Winny at 13:43, 24 January 2007

2007-01-24T13:43:40Z

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'''Dr Kenneth D Kaunda, World Social Forum 2007

Presentation at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, Saturday 20th January 2007

'''

Nairobi, a Forum for the World

Habari!

Karibu!

My Sisters, my Brothers, I am touched to be here.

I was touched when we marched together this morning.
Truly, the reaching of our destination started with
one step. The first step was the will to act.

Yes, in Nairobi there are thousands and thousands of
us, from all parts of the world.

Women and men, young and elderly.

Various colours. Carrying passports of every nation of
the world.

Here we are, from various cultures and backgrounds. I
listen to various languages. We come from various
religious and spiritual beliefs.

We, gathered here, have a range of political and
economic beliefs. We are from various economic
situations. Some activists are living with disability.

We are a rich variation of our one humanity, all
members working with others. Here we are, together and
united by concern for our common good.

This is humanity gathered.

We thank God Our Creator for bringing us here
together. From all corners of this, our one world, we
have come and gathered. God truly is Allah the
Compassionate, Allah the Great, Allah the Merciful.

Yes, God makes it possible for us to be here, from
various countries. Allow me to extend my thanks to you
all for organising and attending this great peoples'
platform.

Sisters and Brothers, we have come a long way. We have
come from the times of slave trade, colonialism, and
from organised apartheid and racism. We have been
fighting injustice and exploitation of person by
person in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, the Americas, and
all over this, our one world. On the continents and
islands of the world, many local people were
suppressed and oppressed and treated as lesser human
beings.

In recent times, all over the world, we have had
leaders against oppression and exploitation. Mahatma
Gandhi's movement for non violent struggle has just
turned 100 years. Martin Luther King, Che Guevara and
Fidel Castro led movements for political change.

We recall that in Africa, we also had giants of
leaders. When we were fighting for independence, these
included Kwame Nkrumah, Ben Bella, Abdel Nasser, Jomo
Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba in the
Congo.

These had a wide vision of people of Africa
cooperating and in freedom as Sisters and Brothers.
Those of us who got independence early then supported
our Sisters and Brothers in the liberation of southern
Africa.

Various methods were used to fight injustice. There
were political and diplomatic approaches. There were
sanctions in economy, sport, and culture. People
refused to cooperate with the unjust systems.

In Mozambique, our brothers and sisters in the
liberation struggle were led by Eduardo Mondlane, and
later by Samora Machel. In their movement, they worked
with colleagues like Graca Machel and other women and
men. In Zimbabwe, there was Robert Mugabe, Joshua
Nkomo, and their colleagues.

In Namibia, there was Sam Nujoma. As nations got
independent and liberated, they supported others in
the struggle. In South Africa Oliver Tambo, Nelson
Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Steve Biko, Chris Hani, and
their comrades worked closely with their people to
dismantle apartheid.

I was privileged to have played a small part in
supporting these leaders of various countries. I know
these are people who risked their lives. Their
followers suffered and risked lives. Many men and
women died for this just cause. We thank God that they
succeeded to liberate our countries.

Working with South Africa's freedom loving people, I
remember the joy I felt when I, as a humble leader,
being involved in discussion with Frederick de Klerk
to have comrade Nelson Mandela released from prison.
And in 1990, Nelson Mandela and other comrades were
released. 1994's change in South Africa marked the end
of colonial and white minority rule in southern
Africa. It was a new phase for South Africa and
humanity.

Sisters and Brothers, here, a key lesson is that the
changes towards freedom and justice were achieved not
by the work of these leaders alone. But, as Gandhi
said, the leader follows the people. The leaders
worked with the people of their nations.

There are many other women and men who were with us in
the struggle but are not named. They played various
leadership and activist roles. The struggle was a
struggle for every one. Men and women in various
situations mobilised and worked together.

Each person was important. The struggle benefited from
the skills and experiences of each person involved.
Each person contributed to a whole that became the
path through which the energy of love and justice was
carried. The struggle depended on the effort of each
person. The could not continue without intensive
cooperation of men, women, and youths in various
situations. Working together, they helped to improve
the situation of humanity.

Our fight against apartheid and racism was based on
love and principle. We knew that even the oppressors
were our brothers and sisters in one humanity. We did
not support the struggle because of hatred. The
struggle was about improving the welfare of humanity.
Whatever colour or background, we were all human
beings, Sisters and Brothers made in God's image.

Indeed, the struggle for justice and human dignity was
supported by people from various backgrounds within
nations, in the region, and on the continent. People
from other South areas like Asia, the Caribbean, South
America, and Latin America greatly supported the
struggle. Indeed, people and even governments, in the
Nordic parts of Europe materially and morally
supported the liberation movements.

The Canadians were of great help. Even members of the
public in other western countries like the USA and
Britain differed with their governments and supported
the struggle for justice in Africa. While some of the
people here may have been part of that support for
justice in Africa, the younger ones may indeed know
some one who was involved in that support.

Today, we still face great challenges. There is
poverty. There is the debt burden. There is HIV/AIDS.
There are divisions along politics, gender, race,
religion and spirituality, disability, land, political
conflict, ethnicity, economic status, and other
factors. The North-South divide is huge and must be
undone if we are to assert our relationship as
brothers and sisters in this, our one world.

These issues of peoples and human history we cannot
forget. They have notes which we must learn from if we
must do what God our Creator wants us to do today to
build, in every country, a world free of poverty,
ignorance, disease, crimes and all exploitation of
person by person.

Sisters and Brothers, our struggle against colonialism
and racism in Africa shows that it is important for
people to network across human barriers. From
experience, we know that the various challenges of
injustice and exploitation we now face in 2007 can be
overcome.

We know that with collaborative effort by men, women,
and young persons in various parts of the world, a
better world is very very possible. We must not forget
that we are strong. We have achieved before. We will
achieve again. Together, we can have 'Uhuru' na
'Umoja,' freedom and unity of humanity.

Injustice cannot overcome the force of love, harmony,
and fair play. Our struggles in Africa, Asia, the
Caribbean, and Latin America have shown that we need
not fear or doubt victory. Indeed, those struggles
were but part of one common struggle for the welfare
of the whole of humanity.

We also realised that independence and liberation is
not complete without eradication of poverty and its
offshoots.

The political independence we have got must bring, in
all our respective countries, food to the table of
every individual. The political independence must mean
social, human, and cultural rights for every human
being.

We must address education, health care, housing and
shelter, and employment and decent work. Without
economic emancipation, political independence is not
full.

We, here assembled, must continue with the work that
leaders of movements for justice continuously talked
about, and indeed worked for. This is action for the
rights and dignity of the people the world over. We
should never cease to demand rights of people in the
East, the West, North, and the South. We must continue
with action for the common good.

This world is interdependent. Sustainable development
cannot be achieved through exploitation. But how do we
move to fair development and peace for all? To realise
that we are Sisters and Brothers, and work together
for prosperity, it will help us to remember the great
principle: Love God our Lord with all our heart, with
all our soul, with all our minds, and with all our
strength.

In relating to each other as members of the human
family, each one of us must love his or her neighbour
as we love ourselves. Each one of us here, from
various places we have come from, must learn to do
unto others as they would like to be done to them.
This is across being male or female, across colour,
nationality, ethnicity, faith and spirituality,
economic position, and disability. This love is across
anything artificial.

That is why South-South dialogue is very important.
That is why South-North and North-South dialogue is
important. When we observe the question of loving God,
loving our neighbour, and doing as we would like to be
done by, we will build relationships with others on
the basis of genuine human love and cooperation. We
will more easily establish a world governed by respect
and justice for each other. We shall co-exist in a
world of diverse spirituality. Our variation will
strengthen us.

We shall have established a powerful base from where
we would effectively deal with challenges affecting us
today.

We who are gathered here at this 7th Social Forum have
tremendous challenges. One special challenge today is
women's rights. For example, Asia, Europe, Latin
America, and now Africa, have produced women heads of
governments and states. Yet the place of the woman in
society is not yet what it should be.

We must remember that the God who made the male is the
same God that made woman. The Creator of All demands
fair play for the woman. It is therefore very
important that we, at this summit of peoples of the
world, have a great portion of mothers and sisters
present. I pray that their numbers will continue to
grow in various areas that demand leadership. In fact,
in many events, it is our mothers and sisters here,
and elsewhere, who are driving things for the common
good.

But why do we, the men, turn cruel against women? We
are entirely dependent on women for a good nine months
before we come out to be what we are today. We are
dependent on women for what we were yesterday and what
we will be tomorrow. Let us think through this and
allow this Mother her dignified place on earth. This
will require great adjustment in attitudes, policies,
and practices. Appropriate systems must be made and
strengthened to support the journey for dignified male
and female relationships.

We should build political structures and institutions
on the basis of full people's participation. Let the
people participate fully in the control of the
processes of decision-making in public affairs. They
must participate in the control of their resources.
This summit of the people of the world must denounce
all forms of exploitation of person by person, in any
shape or form.

We must demand, at this Forum of the peoples of the
world, the liquidation of debts imposed on the world's
poorest of the poor. No debt in this, our world today,
can be said to be fair and justifiable.

Like in many countries, from independence, with God's
grace, we made, and acted upon, important decisions in
favour of universal and free access to education,
health services, and development of agriculture and
basic services.

In the early 1970s, we also had problems of copper
prices going down. The price of petroleum we imported
went up worldwide. Our financial situation was being
affected by the various forces. We therefore sought
the advice of the World Bank and IMF. The IMF and
World Bank advice was that: this going down of copper
prices will only be for a short time. They were sure
that the copper prices would pick up and therefore
Zambia could borrow.

And indeed, to enable us to continue with our
development efforts, we borrowed. But in the 1980s,
the debt repayment song began to be very hard. The
conditions were harsh. We could not continue with such
harsh impact on Zambia's people. Many basic needs
gains we had made at independence were being reversed.
There were riots over food prices when, at IMF
insistence, we removed public support for various
services.

In 1987, we, as a country, took a decision that we
accepted debt repayment but that we should be able to
pay only so much, maximum ten percent of income we
suggested, depending on what we earned every year.
While still having IMF membership, we broke off from
the programme that had created hardship.

We did our own self made programme for a few months.
Things did work and we achieved high growth rate. But
the debt collectors, World Bank and IMF and the
difficult governments they represent, came down very
heavily on us. With various sanctions against us,
assistance withheld, and other sanctions, we had no
choice but to succumb to rejoin the IMF programme.
That created further hardship.

My Sisters and Brothers, fighters gathered here, we
broke off from the IMF programme in 1987. That is 20
years ago. That time we did not have much support from
other indebted governments in the South, in Africa,
Asia, Caribbean, and Latin America. A collaborated
effort could have helped quickly galvanise against the
unfair debt conditions.

In years that followed, civil society and social
movements took a leading role against the debt
conditions. I know many of you were part of the
anti-debt campaign. The campaign involved members of
the public in both South and North. It was a people's
campaign, cutting across the whole world. It was
people united in fighting for the common good.

Pressure was brought to bear on creditor governments
and the IMF and World Bank. A lot of gains were made.
Some debt has been cancelled. But, still, as part of
the conditions for debt cancellation, the IMF and
World Bank, and creditor governments with them,
continue to impose other harsh conditions.

But we have learnt that without collaboration, it is
not easy to overcome. From the campaign against debt,
we have learnt that North-South networking and action
works effectively. And here we are, in Nairobi. The
7th World Social Forum can inspire us to do more in
removing the burden of debt. Let us remember we are
strong and have achieved before. We can still achieve.
And, considering the energies here in Nairobi, we will
achieve.

My Sisters, Brothers, one of the most devastating
experiences we have had is HIV/AIDS. Comrades in our
common struggle, I will refer to some experiences. In
the 1980s and 1990s, it was taboo to say you were
infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

But on December 23, 1986, our son, Masuzyo Gwebe
Kaunda, died of AIDS. At that time, in Zambia and
elsewhere, when someone died of AIDS, relatives and
friends gave different stories from what had actually
happened.

A couple of weeks after Masuzyo's death, my wife and I
decided to tell the people of Zambia and the rest of
the world that our son had died of AIDS. We did that
in order to contribute to the fight against stigma.

I believe that the first frontline against HIV/AIDS is
'prevention is better than cure.' So we must remember
Voluntary Counselling and Testing. Dear Sisters and
Brothers, I am not telling you what I have not done.
In the year 2002, I went for testing. When I went for
testing, I announced that even if I had been found HIV
Positive, I would have announced to the whole world
that I was positive. I would use that Positive status
to contribute towards fighting stigma and HIV/AIDS.

But we realised that we cannot talk about fighting
AIDS without reference to the importance of fighting
poverty. Is it by chance or accident that the areas
hardest hit with AIDS today are mainly in poverty
stricken areas?

20 years have passed since my son Masuzyo's death.
Some advances have been made in handling HIV/AIDS. But
still much more needs to be done to this condition
with many faces. This Forum can help move us towards
more collaboration of people in the North and South,
and from South to South. A challenge currently is to
allow the views and experiences from various parts of
the world.

At present, the North dominates the HIV/AIDS
discourse. Much experiences and skills in the South
are not being utilised. We need to get together in a
position of regard and respect for the vision,
knowledge, and skills of others. Working together, we
can conquer HIV/AIDS. The 7th World Social Forum
provides such people to people network.

Sisters, Brothers, a Forum of this nature, which I
consider a People's Summit, should touch discussions,
exchanges of views and ideas, and experiences that
might help to make, in one way or another, God's
people in all corners of our one earth at least a
little better and happier.

Many people are wallowing in poverty. The poverty is
contributing to children being displaced and going
onto the streets. The issue of children on the street
is a very urgent one. It shows deep problems in our
societies. With children insecure and vulnerable, the
future of humanity is very fragile.

The other day, I learnt about a big challenge to
childhood and society. There are babies and children
whose mothers have been imprisoned. Quite often, the
children are left with relatives of the imprisoned
mothers. The relatives look after these kids. But
there are also situations were relatives are not able
to look after these kids. So these kids are also sent
to prison to live with their mothers.

In prison, the babies, infants, and children do not
have good conditions. We can use this Nairobi Forum to
compare notes and possible action.

Sisters, Brothers, we must refer to the environment.
After the Kyoto protocol, we realised that even some
of our most developed nations were not very concerned
with how we, as humans, look after our environment.

Pollution and environmental problems are of concern.
Desertification is truly frightening. Sometimes, when
I am flying as a passenger in planes, I see, from the
air, the changes in plant cover. Desert is growing. In
fact, it is activists that have put a lot of
environmental issues on the world's agenda. This Forum
is another phase for networking for environmental
action.

Sisters and Brothers, the importance of land cannot be
overemphasized. We learn from history, and a number of
events currently taking place, that land has been a
big source of conflict. All over the world, people
have been displaced from their land. Commercial
interests have taken an upper hand. We need solutions
and action.

Brothers and Sisters, we meet at a time when some
gains have been made. But we have declined in some
things. Conflict and injustice still happen according
to factors like colour, language, nationality,
culture, ethnicity, religion, and economic status.
Being in Nairobi, I remember that in the late 1960s, I
helped to mediate in a border dispute involving
Somalia and Kenya. The agreement of then still holds
now.

I had hoped that things would improve even in other
conflicts. But we find that while we made achievements
on challenges like apartheid, the world still has many
conflicts. Instead of benefiting from the rich
variation of colour, cultures, languages, religion and
spirituality, we have conflict and war. On all
continents, from Africa to Europe and the Middle East,
in developed and developing nations, there are
conflicts, with some taking on arms.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq by the two Bs, Bush and
Blair, has created divisions in the world. The effects
keep on spreading. Those effects, we as a people
gathered from one family of humanity, we must reverse.

Just recently, events in Somalia brought out much
concern for Africa and the world. People of good will
are concerned about the recent direction. Sadly, the
USA government, in line with their 'war on terror'
talk, got involved in armed raids. Ethiopia's Army is
also in Somalia. This situation will lead to problems
for Somalia, the region, African Union, and the United
Nations. It is interesting that Somaliland seems to
have some stability. What can we learn about
Somaliland?

We the people at the Nairobi World Social Forum have a
responsibility to act together to avoid conflict. We
must be involved in healing this, our one world. The
way we have gathered here, from various backgrounds,
and sharing issues is an example of a better world
possible. We have the skills and experiences to deal
with the many issues in many parts of the world. This
gathering is a huge network for the common good.

Sisters, Brothers, I am very touched by our meeting
here. I thank you for coming all the way to this
important get-together. As we get back to our homes,
let us remember that the purpose of these meetings is
to help the human race understand itself a little
better than before this conference.

I am sure you will agree with me that from every
brother, every sister we have shaken hands with or
met, we have learnt something.

May the Love of God Almighty our Creator, Allah the
Compassionate, Allah the Merciful, Allah the Gracious,
guide us in our thoughts and to develop further our
deeds so that we can leave this world a little better
than we found it. Brothers, Sisters, a better world
is, indeed, possible.

Thank You

Kenneth Kaunda's speech at the opening - Revision history

Winny at 13:43, 24 January 2007