The Peoples’ Platform Europe came to a close today, after three days of discussions and workshops. Held at the University of Vienna, the Platform was attended by 800 people from 35 different countries in Europe and beyond. A 40-strong interpreting team translated the discussions into seven different languages.
The Peoples’ Platform Europe has 800 participants from more than 35 countries. There is a 40-strong team of international translators making the event accessible to speakers of seven languages. 2 members of the translation team explain what motivated them to travel to Vienna to… pic.twitter.com/D1Tz6JcpzM
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The Platform participants were divided into nine different workshops, which had been selected by the event organisers after consultation with a wide range of individuals and social movements in Europe. The topics were anti-fascism; building autonomy; youth organising; womens’ democratic confederalism; ecology; war and militarism, democratic media, activism and organisation and opposing genocidal politics.
The first day of the platform heard contributions from Adem Uzun of the Kurdistan National Congress. The Platform participants also heard contributions from sociologist and philosopher John Holloway; academic and anti racist activist Mireille Fanon; US professor of sociology William Robinson and Italian-American Marxist feminist and activist Silvia Federici. Later that day a concert was held at Vienna’s Akzent theatre, with music from Kurdish singer Maviş Güneşer and Italian political rap group Assalti Frontali.
“We have the future in our hands”
Medya News spoke to Jacopo, from the Academy of Democratic Modernity (ADM). ADM organised the Platform, together with Fey-Kom, the Association of Kurdish Associations in Austria and the University of Vienna Students’ Union. Jacopo told us:
“The people's platform Europe exceeded our expectations in terms of participants. organisations and countries that joined the the platform. We discussed many different topics: War, Autonomy, Women's Democratic Confederalism, Youth, and many others.”
“We discussed a lot. We debated a lot, we sometimes also clashed. But, this is an historical moment in which we feel that together we have a responsibility for the future. We have the future in our hands”.
“Together we can fight the system”
Journalist and Platform participant Murat Çınar agreed that the event had been successful. He told Medya News;
“I think that it was a great event, the fruit of a lot of organisation and collaboration. A big number of people and lots of energy were organised. There have been important and precious workshops.”
Voices from the People’s Platform Europe:
Esther from the French grassroots movement Soulèvements de la Terre explains the work of her group and shared insights from the conference. @lessoulevements @PeoplesPlat #ReclaimTheInitiative pic.twitter.com/DhfJWeaRk4— MedyaNews (@medyanews_) February 16, 2025
Elena from Kontra Kadar in Macedonia told Medya News:
“The platform was a transformative experience. Organisations and collectives from all over Europe gathered, exchanged and met. Despite the limited time we learned a lot. This platform is just the first step towards change which we hope [to work] towards. We are going home motivated, determined to radicalise and mobilise.
We have the experience of the Kurdish people and together we can fight the system.”
Demanding freedom for Öcalan
The Platform coincided with the anniversary of the capture of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan in 1999. On Saturday, the platform was addressed by Mahmut Şakar, one of Öcalan’s legal team.
Abdullah Öcalan’s lawyer Mahmut Şakar addresses the Peoples’ Platform of Europe on the anniversary of the ‘international conspiracy’ against his client: “Öcalan is continuing his resistance” from İmralı. The system has “failed to suppress him”. #ReclaimTheInitiative #Vienna2025… pic.twitter.com/PSPDxbpjZe
— MedyaNews (@medyanews_) February 15, 2025
Şakar said that his client had always “continued his resistance” from inside Turkey’s İmralı prison island. Şakar was part of the legal team that visited Öcalan while he was preparing his defence writings. He described how Öcalan would request them to bring in books on each visit. The prison eventually restricted him to just three books at a time, and deprived him of his notebooks, even cutting sections out of the newspapers that he was allowed to receive. But, nevertheless, Öcalan produced over 10,000 handwritten pages from memory. Şakar says that Öcalan had an amazing mind and “revolutionary feeling in every cell of his body”.
According to Şakar, the PKK leader has inspired the modern day Kurdish struggle, even from behind prison walls:
“The Kurdish movement is having the strongest era of its history, we see the way that the Kurdish communities have organised, Jin, Jîyan, Azadî (Woman, Life Freedom) has become a global slogan, the revolution in Rojava [North and East Syria]… These are all an outcome of Abdullah Öcalan’s resistance.”
He said that Öcalan’s spirit of resistance has “never been suppressed”, and that he always remembered his comrades. For example, Şakar said: “He never forgot about 1 May even when he was in a cell. He always found it important to send his greetings to the revolutionaries and to the workers.”
As Şakar concluded his speech, Platform participants stood and chanted “Biji serok Apo!” (Long live our leader Apo/Öcalan!) and Jin, Jîyan, Azadî.
Workshops, feedback and debate
On Friday afternoon, the workshop participants split into their nine workshop groups for discussions. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday the 800 participants of the platform gathered together and heard feedback from each of the nine workshop groups, leaving space for questions, feedback and lively debate. The atmosphere in the auditorium was energetic and dynamic, with the audience often breaking into chants in support of the Kurdish movement, against fascism and for a free Palestine. Participants didn’t always agree by any means, but there was a feeling of excitement at the power of this massive international gathering, and the urgency to act. The outcomes of the discussions will be announced in the coming weeks, but plans are underway for organising on many of the topics discussed. Several follow-up events were proposed, including an international youth camp and a transnational ‘School of Democratic Media’ event.
In their final remarks, the organisers of the event expressed hopes for similar events to take place in Africa and Abya Yala (the Americas). They noted that “We have to change the way the Left is doing politics in Europe”. They explained that the Platform was the result of a long term process of organising, and that they had tried to establish the beginning of a delegate structure amongst the groups attending, to make the organising more participatory. They also thanked Fey-Kom for their massive logistical efforts, which they had contributed voluntarily despite the context of criminalisation and racism experienced by the Kurdish community in Austria. They said they were following in the footsteps of other international events, and mentioned the World Social Forum initiative. They warned against the dangers of NGO-isation (professionalisation, bureaucratisation, and institutionalisation of social movements) and state co-option, and the need to create unity in diversity.
Hope in a time of genocide
The speakers from the organising team expressed the need to continue to fight against patriarchy in organising, to integrate an ecological perspective into their work. They responded to the various discussions about Zionism, by making clear that the Platform’s perspective is against all forms of nationalism, and stands with the Palestinian struggle against genocide, as it does with all peoples struggling against genocide.
Finally, they expressed a hope to build a transnational organisation that has the capacity to confront the issues addressed at the Platform and to build up Peoples’ power, to counteract the power of the state.
The Platform organisers concluded by thanking participants for “being here and insisting that another world is possible”, they reminded the Platform that we are living “in a time of genocide, war and destruction” in “Congo, Sudan, Palestine and many other places”, and that many comrades are struggling with mental wellbeing after being active in the struggle for many years. They called on participants to look after one another, to stay united and strong, to “be in solidarity with each other and become each other’s home”. The last word was “Serkeftin!”, meaning victory.
The Platform concluded with chants of “Siamo tutti antifascisti” (We are all antifascists), chants from global struggles, and the participants joining together in collective dancing and singing of revolutionary songs from around the world.
