[glug-t] WSF: A people?s social forum

Some information on the WSF from 
http://www.infochangeindia.org/infochange_wsf09.jsp?wsf09

WSF: A people?s social forum

Mari Marcel Thekaekara

The whole world is headed for Mumbai. Thousands of people from every corner of 
the country, and from every continent on earth. It's the World Social Forum 
(WSF). And it's in India. 

Last year, Hyderabad hosted the Asian Social Forum (ASF). Everyone who was 
anyone in the voluntary sector turned up. I wrote some unkind things about the 
shambolic nature of the organisation. But, the bottom line was that it is a 
reaffirmation of faith. A restating of the belief that ?Another World Is 
Possible'. 

This year, the crowds will be mammoth. Around 75,000 people are expected. I've 
already heard of a few thousand from the northeast; hundreds of students and 
young people from every state; women's groups galore; an enormous dalit 
contingent; adivasis from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and the 
south; fisherfolk's federations; weavers' cooperatives from Andhra Pradesh; 
farmers from Maharashtra; health activists from everywhere; craftspeople; 
people against child labour? 

To some it's a mela to be avoided. But for most people it's a place to recharge 
one's batteries and keep the flame alive. 

To those who actually work with the poor, the marginalised and the 
dispossessed, the ?Shining India' campaign sticks in the throat. In Delhi a few 
days ago, I listened in disbelief to management guru Gurcharan Das as he 
recounted for the umpteenth time his story of a ?low caste?(his own words) 
14-year-old south Indian boy Raju who worked a ?summer job? earning Rs 450 in a 
?café?. As Gurcharan sipped his coffee, he questioned the lad who told him he 
wanted to be like ?Billgay? -- the richest man in the world. 

This ?discovery' of the new young India leads to the belief that we are now a 
land of milk and honey where Raju can aspire to become a Harshad Mehta perhaps. 
Having just returned from watching little sweeper children clean shit in Bihar, 
Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, having witnessed close up the total lack of any 
kind of hope for these kids, I was filled with anger. Where do people like 
Gurcharan Das and our brand ambassadors live? On another planet? Do they ever 
step out of their air-conditioned cars, houses and offices to look at the slums 
and villages and see the millions of working children in ?cafes', beaten, 
abused and even burnt as punishment in their friends' homes where they toil as 
domestic servants? Or in gullies and gutters and around city garbage heaps 
where they collect plastic for a living? In industries, which starve, suffocate 
and stunt their growth? Is this ?India Shining'?! 

People who write about these things are dismissed as prophets of doom and 
gloom. Perennial pessimists. Each of us wants to be proud of India. But not by 
ignoring reality. Not by pretending that 6% growth is a panacea for all ills. 
Not by ignoring the question of who benefits from that growth. 

And so the WSF gives people who care a chance to look on the bright side of 
life. To look at the achievements made over the past years for women, children, 
dalits, adivasis; for human rights and for the dispossessed, the marginalised, 
the wretched of the earth. 

The six-day forum includes a number of eminent speakers, the good and the 
great, ranging from Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi of Iran, former UNHCR 
commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, Pakistani activist Asma Jehangir 
and Joseph Stiglitz former chief economist with the World Bank. 

An opposing parallel meet, ?Mumbai Resistance 2004 Against Imperialist 
Globalisation and War' is being held across the road from the WSF, somewhat 
galling for the organisers but an interesting development. 

One of the criticisms levelled against last year's ASF was that it was 
dominated by NGO events and leaders. That there was little space for the 
?people' for whom it was meant. That there were too many ? netas' going around 
making speeches. There was a definite feeling that the forum did not provide 
space for the views or exchanges of the grassroots groups it was ostensibly 
meant for. 

This year, however, the NTU (Neutral Trade Union) of Mumbai has decided to host 
groups of adivasis and forest workers from different parts of India, offering 
them food and accommodation and arranging for face-to-face meetings with people 
working on diverse issues from around the country. The thought of groups from 
opposite sides of the spectrum, urban and forest-based, has excited everyone. 
Many other organisations are using the forum to bring groups and issues 
face-to-face so that a real exchange of ideas and experiences can enrich the 
participants and make this a vibrant, exciting meeting. 

As a lead-up to the meeting, the National Campaign On Dalit Human Rights has 
organised a massive Dalit Swadhikar Rally focusing public attention on dalit 
rights from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. The rally has drawn dalit groups from 
Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, leaving hardly 
any state unrepresented. The campaign has an impressive poster exhibition -- 
Hidden Apartheid -- which deals effectively with the issues confronting dalits 
in the country. It was conceived by ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy). 

Everywhere, in villages and in slums, local groups have prepared for the WSF 
with great seriousness, explaining the issues surrounding globalisation and the 
impact it can have on people's economies and their lives. It certainly appears 
as if the people of India will be making their mark on this, their very own, 
World Social Forum. 

 

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