The 2007 World Social Forum
Kathambi Kinoti | 27 January 2007 
southasia.oneworld.net
The seventh annual World Social Forum (WSF) ended in Nairobi, Kenya on January 25, 2007,with thousands of delegates marching from the city's Korogocho slums to Uhuru Park. This year's Forum drew together an estimated 60,000 participants from all over the world and was said to be the 'most international' [1] of the forums, partly because African delegates were able to attend in large numbers because of this year's location.
Nevertheless, the start of the Forum saw demonstrations by some Kenyans who said that they were disqualified from participating as they were unable to afford the registration fees. Their action, with its rallying call of 'Free Everything' persuaded the Forum's organizing committee to allow them free entry.
Order amidst chaos?
The World Social Forum is held to coincide with the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where major global economic policies are shaped without the input of the majority of the global population. The World Social Forum is synonymous with anti-globalization and anti-neoliberalism.
While some people would like to see this Forum come up with concrete counter-measures against the prevailing global economic order, others celebrate the Forum's mish-mash of events on different aspects of social justice. This year's meet featured about 1500 different workshops, cultural performances, dialogues and other events.
The Nairobi Forum was characterized by chaotic schedules. There were delays in the registration process which was disorganized. Many of the events were cancelled, rescheduled or moved to different venues without adequate notification to participants. Sometimes translation was not available for people who did not speak English.
One of the criticisms raised about the WSF is the absence of a clear unified agenda from the globe's civil society for the way forward. Altaf Ali Bhimji says the Forum needs direction and 'if it attempts to be all things for everyone it can end up being nothing for anyone.' [2]
According to Beate Wilhlem of the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development, it is alright to discuss concerns over social injustices, but it is also now necessary to develop possible solutions. [3] On the other hand, since the first Forum in Porto Alegre, there has been a tension between the Forum being a space for the mobilization of direct action against all that Davos stands for, and it being a space for reflection and debate. [4]
Like its predecessors, this year's Nairobi gathering took the latter path. It did not 'seek adherence to one central idea capable of attacking the dominant ideology. Rather it accomplished its basic objective of respect and appreciation for the diverse citizen's initiatives and ideas.' [5]
For some, the World Social Forum serves as a space to affirm a sense of solidarity with other movements around the world. In a speech on the final day of the Forum, Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai said 'When you work with poor people, you get discouraged but that changes when you meet other people who face the same challenges as you are dealing with. You know then that you are not alone.' [6]
>IroniesThe Nairobi meeting was not without its contradictions. Not only were prospective participants who could not afford the entry fee initially barred from the Forum, less well-off food vendors were allocated less than prime spots at its venue, the vast Kasarani Sports Complex. Hunger and thirst during the five day event were 'costly' [7] The best spot at the Forum was secured by Nairobi's Windsor Hotel, whose owner, Kenya's Minister for Internal Security is nicknamed 'Kimeendero" [the Crusher] for his notorious role as a British colonial collaborator.
The five star prices that the hotel was charging for food and drinks were out of the reach of most participants. [8] Most other food vendors were allocated a place at a food court on the periphery of the meeting place, which many participants did not know existed. Some participants also found the registration procedure an irony; participants were required to buy Celtel mobile telephone lines and airtime. The PIN number for the line then became the participant's registration number.
The Women's Question
As in many other spaces, women's issues continued to inhabit the margins of the World Social Forum. One observer states that the 'feminist struggle still seems to be something by women for women.'[9] Although women were about half of the participants, like in previous Forums, women's rights were not cross-cutting issue in most of the discussions.
Workshops on feminism or gender equality were attended mostly by women, and other events were more often than not led by male panelists. At the Feminist Movement Building session, which was co-supported and organized by the coordinating group of the Feminist Dialogues, participants resolved to attend sessions on topics other than gender and women's rights, and push the feminist agenda there.
A major concern at past World Social Forums, echoed in the just concluded one, is the levels of violence and insecurity that female participants encounter including sexual harassment and rape.
Prior to the Nairobi Forum, Onyango Oloo, the national coordinator of the Kenya Social Forum and a member of the WSF 2007 Secretariat proposed that there be a concerted effort to campaign against rape and violence against women within and among WSF delegates. He urged that all Forum delegates be sensitized about rape and violence against women as a 'manifestation of sexism, misogyny and patriarchy- concepts that are totally alien to the WSF charter.' [10] However, this did not happen.
For the third time, the Feminist Dialogues were held for a few days prior to the opening of the World Social Forum. A number of young feminists appreciated their inclusion in this year's Dialogue. Fernanda Grigolin, a Brazilian and member of RedLac, a Latin American young women's feminist organization which was on the Feminist Dialogues organizing committee said that the space created by the Dialogues was vital in informing the participation of feminists in the WSF. She also believes that the feminist voice is growing more audible within the World Social Forum even though there is some way to go.
WSF direction
Despite the divergence of activities and areas of focus, at the closing of this year's World Social Forum one recurrent call was for debt cancellation by rich countries. Saida Ali of the Young Women's Leadership Institute in Kenya says that many of the young people she interacted with at the Forum repeated the call, saying that they should not have to pay for debts incurred on their behalf -sometimes even before they were born - by undemocratic and despotic regimes. She says that moreover, repayment conditions are oppressive.
This year's forum saw the active participation of a large number of young people. During the closing ceremony there were a number of artistic performances highlighting the injustice of the global economic order.
The World Social Forum is regarded as the antithesis of the World Economic Forum and there have been calls for a clear anti-neoliberalist agenda and plan of action to emerge from the WSF. While not everyone agrees that it is necessary for the annual event to have such a clear focus, many agree that it serves as an important space for dialogue and sharing of experiences.
According to Jean Rossiaud the results of the World Social Forum will be seen in the future, since 'basically, the most important things happen between forums.'[11]
Notes:
- 'Swiss not convinced by World Social Forum,' NZZ online, March 26, 2005. http://www.nz.ch/2007/01/25/eng/article7466029.html.
- 'VI World Social Forum: A constructive criticism.' http://hotcoals.org/?p=65.
- Ibid 1.
- http://www.socialwatch.org/en/informesTematicos/1.html.
- Ibid.
- 'From Kasarani to Uhuru Park.' Daily Nation. Friday, January 26, 2007
- 'A menu of protest.' Terraviva. Wednesday, January 24, 2007.
- Ibid.
- Daniel, Patricia. 'Is another world possible without the women's perspective?' Peace Journalism, January 18, 2007. http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=13988.
- Oloo, Onyango. 'Gendering the WSF Nairobi 2007 Process.' A paper presented at a public forum on 'Gendering the WSF process,' on May 25, 2006.
- Ibid 1.