Ellorin: Reflections from the World Social Forum
By BenCyrus G. Ellorin Fastlanes | Tuesday, January 30, 2007 
www.sunstar.com.ph
NAIROBI, Kenya---By the time my editors see this column in their emails, am probably already more than 30,000 feet above the Indian Ocean in a journey that would bring me back to my continent, Asia.
The past week saw a neck-breaking meeting as fellow social activists from all over the world convened in this East African city to share stories of struggles and aspirations for a more equitable world.
The word UHURU (Swahili for Freedom*) rang in every corner of Nairobi, which is nestled in the East African plateau at more than 5,000 ft. above sea level.
Temperature was cold for those coming from tropical countries like the Philippines at 14 degrees Celsius to the mid-20s.
The warmth of solidarity however cannot be escaped as whites, blacks, people from northern and southern countries, from the first and third world mingle in solidarity and in serious discussions on how to face the world's serious problems such as Global Warming, ill-effects of globalization, HIV-AIDS, education, peace, justice and sustainable development.
The World Social Forum, had since its inception in Porto Alegre, Brazil at the turn of the millennium became the platform for anti-globalization campaigns, especially for the world's struggling population mostly in the southern parts of the globe.
It is timed almost exactly as the world's elite gather in winter-freezing Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.
The WSF unlike the WEF is not done in the exclusivity of Swiss comfort where top CEOs and world leaders gather to also talk about the state of the world, but in this year's version was in the Moi International Sports Stadium in the Kasarani Suburb of Nairobi.
Just around the stadium was festive as people marched and chanted their struggles to the beat of African drums. Inside the humble tents and in the stadium bleachers-turned lecture halls were serious discussions on issues that matters most to more than half the world's population.
Issues like access to land and other natural resources, global warming, good and accountable governance, sustainable development were being discussed and debated.
I was asked to make the presentation of the 2006 International Sustainability Watch Report of the SusWatch Network in the 23rd of January 2007.
The said report highlighted the Barriers to Sustainable Development that directly impinges on the ability of nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America to achieve their Millenium Development Goals, specifically the MDGs on Poverty Alleviation, Environmental Sustainability and Governance.
It was appalling how elite control of natural resources by foreign monopoly corporations aided by the rich countries resulted in destruction of the environment, culture and alienation of the people from the market-oriented economy introduced from the West.
It was also noteworthy that these southern countries, be they in Asia, Africa or Latin America have weak or puppet governments that works more for the interest of their big brother countries rather for the genuine interest and welfare of their constituents.
In the case of Southeast Asia for example, it was very alarming that as far as democracy and environmentally sustainable development is concerned, we as a region is not moving forward but backward.
Democracies in our region are taking a beating, from the unabated political killings in the Philippines to the martial rule in Myanmar, the sufferings of the people in Timor Liste, the sorry condition of migrant workers in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, so on and so forth.
And while this is happening, multi-national corporations from the US, Australia, Europe, Japan and even from emerging economic giants China and India are exploiting left and right our natural resources, from mining in the Philippines to logging in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.
(*Swahili is the language spoken in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It is a language that is said to originate in the port city of Dar Es Sallam in Tanzania and spread to the plateaus and savannahs of East Africa. The World Social Forum 2007 happened in Nairobi , Kenya , 20-25 January this year). To be concluded
The writer is a community organizer based in Cagayan de Oro in Northern Mindanao, Philippines . He is the Co-chairperson of the Phil. Civil Society Council for Sustainable Development and represents Asia in the Executive Committee of the International Sustainability Watch Network.