Development & Aid, Global Governance, Globalisation, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

AMERICAS SOCIAL FORUM: Weak Grassroots Presence; Heavy on the NGOs

Gustavo González

QUITO, Jul 30 2004 (IPS) - Although activists agreed that the overall balance of the first Social Forum of the Americas, which ended Friday in the Ecuadorian capital, was positive, some told IPS there was a weak presence of grassroots movements and trade unions.

”This is the first forum in the region and we hope that in future editions there will be greater participation by grassroots social movements, because I believe the Forum was a bit lopsided due to the heavy presence of non-governmental organisations (NGOS),” Marlene Román, a young activist with Peru’s Pro Human Rights Association, commented to IPS.

The presence of the NGOs ”is also healthy, but I believe it is important for us to begin to create stronger links between the grassroots social movements and the activities of the NGOs and the human rights movement,” said the activist.

According to the organisers, 10,000 people from 45 countries attended this week’s gathering in Quito, 7,500 of whom registered as delegates of 814 organisations or as individuals. The forum included 429 separate activities, such as conferences, seminars, panels, cultural events and fairs.

Ecuadorian sociologist and academic Alejandro Moreano, with the Mexico-based international Forum in Defence of Humanity, agreed that grassroots participation should have been stronger.

”I would say one weakness of the Social Forum was that the social movements do not yet have a dominant influence. Progressive NGOs have made an excellent contribution, and have every right to be here, but I believe the social movements are the main protagonists of the process, and should form the core of the Forum,” Moreano told IPS.

Román said Peru’s trade unions were basically absent, and that there was a weak presence of Ecuador’s social movements. ”But this is a process that is just beginning, and we hope that will be overcome,” she added.

Giovanni Forti, a leader of the Provincial Union of Campesino (peasant farmer) Organisations of Manabí, a province on Ecuador’s Pacific coast, remarked to IPS that the Social Forum ”has been interesting, because we have been able to share knowledge and proposals from different countries, and discover how the neo-liberal model is draining, day by day, Latin Americans and the rest of the world’s poor.”

”It was a stride forward to be able to see that we are not the only ones fighting, but that there are many brothers and sisters in this together. There are many of us suffering!” added the rural activist.

This week’s gathering in Ecuador ”has served as an excellent meeting-point for people and groups with different ways of thinking about social questions, where diversity has been welcomed,” Arnaldo Muñoz, a professor from the University of Antioquia and a representative of Diverse Colombia LGTB (Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals), said in an interview with IPS.

”Now the task is to achieve greater convergence, leave aside our individual and institutional thinking, and begin to think much more in ‘collective’ mode, to become a force to be reckoned with. I feel this is a very important time for inclusion and recognition of plurality,” he added.

In Muñoz’s view, the violence in war-torn Colombia was discussed at the Forum from too much of a traditional focus. ”It would be good if there were more exchange, more lessons from other countries that have experienced what we are going through,” he said.

Dominican priest Rafael Aragón, with the group Amerindia, which subscribes to liberation theology, or the preferential option for the poor, expressed to IPS a positive view of the Social Forum.

”It has been important for us to come together, reflect and rethink possible solutions. There is a crisis of horizons, a crisis of utopias, and these meetings awaken the possibility of confronting neoliberalism with new horizons, new hopes and new utopias,” he said.

”We have also participated in the World Social Forum. The Catholic Church wants to be present in all of these debates on viable solutions for the poor. From that perspective, it is important to participate as Christians and as a Church,” said the Nicaraguan priest.

In Román’s view, one of the high points of the Social Forum was the strong presence of young people.

”We came to Lima in a convoy. The presence of young people from Peru and Colombia has been really massive, and that’s healthy, because it shows there are many young people who are beginning to get involved, becoming interested in participating, in being able to debate and seeing the possibility of bringing about a different kind of world,” said the Peruvian activist.

”I liked some of the debates, which seemed to me to be very rich,” she added. ”But there were others that I considered weak. And listening to the opinions of people who have taken part in other forums, I can see that unfortunately this one did not live up to expectations.”

Moreano, on the other hand, said the overall balance was positive, and pointed to ”a very significant political radicalisation,” as seen in the homage to Cuba on Jul. 26 (the anniversary of Fidel Castro’s 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks, celebrated as the start of the revolution); the Jul. 28 march that drew 10,000 demonstrators; and the support expressed for the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez.

The Forum in Defence of Humanity was created a year ago, in opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, by Pablo González Casanova and other Mexican intellectuals. Today it has chapters in Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua and Spain, while one is being set up in Ecuador as well, said Moreano.

”I believe it is now necessary to think about politics. There is a certain rejection of parties, of politics, and that is terrible. If we don’t think in terms of political coordination of our struggles, this mechanism of forums and networks will run into limitations,” he said.