India, a country that has for centuries inspired the imagination of the world, provided the meeting ground for the fourth World Social Forum, which kicked-off today in Mumbai. Over one-hundred and twenty thousand delegates of the "world's second superpower" converged today at this historic international gathering of those who believe that the current rules of economic globalization are creating a future of war, inequality and environmental degradation and that a better world is possible.
India, a country that has for centuries inspired the imagination of the world, provided the meeting ground for the fourth World Social Forum, which kicked-off today in Mumbai. Over one-hundred and twenty thousand delegates of the "world's second superpower" converged today at this historic international gathering of those who believe that the current rules of economic globalization are creating a future of war, inequality and environmental degradation and that a better world is possible.
The World Economic Forum, a meeting of business leaders and politicians which took place last week, ostensibly addressed issues of inequality and poverty. However, it failed to address the glaring fact that despite decades of top-down development driven by neo-liberal theories and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, 54 countries are now poorer than they were in 1990. The World Social Forum, on the other hand, is an open meeting space for democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society centred on the human person . (From the WSF Charter of Principles).
US militarization, particularly as it relates to the war in Iraq and the Israel-Palestinian conflict, was a predominant topic of discussion at the forum's opening, along with the need to oust George W Bush during the coming election year.
The historically large attendance at the WSF today heralds a burgeoning global movement against corporate globalization and US military dominance, a movement that first caught the attention of the world last February when over ten million people marched to stop the attack on Iraq. That movement gained momentum and rejuvenation during the recent collapse of the WTO Ministerial in Cancun, which, according to British Parliament member Jeremy Cobin, was a result of world public opinion being mobilized.
The World Social Forum will last six days and will include hundreds of panels, debates and meetings as networks are built, information is exchanged and the movement expands even further. Activists have poured in from Korea, Tibet, Burma, Brazil, Ghana, France, South Africa, Italy and the world over. Talks will be translated into English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean and five different Indian languages. Palestinian leader Mustafa Borghouti reminded us all today that The world cannot change on its own. It can only change with the power of struggle, it can only change with global resistance and it can only change if we all unite together." And that is exactly what is happening here today.
Stay tuned as Indymedia India continues to bring you coverage of this historic event.
http://india.indymedia.org/en/2004/01/208486.shtml
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