User:Book/BlogEntry: 2008 March 23 10:33:19 EAT
From KLAMediaWiki
In January 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 Porto Alegre, the capital of the Rio Grando do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, hosted World Social Forums (WSF). In January 2006, the city was host to the Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
The following is a quotation from the address to the Assembly of the WCC, which was delivered by Yash Tandon, the economist from Uganda, who directs the South Centre in Geneva:
- I hope that from here the churches will go with two messages: how to deliver the world from the curse : of Neoliberalism, and how to strengthen the hundreds of alternatives (TAHA) of the people for a
- different world. In the words of the World Social Forum: Another World is Possible! We can make it!
In my humble opinion, the IFLA and libraries everywhere in the world should do what the WCC and so many churches have done. In other words, they ought to join the World Social Forum.
The library, being in its essence a public institution, is incompatible with a doctrine that postulates the privatisation and commercialisation of all public service, including schools, universities, scientific research and knowledge, public broadcasting companies, museums, archives and public libraries.
In addition to being a public institution, the library is universal. Like the Internet, which is indeed the most recent extension of itself, the library has no geographical or spiritual borders. It is Cosmopolitan, and it speaks all languages. And, like the World Social Forum, the library is an open space. Another world is possible! It is virtually there, in the library.
Season's Greetings.
- Mikael
