By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Inter Press ServiceJanuary 15, 2004
U.S. President George W Bush and the World Bank top a long list of 'enemies' that tens of thousands of activists and people's movements are targeting at a global jamboree that gets underway here Friday.
On the eve of the fourth World Social Forum (WSF), organisers were unequivocal in their will to challenge what they call a world of violence and misery that Bush and the Bank, in terms of the economic and political models they push, have wrought on peoples of the developing world. The WSF's first public meeting on Friday is expected to bear the signs of such an offensive, with an estimated 20,000 people committed to attend this particular gathering aimed at opposing war, militarism and capitalist-led globalisation, and promoting peace. The war lobby in the United States is under pressure due to the strong peace constituency that has emerged, Kamal Mitra Chenoy, an Indian academic and human rights activist, said at a press conference Thursday. ''We are helping to offer the peace movement a platform here,'' added Chenoy, a member of the Indian committee hosting this five-day gathering that runs from Jan. 16-21. But a platform of a different kind is also being shaped at the WSF in Mumbai, said Chico Whitekar, one of the Brazilian founders of this international movement for an alternative economic and political culture. ''With this meeting, the international process of the World Social Forum has been consolidated,'' he added. Women's rights activist Diane Matte agreed that the forum's arrival in India after its three-year run in Porto Alegre, Brazil, had opened a new chapter in the quest to build an alternative world. ''This year's World Social Forum is inspiring for its richness. We have made the WSF process go even further as a space for diversity,'' said Diane Matte, coordinator of the World March of Women. That is borne out by the heady mix of panel discussions, seminars, demonstrations and cultural shows that will be on offer for the estimated 99,000 registered participants from over 90 countries to feast on. The major themes of this year's gathering will touch on the need to challenge imperialism and militarism, communalism and religious fundamentalism, racism and sectarian violence and discrimination based on caste and patriarchy. The key speakers billed to inspire the crowds include two Nobel laureates - Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Economics Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz-- former U.N. human rights commissioners Mary Robinson, and one of India's most renowned grassroots activist Medha Patkar. In addition, the Mumbai WSF, which is costing 2.4 million U.S. dollars to hold, features over 10,000 events, where activists and non-governmental groups can gather to build solidarity and sharpen ideas in their respective political missions. ''The heart of our planning was to make this a solidarity forum that is people-friendly and that has no barriers,'' P K Das, a key member of the Indian organising team, said. ''It is a beginning of another leap to reclaim our (lost) public space.'' On Thursday night, workers were putting the final touches to the sprawling venue of the WSF, a former industrial estate on the outskirts of this Indian port city of 18 million people. These touches included fresh coats of paint for dilapidated buildings, the installation of exhibits in a cavernous hall, and cleaning the dust-caked floors.
The WSF was launched in Porto Alegre in 2001 following a lead taken by Brazilian and French activists to stand up to the tides of economic globalisation that was sweeping across the planet and in their view, being forced on developing countries. During the two meetings that followed in the Brazilian port city, the forum grew in size and significance. From the 20,000 who attended the first gathering, the WSF attracted 50,000 participants from across the world in 2002 and swelled to over 100,000 by last year. Under its banner ''Another World is Possible,'' the WSF has sought to promote respect for diversity and a space that is open to the many hues of the world's political, social and economic cultures. ''This meeting offers an open space to discuss many ideas and to identify new objectives and new struggles to build a new world,'' said Brazilian activist Whitekar. This sense of diversity comes across in the political ideologies expected to come up against each other here - including the mixing of the stalwarts of Marxism with the standard bearers of Gandhism. ''I feel confident that this forum will go beyond just meeting here for five days,'' asserted Indian activist Patkar. ''We are here to meet and gain confidence in our ideas. We have to challenge the power of neo-liberalism.'' Most pivotal, she argued, is the need for those attending the WSF to not only oppose the prevailing world order but also ''to define the alternative paradigm''. But not all activists heading to Mumbai agree that the WSF is the vehicle for achieving such change, as a parallel forum dubbed the 'Mumbai Resistance' shows. Called MR2004 for short, this group has in its ranks several shades of the extreme left. The graffiti adorning the walls outside the WSF's venue conveys the spirit of their politics -- messages that scream ''Smash Imperialism'' and ''Another Communist World is Possible.'' Asked to comment on this ideological split among the forces battling capitalist-led globalisation, an Indian organiser of the WSF said that the fallout was over policy. They are critical of the WSF because they accuse the movement of being ''weak,'' since it lacks one common policy to challenge the status quo and opts instead for a range of possibilities, said Chenoy, the Indian activist. ''They also believe that armed struggle should be the main part of the struggle, but the World Social Forum charter is against violence,'' he added.
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