WSF in the media
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Revision as of 10:22, 8 February 2007
The Saturday Nation carried these articles concerning World Social Forum
What social forum aims at
Story by MIKAEL BOOK
Publication Date: 1/20/2007
The World Social Forum is the biggest international jamboree, which occurs every second year in Porto Alegre, Mumbai, Nairobi, or any other centre in the South.
The forum is a form of intellectual and political activity resembling that of the educational institutions or libraries. These are supposed to be, and sometimes they actually are “open spaces”.
Thus, one of the nine themes chosen for the Nairobi WSF January 20-25 is: “Building a world of peace, justice, ethics and respect for diverse spiritualities.” This could also be the explicit goal of a university or a library.
The social forum is going on at the local, national, regional, and “world level”. It is a process, but it is not yet an institution. Should the forum strive to establish itself as one of society’s lasting institutions?
The answer must be yes. It is aimed at building a global society that could not materialise earlier, because the conditions for its existence were lacking. World social forums are not possible without global communications. The Internet, yet another “open space” at our disposal, is the ultimate proof, but also a prime condition, of the on-going globalisation of human society.
But we are not yet living in a global society. Imperialism and war are still the words of the day, as we can see in Iraq. What should the Nairobi WSF be aiming at? To guarantee the continuity of the form the forum was given is, as Chico Whitaker (one of its founders) has said, perhaps the biggest challenge for the WSF.
Information specialists
The social forum must achieve new mergers with those other “open spaces”: educational institutions, libraries and the Internet. A much broader engagement of researchers, librarians and teachers is needed to build a global society. Journalists, too, must become part of the embryonic global society.
An example of what is being done to put this theory into practice is the pilot project of the East African librarians. Since a first three-day “training the trainers” workshop in Nairobi last year, the librarians are preparing for participation in the WSF, both as citizens and as information specialists. They want to start documenting the information that the hundreds of conferences and workshops are producing. They will then repackage and disseminate the information for use by different groups, including the marginalised and the information-poor.
Kenya Library Association has set up a webserver at the Kenya Educational Network (Kenet) to become the database of this pilot project. The participants are invited to write about themselves, their projects, and their daily agendas during the forum. The webserver is found at www.wsflibrary.org.
This information activism can also be understood as mobilisation against the prevailing trends in the world economy and politics, which threaten the public library with extinction. The WSF aims at exposing and burying imperialism and market fundamentalism and to lay the foundations of world public finances for services, including the public library.
Mr Book works in the pilot project on “Documenting of the WSF” by East African librarians
THIS IS ANOTHER ONE
Kasarani gears up for(WORLD SOCIAL FORUM) meeting
Story by NYABONYI KAZUNGU Publication Date: 1/20/2007
Moi International Sports Complex, Kasarani was yesterday a beehive of activities as final preparations were put in place for the World Social Forum (WSF).
A team of experts has been deployed at the complex to ensure everything is in order.
The WSF has paid more than Sh10 million for the hiring of the complex. The Forum also paid extra funds for electricity and water and for the restructuring of the facility.
The structural physical coordinator, Mr Davinder Lamba, took the Press on a guided tour of the facilities, which have been designed to accommodate seminars and workshops of between 50 and 500 people each.
A spectacular event will be the art, music and drama pavilion for refugees fleeing from either natural calamities or conflicts.
There will be a separate youth centre for their activities and meetings.
Each of the meeting venues, to host freedom talks, cultural, musical and drama events, has been named after some of the notable heroes who fought and/or died for social justice. They include Dedan Kimathi, Julius Nyerere, Frantz Fanon and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Other venues have been named after Ruth First and South Africa’s apartheid heroes Nelson Mandela and Chris Hani.
The track and field area inside the complex remains out of bounds for all participants in the conference and will be under 24-hour guard.
“The tarmac road leading to main entrance, the WSF secretariat and to each of the 24 terrace entrances, will be used for matches and demonstrations for social justice,” Mr Lamba said.
Ambulances, mobile toilets, medical clinics and first aid facilities have been provided by the Forum organisers from each of the five continents. A car park is located in the open space at the near far side of the complex.
Larger crowds attending conferences of between 1,000 and 5,000 people will be held in hundreds to thousands tents, erected in the open fields around the sports complex. The one-week conference, which has attracted dignitaries from various disciplines, will be held in three key meeting venues. The official opening will take place at Uhuru Park.
The registration of delegates, observers and the Press is at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu and Wangari Maathai will lead in planting trees at various spots.
‘
World’ vows to fight inequality and injustice
''Story by JEFF OTIENO and NYABONYI KAZUNGU'' Publication Date: 1/21/2007
The curtains opened at the eagerly awaited World Social Forum meeting yesterday with a vow to fight inequality and social injustice in the world.
Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, joins other delegates in a procession marking the beginning of the World Social Forum yesterday. Hundreds of delegates converged at Uhuru Park, signalling the beginning of intense discussion on how to tackle some of the world’s major problems.
The delegates, drawn from both developing and the developed world, shared the common goal of making the world a better place.
Speakers representing the world’s major continents spoke against free trade models which they said were being pushed down the throats of the world by the Bretton Woods Institutions and some western countries to impoverish the world.
Chanting “a better world is possible” the delegates condemned the global wars which have left millions without food and shelter.
The forum is the first one to be held on African soil and it comes ahead of the scheduled World Economic Forum to be held in Davos Switzerland next week. The forum focuses on world’s major problems brought by changes in the modern world.
Former Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda set the ball rolling by urging Africans to participate in decision making processes and take charge in the management of their resources.
“Let people participate fully in the control of the processes of decision making in public affairs and denounce all forms of exploitation of person by person in any shape or form,” said Dr Kaunda.
In his keynote speech, Mr Kaunda said the struggles in Africa, Asia and Latin America had shown that people need not fear or doubt victory.
“Indeed, those struggles were but part of one common struggle for the welfare of the whole of humanity,” he said.
Dr Kaunda said sustainable development could not be achieved through exploitation.
He said: “The creator of all demands fair play for the woman. 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. Let us think through this and allow this mother her dignified place on earth.”
Speaking on behalf of Europe, Flavio Lotti urged Africa to forgive the West for the historical injustices meted on them by colonialism.
“I feel the burden of our historical responsibilities. Forgive us for what we did, what we are doing and what we have not done,” said Mr Lotti.
He said though the forum lacked the power wielded by the World Economic Forum which brought together the globe’s richest countries, the delegates in Nairobi were committed to the struggle of making the world a better place.
Mr Lotti criticised the West for spending millions of dollars in buying armaments, building new bases and involvement in wars while millions of the world’s inhabitants go hungry.
African delegates urged leaders on the continent to fight for human rights and reject neocolonialism.
“Down with capitalism, neo-colonialism and privatisation. Viva landlless people, people with disability and all other ills in the world,” the crowd chanted in unison.
Multi-national companies also came under scathing attack for what the delegates termed unfair trade practices which had impoverished the world’s poor.
Delegates from Asia urged the world to fight all forms of fundamentalism which they added was making the world an insecure place.
“Fundamentalism must be fought in all Christian, Muslim, Hindu and other regions,” they said.
Mr Guy Ryder of the International Trade Union Confederation said unemployment rates had reached unreasonable proportions due to unfair trade practices.
