WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: ANOTHER WORLD FOR AFRICA

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 1 2007 (IPS) - From January 20-25, the 7th World Social Forum will take place in Africa. For the global civil society, the resistance of the Africans, who have been subjected to atrocious violence and human rights violations and the devastation of a world system that serves the major corporations and the imperialist powers, is a source of inspiration and strength to carry forward its mission of building \’\’other worlds\’\’, writes Candido Grzybowski director of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE) and a member of the International Council of the World Social Forum. In this article, the author writes that in the face of the severe inequality in the process of globalisation and the logic of terror and the war that feeds it, we continue to expand and create hope. Given that Africa is being neglected by the economic system and the reigning powers, holding the Forum there is a form of radical commitment to the insurgent global civil society that shows its character and the scope of its struggle. Now in Africa, we will dismantle the prevailing vision and rhetoric about a lost and hopeless continent. We will learn from Africa\’s vibrant culture. Holding the WSF in Africa means filling ourselves with the visions, images, analyses, critiques, demands, and proposals of the social movements and the entities of African civil society.

The 7th World Social Forum of Nairobi is a special moment both politically and historically. In the face of the severe inequality in the process of globalisation and the logic of terror and the war that feeds it, we continue to expand and create hope like a network of citizens that extends around the planet whose core is human beings in their multiplicity of peoples, relations, identities, and cultures.

We have the possibility of establishing deep roots in Africa, the cradle of humanity. In Africa, we can encourage and tap into the various groups of civil society activists dedicated to build other worlds, bringing a new dynamic to the process of the forum. Given that Africa is being neglected by the economic system and the reigning powers, holding the Forum there is a form of radical commitment to the insurgent global civil society that shows its character and the scope of its struggle.

In its brief history — beyond the dreams that it arouses, and the mobilisation that it is capable of generating in different regions of the planet in a wide range of social sectors — the WSF has shown itself to be a essential site for the emergence of a new political culture. Much of its power derives from its character as an open space, founded in the respect for our diversity and plurality.

The recognition of the principles and the ethical values of freedom of choice and opinion, equality, solidarity, interdependence, participation and shared responsibility, non-violence, the preservation of common goods and nature — all of this fuels the WSF as a factory of ideas and alternative proposals to the devastating and exclusive capitalist dominion.

Disagreements, confrontations, consensus, and dissent are all part of the environment of the Forum, and all contribute to the development of its innovative political culture. In this noisy town square of the global civil society, people are challenged to revise their ways of thinking and act with the sense that they are participating in a fantastic collective venture, to see themselves as having common rights and responsibilities in building inclusive, democratic, and sustainable societies.

Does this stir up confusion and uncertainty? Yes, at least among those who are watching from the outside. The results of the fora may not please the dominant political status quo and are unlikely to be adopted by the global markets. The dreams, hopes, and ideas that strengthen the civil society, the organisations, movements, the global networks and campaigns, are the benefits reaped by those who participate directly in the effort. Immersed in the Forum process, we grow stronger as the builders of other worlds that are more human and more able to preserve and share among all people the common wealth of life and nature.

Now in Africa, we will dismantle the prevailing vision and rhetoric about a lost and hopeless continent. We will learn from Africa’s vibrant culture. Holding the WSF in Africa means filling ourselves with the visions, images, analyses, critiques, demands, and proposals of the social movements and the entities of African civil society.

Thus the Nairobi 2007 WSF will create the conditions to begin a process of charting the civil society in action, its campaigns and struggles for other worlds. This process will be marked by the experience of the African people, their resistance and alternatives, their culture and multiple identities. In this sense, it will allow the nascent planetary culture to build a segment of the vision of the world with the eyes of Africa, its land, and its people.

To this end, the programme of the 2007 WSF will reserve space and time for the activities co-directed by the Organising Committee and the South African Forum: conferences, testimony, roundtables, discussions, and cultural meetings in which we will be invited to open our minds and hearts to the vital civil society of Africa. It is a matter of comparing our knowledge and proposals and exploring those aspects that unite the diverse peoples of the earth in the same human venture.

It is a huge challenge but it is also a great opportunity to bring together what has been divided, to unite without denying diversity and thus strengthen each other mutually. It will be a collective lesson in forging our image of Africa and of a planet that will not be able to become another kind of world without the peoples of Africa. We may encounter many contradictions and much confusion in this effort, but there is no doubt that it will be worth it. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)