Programme and Methodology
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WSF India has adopted as its principle focuses: Imperialist globalisation; Patriarchy; Militarism and peace; Communalism (religious sectarianism and fundamentalism); Casteism & racism (oppression, exclusion and discrimination based on descent and work). The WSF2004 event in India would not limit itself to the large event in Mumbai, but would seek to be the culmination and initiator of a much wider process of social mobilisation that involves large numbers from diverse sections. Such processes, in the spirit of the WSF, would be open, inclusive and flexible and designed to build capabilities of local groups and movements also seeking to leverage on their individual strengths. The language of dissent and resistance towards imperialist globalisation, communalism (religious sectarianism and fundamentalism), casteism, patriarchy and militarism will have to be informed by local idioms and forms. WSF, 2004 following on the previous World Social Forums, will include diverse forms of interaction including plenary sessions, conferences, seminars, round table discussions, workshops, cultural events, and mass meetings, rallies and marches. A special effort will be made to make all events participatory and dialogic as far as possible, i.e., allowing for responses from the audience, question and answer sessions, etc. Speakers should reflect the diversity of the WSF process, with emphasis on the representation of women and underprivileged and the most oppressed sections of society. Program FormatThe format of the program is to provide a larger space for the self-organised activities. The official organisers – various bodies of the WSF i.e., the International Secretariat, the International Council and the host committee WSF India, will confine itself to only a part of the activities. It will be ensured that WSF organised activities do not impinge on the self-organised activities in terms of time. Based on the available space, the type of events that have been envisaged each day (with these events taking place for four days) is as follows: ► 1 Conference of 15,000-20,000 people
The organisers will confine themselves each day to the conference (of 15-20,000 people) and 1 round table and debate and dialogue event (of 4,000 people), i.e. organise eight events apart from the opening and closing plenary and the testimonials every day. As described earlier the overall focus of events will be informed by the basic issues related to imperialist globalisation, communalism (religious sectarianism and fundamentalism), casteism & racism (oppression and exclusion based on descent and work), patriarchy and militarism. All other events, including 200 seminars and workshops every day and three panel discussions every day (i.e. about 800 seminars of varying sizes and 12 panel discussions for 3-4,000 people each throughout WSF 2004) will be self-organised, with the WSF organisers providing space and facilities. While considering the self-organised part of the program, it is clear that there may be demands on more than 200 spaces per day. It has been observed by many that the seminars and workshops quite often have a similarity of themes. Should participant organisations collaborate with each other it could enhance the quality of programmes and facilitate alliance building as well. It is therefore proposed that registration for self-organised events be closed by 1st November 2003 so that the participating organisations can identify, through the website, other organisations that have proposed similar events and work out alliances and partnerships. The WSF will facilitate this process but although in the first instance the initiative for drawing up collaborations between organisations registering events. This would also leave room for those organisations that miss the deadline for registration. These organisations too could combine with others that have already proposed similar events. If there are conflicts over spaces, i.e., the spaces are less in number than the number of events proposed, then the selection would be based on the following criteria: ► Diversity of the groups proposing the topics
Panels that are being organised by other organisations will also be based on the same criteria for selection amongst various proposals. Subgroup may be formed in the IC along with the India Program Committee and International Secretariat for this negotiating and finalising proposals. The broad proposal, in terms of a daily time-table, is for panels to be organised in the mornings, seminars and workshops in the afternoon, conferences in the evening and cultural programmes for most of the day. Film festivals, cultural programs, exercises in alliance building, the Youth Forum and other activities will run concurrently with the rest of the events. Summary of Events
Programme Themes and Sub-themesThe World Social Forum 2004 will be organized around the themes and sub-themes detailed below. The scope is provided in broad terms, a point of entry into the process of working out more elaborately the agenda for discussion to be proposed by the participant organisations interested in organising events at WSF 2004. The themes and sub-themes were drawn up through a consultative process that four meetings of the Programme Group, the Asian consultation of 1-2 June 2003 and written suggestions and comments from several organisations involved in the WSF India process. The organisations that are interested in hosting events as a part of the WSF 2004 in Mumbai are free to add under each of the thematic area additional sub-areas and topics. Participant organisations are also free to consider even areas of discourse that cut across boundaries of thematic areas by organising a dialogue of their choice. While proposing events, participant organisation would be advised to go beyond academic discussions on the impact of globalisation by offering strategies of resistance and concrete alternatives to the various forms of capitalist globalisation and other forms of oppression. The broad themes and sub-themes for WSF 2004 will be: 1. Militarism, War and Peace ► US Militarist Agenda and Resistances
2. Media, Information, Knowledge And Culture ► Against merchandising information, culture and media
3. Democracy, Ecological and Economic Security
► Critical examination of the IMF, WB, WTO – Institutions of Capitalist Globalisation
4. Sustainable and Democratic Development ► Land and agriculture
5. World of Labour and Work in Production and Social Reproduction ► Creating and distributing wealth differently: monetary, budgetary and fiscal policies in favour of employment
6. Social Sectors - Food, Health, Education - and Social Security ► Impact of service sector liberalisation/GATS
7. Exclusions, Discrimination, Dignity, Rights and Equality
► State, Civil Society and the disadvantaged (Dalits, indigenous peoples, religious/ethnic/linguistic minorities)
8. Caste, Race and other forms of Descent and Work-based Exclusions ► Caste, race and other work/descent based discrimination: exclusions in the market and in governance
9. Religion, Culture and Identities ► Communalism — Religious sectarianism and exclusions - and religiosity
10. Patriarchy, Gender and Sexuality ► Patriarchy and capitalism
Events to be organised directly by WSF 2004Plenaries ► Opening plenary on 16th ► Closing Plenary on 21st Conferences (one each from 17-20th January) The conferences to be organised by the organisers (each with a capacity of 15-20,000) would focus on each of the basic themes elaborated above, i.e.: ► Militarism, War and Peace
Round Tables and tables of debate and dialogue (one each from 17-20th January)
► The culture of Violence and the Global Peace Movement
Testimonials (from 17-20th January) 3 or 4 Testimonials could be organised by WSF. A similar number could be self- organised Youth Forum The Youth Forum will highlight and promote the significant role played by youth across the world in the global movement to assert that 'Another World is Possible'. It will define alternatives to sustain and defend the dignity, identity and democratic space of individuals and societies, and expose as well as oppose their violation, carried out on a global scale by neo-liberal and imperialist policies. The Youth Forum will add value to the WSF in spirit, thought and action, not merely as a parallel event but with the objective to 'mainstream' the discourse of the youth. 10,000 delegates will participate in the Youth Forum out of which about 2,000 will be from outside India. The process of networking and mobilisation among international youth organisations has begun. The Forum will be open to all those who fall within the age group of 15- 35 years. The major programmatic themes that are under consideration are: peace, security and overcoming violence, religious sectarian violence (communalism) and fascism, dalits, casteism and racism, patriarchy and gender, media and culture, health and education, human rights and child rights, globalisation and sustainable development, employment and livelihoods, identities and nationalities, indigenous people. The forthcoming national assembly of Youth and Students of India on July 5-6, 2003 at Mumbai will further consolidate the programme and organization of Youth Forum. Cultural Events A functional group on Culture is co-coordinating the various cultural events to be organized on each day of the WSF. These events will be designed to capture the flavour of cultural responses to the onslaught of neo-liberal globalisation and the politics of exclusion and sectarian violence. They will include various expressions of art and various forms of performing arts. Groups from all over the World will be encouraged to participate. Film Festival In the run-up to the final event in January, a four day multiple venue film festival between October and December is planned. This festival will disseminate information and create awareness about the WSF, complementing mobilisation efforts for the event. Short films focusing on the broad themes of the WSF from all over the world will be selected by a specially appointed committee and be made available to interested organizations all over India for organizing similar film festivals in their cities as precursor to WSF 2004. The same package of films will be screened during WSF 2004. One suggestion under consideration is that each day can end with screening of an epic scale anti war film. Stalls and Exhibition Areas Stalls will be available for exhibitions and for sale of books, posters, souvenirs, food, and music. Communications and media A website and communication system has been put in place to deal with correspondence and list serves. This system will also provide a service for participant registration, booking of space for self-organised activity, accommodation bookings and general information. A regular newsletter will be sent out from July 2003 to aid the process of reaching out to organisations outside the WSF process. The communication and media group will also aid the mobilisation process with campaign and publicity material. This group will work with the International Secretariat for international communications and publicity. A press conference will be held, in Mumbai, in mid-July, to formally announce WSF 2004. It is expected it will attract the foreign media from bureaus in New Delhi, which is home to nearly 800 non-Indian media correspondents, as well as those from within India. It is proposed that the press will be addressed by IC members representing each of the five continents and ideally representing different section of society apart from representatives of the WSF India process. In addition to this we plan a 'road show' with the IC members travelling to the three other big Indian cities – Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) to meet with press in these cities too. If possible WSF processes in continents other than Asia could also hold press conferences timed with the Mumbai one to announce the extent of their participation in WSF 2004. The IOC is also putting in place a media team that will work to foster relations with the media and the press in the run-up to WSF 2004. A full-fledged media centre at the WSF site will provide press briefings before and during the event. Finance WSF India seeks support from all the member of the International Council to assist in the process of raising funds. The total estimated expenditure for WSF 2004 is US$ 3.8 million. The WSF India puts high premium on self-mobilised funds and supports a careful use of finance. The activities included in WSF 2004 will be funded by the participants, organizations of India General Council, development co-operation agencies, and private foundations and through solidarity funds from all over the world. The exercise in budgeting for WSF 2004 has been to minimize fund requirement through use of the existing resources organizations in the WSF process and voluntary labour of organisations in the WSF India process. The financial estimates are based on the experience of the first three editions of the WSF as well as the WSF India's experience of the Asian Social Forum January 2003. All the same, the subsidies that have been possible from the state and local governments in Porto Alegre may not be possible in India although efforts are on to win concessions in water and electricity charges from local authorities and utility providers and state support in transport by bus and by train. World Social Forum – India invites you to join the process of conceiving and constructing alternatives to globalisation. « Another World Is Possible » Let's Build It! |
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