Germany - Ann Stafford - PGA Oral History Project

Balkans - Andre Grubacic

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Balkans Network
Region: Balkans
Language: English
Interviewee: Andre Grubacic
Interviewer: Lesley Wood
Date: December 2021
Bio: Andre Grubačić is the Founding Chair of the Anthropology and Social Change department at CIIS-San Francisco, an academic program with an exclusive focus on anarchist anthropology. He is the editor of the Journal of World-Systems Research and is an affiliated faculty member at the Berkeley Center for Social Medicine, UC Berkeley. He is the author of several books, including Living at the Edges of Capitalism: Adventures in Exile and Mutual Aid (coauthored with Denis O’Hearn), Don’t Mourn, Balkanize!, and Wobblies and Zapatistas (with Staughtn Lynd).Following the collapse of Yugoslavia, Grubacic was based in Belgrade, before moving to the US. Grubacic is a founding member of the Global Balkans network of the Balkan anti-capitalist diaspora, the Yugoslav Initiative for Economic Democracy, Knotrapunkt magazine, and ZBalkans - a Balkan edition of Z Magazine on whose editorial board he also sits. He is or has been active as an organizer in networks such as the Planetary Alternatives Network, the post-Yugoslav coalition of anti-authritarian collectives DSM!, Peoples Global Action, the World Social Forum, Freedom Fight and most recently as a program director for the Global Commons.

Transcript

Andre Grubacic: The PGA was a phenomenal experience because it was so international. You could hear a rumor coming from India or Nepal, while based in Eastern Europe, where I was working from. Curiously, gossip was a weird way of keeping PGA alive. It had a useful, movement-building function. The politics was very intimate. And of course, gossip and rumor have their other side, a vicious or malicious rumor which would set people apart in ways that were; especially before our PGA conferences, which were this big meeting places of transnational encounter. It was exceedingly difficult to organize things because there was so much rumor and intrigue of both kinds. The Greeks use the term hora, meaning political space. PGA was a fascinating political space.

Catalunya - Arnau Montserrat

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Movimenta de Resistência Global
Region: Europe - Catalunya
Language: English
Interviewee: Arnau Montserrat
Interviewers: Terry Dunne & Mags Liddy
Date: 2017
Bio: Arnau Montserrat - I am nurtured, in many ways, by the Vall de Can Masdeu, community eco-social territory wedged between the district of Nou Barris and the Collserola mountains surrounding Barcelona, where I coordinate part of its gardens and I raise a son who I love. I also run the blog Remenat and the workshop series Mans a la Terra around agroecology, health DY and climate transition, with which I have the perfect excuse to visit the different Ruralitzem projects, a network where they also let me give free rein to my obssessions, like restoring a century-old raft in the valley, reintroducing the scratching goat in our around the city, or resuscitating the abandoned Sant Llàtzer hospital next to Can Masdeu. And I spend my good times as a consultant on municipal food policies or for agroecological projects, sometimes in the neighborhoods, other times, in the countryside. Ah, when I can, I dance, and even have the nerve to teach how.
Arnau is the author of the book, Nos sobran las ideas Propuestario para una transición ecosocial.

Transcript

Arnau Montserrat: I’m pretty sure that I was there as a delegate or representative of MRG [Movement for Global Resistance] but I’m not totally sure maybe Enric has a better memory from that, but I think it was a formal relationship between MRG and PGA and not only personal level. Anyway, everything is also personal because with this kind of thing; at the end of the day, it works because some people are really willing and putting energy in, and we were into that coordinating efforts and being inspired.

Catalunya - Mayo Fuster-Morell

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Movimenta de Resistência Global
Region: Europe - Catalunya
Language: English
Interviewee: Mayo Fuster-Morell
Interviewers: Terry Dunne & Mags Liddy
Date: 2017
Bio: Mayo Fuster-Morell was involved in MRG in Barcelona and participated in the Prague IMF protests and various PGA processes and meetings in Europe. She was later involved in the 15M movement.

Transcript

Terry Dunne: We will start. You’ve already seen the questions we are interested in. I want to start with now and work backwards chronologically. So you were involved in Movimento de Resistência Global. Yeah. So I want to be maybe specific to that organisation.

Catalunya - Victor

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Movimenta de Resistência Global, Zapatista Solidarity
Region: Europe - Catalunya
Language: English
Interviewee: Victor
Interviewers: Terry Dunne & Mags Liddy
Date: 2017

Transcript

Terry Dunne: So, Victor, maybe the first thing I could ask you is how you how you started to get involved in PGA activism.

Victor: At the time of the Prague protests.

Victor: Involved; I was always left. But before we supported Zapatista solidarity.

Germany - Ann Stafford

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Support Group
Region: Europe - Germany
Language: English
Interviewee: Ann Stafford
Interviewer: John Stafford (biographer)
Date:
Bio: Ann Stafford was an activist in social movements and worked in the secretariat and coordination team for the Peoples Global Action network doing many tasks including website work. She passed away in 2013 but the attached text is from a biography written from her notebooks.

Transcript

Michael Reinsborough: This is an oral history in review around the role of Peoples’ Global Action (PGA) Network. While no interview was done with Ann we are greatful to be able to share this chapter from her biography with permission of the author John Stafford.

Germany - Friederike Habermann

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Support Group
Region: Europe - Germany
Language: English
Interviewee: Friederike Habermann
Interviewer: Michael Reinsborough
Date: June 18 2019
Bio: Friederike Habermann is an economist and historian with a PhD in political science. As an author, activist, and independent researcherr, she has been exploring for decades how a solidarity-based and caring society can become reality. Here she focuses in particular on the interdependency of the economy with sexist, racist, classist, and other privileges - as well as on ways out of this mess.

Transcript

Michael Reinsborough: This is an oral history in review around the role of Peoples’ Global Action (PGA) Network. I’m going to ask a series of questions. A lot of the stuff we’re talking about is quite far away, I wouldn’t be that concerned with dates or the specifics more or less because I think if it’s twenty years away, you won’t remember exactly what happened. We’re quite clear in acknowledging that this interview is about how people now think back about the past, and some of the actual documentary…like finding the actual documents and stuff like that, we could put some of the dates. The PGA website seems to have a lot of those dates and events. We talked a little bit about how this recording will be used, hopefully an archive of activists that will be interviewed about PGA oral history, about what the PGA did in this particular time.

Ireland - Barry Finnegan

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: ATTAC Ireland
Region: Europe - Ireland
Language: English
Interviewee: Barry Finnegan
Interviewer: Mags Liddy
Date: 2017
Bio: Barry Finnegan works as a Programme Director and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism & Media Communications in Griffith College. He holds an MA in International Relations from Dublin City University and is currrently pursuing a PhD at Queens University Belfast entitled, ‘Embedded Neoliberalism and EU Trade and Investment Policy in the Anthropocene: an Ecosocialist Critique’ which will argue that the era of the Anthropocene requires that the European Union develops and implements a sustainable and ethical trade and investment policy. Prior to full-time lecturing, Barry worked as a magazine editor and freelance journalist.
Through active membership of ATTAC Ireland [Association for the Taxation of Financial Transaction for the Aid of Citizens], the Irish Social Forum and now Comhlámh’s Trade Justice Group, Barry has spent over 20 years researching, and campaigining against, the anti-democratic and anti-environmental aspects of EU trade and investment policy. Over that time he has presented his research on European Union international trade poolicy to the Oireachtas Joint [Committee on European Union Affairs, to the Irish government’s civil service TTIP negotiating committee, at academic conferences, in journals, and at numerous presentations, meetings, and public debates around island of Ireland.

Ireland - Clare B

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Gluaiseacht
Region: Europe - Ireland
Language: English
**Interviewee: Clare B
**Interviewer: Mags Liddy
Date: April 2017
Bio: Clare B lives in Dublin, Ireland. As a student she was a member of Gluaiseacht, a social and environmental network, and attended a European PGA meeting in the Netherlands in 2002. Clare has been centrally involved in a range of community, feminist and anarchist organisations and was a founding member of the Abortion Rights Campaign.

Transcript

Mags Liddy: We’ll be talking about PGA- and we can talk a little more about the consent at the end. And have a think about it. Sure I can leave you the form and you can send it on.

Ireland - Eoin Ó Broin

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: University of Limerick EnviroSoc
Region: Europe - Ireland
Language: English
Interviewee: Eoin Ó Broin
Interviewer: Mags Liddy
Date: April 8 2017

Transcript

[Note from interviewer: this interview was completed via Skype, and I did not have the recording set-up correctly in the beginning as I was using a headset. Initial 3 minutes are lost, but I did stop EOB from speaking for some time.]

Italy - Eva

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Ya Basta
Region: Europe - Italy
Language: English
Interviewee: Eva
Interviewers: Terry Dunne & Mags Liddy
Date: 2017

Transcript

Mags Liddy: And we begin by asking a lot of people about their involvement with PGA. As you were saying the years that you were involved there …but maybe maybe we go a little bit back from that and tell me how did you get… and how did you become an activist, maybe going back. How did you become interested, or involved.

Italy - Luca Mondo

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Ya Basta
Region: Europe - Italy
Language: English
Interviewee: Luca Mondo
Interviewers: Terry Dunne & Mags Liddy
Additional Speaker: Chukki
Date: 2017

Transcript

Terry Dunne: So thanks for this Luca. I think the first thing we want to ask you just to get things started is what was your role in PGA?. What were you involved in within PGA?

Luca Mondo: Yeah. So thank you for doing this work.

Italy - Riccardo

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Trade unions, Ya Basta, Zapatista solidarity
Region: Europe - Italy
Language: Italian & English
Interviewee: Riccardo
Interviewers: Terry Dunne & Mags Liddy
Additional Speaker: Translator
Bilingual Transcript Checker: Lisa
Date: 2017

Transcript

English & Italian Sonix transcription

Interviewer: First of all, thanks for taking part. And I think maybe we’ll start by asking how you first became involved in politics or in activism?

Italy & UK - Four participants

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: various
Region: Europe: Italy & UK
Language: English
Interviewees: Leo (pseudonym); Dagamr; Maria; Massio
Interviewers: Terry Dunne & Mags Liddy
Date: 2017
Description: Anonymized transcript - 4 participants, speaking about Italy and the UK. [Note from interviewer: this was anonymized as per the interviewees request - The audio file are not available. I have left some parts in bold where I was unclear about the spelling of the names of particular individuals or organisations. ]

Transcript

Terry Dunne: Well we’ll start with the Zapatistas. Can you tell us a little bit about how the Zapatistas influenced movements in Europe in the process that led to the establishment of Peoples’ Global Action

Switzerland - Four Organizers

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Various
Region: Europe
Language: English
Interviewee: Group interview in Bern, Switzerland with Detti, Yvonne, Sandra, Steven
Interviewer: Olivier de Marcellus
Date: December 2021
Bio: Group interview in Bern, Switzerland with Detti, Yvonne, Sandra, Steven
Audio File: PGA bern2.WAV

Transcript

Olivier: [00:00:01] That was the blocking of the G8 summit in Evian in 2003, remember?

Yvonne: (Yvonne)[00:00:05] It’s now recording, right?

Olivier: [00:00:12] Yeah. But yeah, that was the answer to the question of what was the last thing. At the end of PGA, this was one of the last things that was – not officially, but the blocking was essentially promoted by PGA people from all Europe. After there were other summits and blockades with participation of PGA people, such as the G8 at Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005 with the Wombles, who were inspired by PGA, or Heilegendam in 2007, but in the context of larger coalitions with ATTAC Germany for example.

Switzerland - Olivier de Marcellus

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Support Group
Region: Europe - Switzerland
Language: English
Interviewee: Olivier de Marcellus
Interviewer: Lesley Wood
Date: December 21 2022 & January 16 2023

Transcript

Lesley Wood: All right. Its December 21st, 2022. I’m talking to Olivier de Marcellus. I want to start out with the story from your perspective, because I think I’ve heard some stories from others’ perspectives. But how did you get involved in this PGA tour? When did you first hear about this idea? What happened? How did this come about? Origin story, please?

United Kingdom - Caravan1

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Caravan
Region: Europe
Language: English
Interviewee: anonymous
Interviewer: Michael Reinsborough
Date: 14 October 2022
Bio: Participant was involved in supporting the UK caravan and organized a meeting space where Reclaim the Streets planned the J18 Action Day

Transcript

Speaker1: Okay, so today is October the 14th and we’re at the British Library. My name’s Michael Reinsborough, and we’re doing an interview.

United Kingdom - John Jordan

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Reclaim the Streets
Region: Europe - UK
Language: English
Interviewee: John Jordan
Interviewer: Michael Reinsborough
Date: 2019

Transcript

Michael Reinsborough: For the purpose of the tape, do you wanna say your name?

John Jordan: I’m John Jordan.

Michael Reinsborough: Okay, and I’m [redacted], and we just happen to be in London. [Redacted] gave a very marvelous talk last night, and it was in London, so I’m taking advantage of doing an interview. So this is an oral history interview and we’re not really expecting you to know dates and times. People’s memory from events that were 20 years ago are often more confusing than the actual looking at the details and some people in the oral history department have done a good amount of that kind of.. um. documentary looking at the historical details um but so it’s an interview about how you feel about things from NOW um looking back with retrospect so really that’s what you should think about but um tell me a little about how you became an activist.

United Kingdom - Michael Reinsborough

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: Northern Ireland Activist
Region: Europe
Language: English
Interviewee: Michael Reinsborough
Interviewer: Leen Amarin
Date: June 7 2023
Bio: Michael Reinsborough was involved in various Global Action Days in San Francisco, Dublin and other cities and participated in the PGA European network from 2002 onwards. He is involved in the Peoples Global Action Oral History project, and currently works in London, United Kingdom.

Transcript

Leen: Okay, so I’m going to pull up my– just will, just share my screen to share the consent form with you. And then we’ll go through that quickly together. And then we’ll get right into it.

United Kingdom - Uri Gordon

Interview Details

PGA Affiliation: European network
Region: Europe
Language: English
Interviewee: Uri Gordon
Interviewer: Lesley Wood
Date: 26 July 2023
Bio: Uri Gordon is an Israeli-born activist, author and educator based in the UK. Formerly an academic temp lecturer, he is not part of The Editing Cooperative. He is the author of “Anarchy Alive!: Anti-authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory” and numerous articles and book chapters on the political theory of contemporary anarchism. His work has been translated into 13 languages.

Transcript

Lesley: So it is July 26th, 2023, talking to Uri Gordon. So how did you get involved with PGA?

z - Russia - International Socio-ecological union

Interview Collection

To gather: This Archive is hoping to receive or collect interviews from various organizations from Central & Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Overcoming Limitations

This project does not represent the full range of movements and activists involved in PGA. Like so many activist and research projects, this one is shaped by limited social networks and by resource imbalances and priorities within our global system.