the national question). The network underlines that it is democratic and for international solidarity in order to avoid the far right joining this coalition. www.ue2002.dk

3. The third platform - "The initative for another EUrope" - is a coalition of trade unions, political parties and other organisations like Attac, opposing the neo-liberal policies of the EU. This initiative is working for an international participation at the protests during the EU-summit in Copenhagen in december, and is thereby trying to follow up the world-wide movement against capitalist globalization. www.cph2002.org

2. Tell me all you know about the so-called "negociations" between these organizations and the Danish government.

I don't know about negociations between the government and the movements.

The government has donated about € 256.000 to popular debate and activities during the EU-presidency.

There is no official negociations between the organisations and the police, as there for instance was in Gothenburg before the EU-summit there in 2001. Copenhagen police is willing to have dialogue with the activists but refuses to make any official agreements or promises. So no one will be able to accuse the Copenhagen police of not keeping their promises...

3. What do you think about the media and police campaign that relates the radical left with the "drug traffic"?

I think there is no doubt that this case was an attempt by the Copenhagen police to make a non-existing link between the far left and criminal organisations - which the mainstream Danish media took without any critical sense. In spring the police made razzias to several privat homes and ctivists from the far left in Copenhagen. Under an enourmous media-coverage the police said that there were links between the far left and drug-dealing in Copenhagen. Nevertheless the police didn't confiscate anything related to drug traffic - but they confiscated computers, political texts and notebooks. i think that the razzia was obviously about politics - not about drugs. Furthermore the police calimed to have found a bomb in one of the homes - later the police admitted that this so-called bomb was nothing but some electric cables that could be uses for all kind of electric installations.

4. What do you think about that the three only speakers after the manifestation the 7:th September are from the moderate governamental left? Doesn´t that imply that the moderate governamental left takes the control over that event suffocating the anticapitalist social movements?

The constellations of speakers at the saturday demonstration is a compromise between the two platforms (Stop the Union and the Initiative for Another Europe), that managed to have a common manifestation. There is three persons speaking whom are known from political parties - and they are not from radical parties (A left wing social democrat, and a member of the Swedish moderate left who herself is very involved in Attac) But the trade-union speaker is a very good and radical guy. So I think the choice of the speakers is okay, as far as the demonstration's aim is to be broadly for a social Europe. One thing I could fear, is that there will be a too large focus on the Scandinavian politics.

5. What will happen in December?

The EU-summit in Copenhagen the 12 and 13 of december will be the culmination of half a year of protests in Denmark. All the threee above mentionned platforms will have their activities and manifestations.

In all there will be a very great variety of activites during the summit and the weekend immediately after the summit: manifestations, demonstrations, public debates, seminars, workshops, actions of civil desobedience, cultural activities, exhibitions, concerts etc. The detailed plans are not ready yet. The best place to get an overview is at www.ngoforum2002.dk.