By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 19 2005 (IPS)

”We are the other world,” declared the organisers of the indigenous segment of this year’s World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the fifth global gathering of non-governmental groups under the theme, ”Another world is possible”.

Since 2001, the World Social Forum (WSF) has been held annually as a civil society counterpoint to the World Economic Forum, which brings together the world’s political and business elite in the Swiss resort town of Davos every year.

For the first time ever, this year’s WSF, taking place Jan. 26-31, will feature a specific space and activities for indigenous participants.

”We live as members of a community, devoted to the principle of reciprocity, which includes a solidarity economy, respect for diversity, responsibility towards future generations, protection of the environment, and building a world different from the predominant capitalist model,” Rona Dos Santos, of the Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), told IPS.

As the head of COICA’s institutional reinforcement programme, Dos Santos is already in Porto Alegre overseeing the organisation of the ”Puxirum of Indigenous Arts and Knowledge”, a special forum that will bring together 400 representatives of roughly 100 indigenous ethnic groups from around the globe.

‘Puxirum’ means ”a joining of efforts for a common goal” in Tupi-Guarani, the main indigenous language in Brazil.

Within the area that will serve as the WSF venue this year, on the banks of the Guaíba River, there will be an ”indigenous territory” made up of four tents. They will house an arts-and-crafts fair, booths serving traditional indigenous food, and ”diversity dialogues” for discussion of issues relevant to the participating indigenous communities.

The most important theme of this meeting, said Dos Santos, will be that of indigenous peoples’ rights.

For 20 years, she noted, the United Nations has been working on a Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has still not been adopted. The Organisation of American States (OAS) has delayed the adoption of a similar document for over ten years, while the Brazilian Congress has been debating an Indigenous Peoples’ Statute for 11 years, she added.

Without instruments like these, ”there are no guarantees,” since the only existing international legislation – International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 169, which recognises the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples to their own territory, culture and languages – lacks the power to oblige governments to adopt the corresponding policies, Dos Santos explained.

She blamed the lengthy delays of these legal instruments on the governments of the countries affected, who fear territorial autonomy on the part of indigenous peoples and the recognition of aboriginal communities as ”peoples” with certain rights, such as specialised education, health care and other social benefits.

The participants in the WSF indigenous programme will express their demands in what promises to be original methods, based on traditional spiritual ceremonies.

Printed copies of draft declarations will be ”buried” on the opening day of the forum, Jan. 26. On Jan. 28, a ceremony will be held on the burial spot to ”summon the spirits” that will have left the ”earthly bodies” of the documents upon burial, and thus need to be called back.

On the next day, a Saturday, the documents will be ”exhumed”, symbolising the resurrection of indigenous rights.

The Puxirum of Indigenous Arts and Knowledge will include the display and sale of traditional crafts, ”fashion shows” of ethnic costumes, and a mix of live performances and video presentations of music, dance and spiritual rites.

Meanwhile, the diversity dialogues will address the problems and aspirations of aboriginal peoples from around the world. The agenda will include such issues as land rights and sustainable settlements, traditional knowledge, constitutional rights, autonomous systems of justice and self-government, and diversity as a dimension of democracy.

The creation of a specific programme of activities for indigenous peoples within the WSF will lead to a higher number of aboriginal participants than ever before, say organisers. At past forums, indigenous representatives have been few in number, and have generally taken part on an individual basis or as invited guests at events organised by other organisations.

The indigenous forum has been organised by COICA, a network founded 20 years ago that links nine organisations from an equal number of Amazon region nations, namely Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guiana, an overseas department of France.

COICA estimates that there are roughly 2.8 million indigenous people living in the Amazon region, distributed among 390 communities.

Some 120,000 participants from close to 100 countries are expected to join together in Porto Alegre, the capital of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, for this year’s WSF.

Special activities for young people have been an integral part of the WSF since its inception, and this year an estimated 30,000 youth representatives from various parts of the globe will gather in the ”tent city” set up for this purpose.

In keeping with another WSF tradition, a number of parallel events will take place in Porto Alegre around the same dates, including the Forum of Local Authorities and the fourth World Forum of Judges, at which an estimated 800 delegates will meet Jan. 23-25 to seek ways to democratise the justice system.

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