Nordic Gathering of Communalists
Turku 26–28 of august 2011


August 2011, activists from Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Norway gathered in Turku, Finland, to exchange ideas, and to strengthen their Communalist networks and forms of mutual support.

Three days were committed to sharing experiences, discussions on how to create more solid relations between the national groups and the need for a general Communalist political program. This was the first of a series of annual events, and members from Kommunalistien Liito (F), Demokratisk Omställning (SE) and New Compass (N) were present at the meeting.

Friday was mainly focused on presenting the organizations and updating information about the current situation for the Social Ecology and Communalist movement both at the local and global level (and we did a common SWOT–analysis). This continued on Saturday, before we had a a workshop on “The Communalist program.” Following the lecture, the group debated and worked on several steps for the development of a Communalist program, a promising process, although limited by time constraints. During the evening the participants went on an expedition through the heart of Turku.

On the last day, Kommunalistien Liito organized an open meeting called “Grassroots activism for a new society”—hosted by a radical bookcafé in Turku—presenting the basic ideas of Communalism to a wider audience. The audience participated in a discussion about the current situation locally, singling out the conditions in Turku as a main focus. As an extension of the meeting a smaller group of people from Turku was engaged in the establishment of a new study group about Communalism.

The gathering ended with a common sensation among the participants that now we are now re-building and stabilizing our Communalist structures and cooperation in the Nordic countries. The meeting was very encouraging and we are looking forward to increase our activities in the various communities and between the organizations, until the next Nordic gathering of Communalists, which will be held in Sweden 2012.


— Kristian Widqvist