NAIROBI, 16 January (IRIN) -
Tens of
thousands of people from around the world will converge on the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi, this
week for the World Social Forum
(WSF).
Themes for the seventh WSF,
on 20-25 January, have been pegged to the motto, 'People's struggles, people's
alternatives – Another world is possible'. Topics to be addressed
include
HIV/AIDS, gender, privatisation, landlessness, peace and conflict, migration and
diaspora, youth issues, debt relief, free trade agreements, labour and
housing."The World Social
Forum is a
manifestation of the spirit of the people who have refused to die, people who
have refused to be excluded [from participating in the global economy]," said
Wahu Kahara, a Kenyan
activist and one of the organisers.
The forum styles itself as
an open gathering where ordinary people, groups and movements opposed to the
forces of capitalism can reflect and exchange ideas
to further social
equity.
"The World Social Forum is
not a conference but a space where issues at the centre of concern find graphic
presentation," said Oduour Ong'weny, one of the civil
society organisers. He
said there would be hundreds of activities, including open debating sessions,
seminars, workshops, processions, cultural presentations and screening of
documentaries. The forum is also intended
to counter the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where leaders from
business, politics, academia, the media and civil society discuss
how to improve
the world economy. Since the poor majority have virtually no voice at Davos,
according to the WSF, their concerns are not taken into consideration when
global economic and social
policies are formulated. The WEF will take place from
24-28 January. Commenting on the
significance of hosting the WSF 2007 in Kenya, Ong'weny said some of the
forum's principal concerns
applied to the region, such as unequal distribution
of resources, environmental degradation and conflict. The region also has a
history of individuals and groups of people struggling against
injustice and
environmental degradation, he said.The holding of the WSF in
Nairobi is being seen in Kenya
as a major boost for local tourism, but the presence of between 80,000 and
120,000
visitors will put pressure on the city's infrastructure. According to
Ong'weny, Nairobi's hotels can only accommodate 42,000
people. Alternative accommodation such as tented camps and hostels will
hold
another 37,000 guests. Private home-owners were also offering accommodation at a
fee, and enterprising Kenyans are still expanding facilities at tented
camp-sites on the outskirts of
Nairobi.
The opening ceremony will be
held at Uhuru Park in central Nairobi on 20 January. Most of the other
activities will take place at the Kasarani Sports Stadium, about 10km east of
the city centre. Towfique ben Abdallah, a
social activist from Tunisia, challenged governments in
developing countries to respond to the wishes of the people and adopt policies
that
improved their welfare. "Governments in Europe and the US
listen to their citizens. When they take to the streets they are heard. Why not
us? We want to see a different situation politically after
this forum," he
said.The WSF was conceived by a
committee of Brazilian organisations which held the first meeting in Porto Alegre in January
2001.The seed for the protest
that
characterises the forum had been planted in 1998 when a proposal was made
by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for a
Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI),
which was intended to remove
barriers to investment by corporations. The proposed agreement would have
required that foreign investors be treated the same as domestic
investors.Critics
said the proposals
would threaten nearly every public sector of national economies, including
healthcare, education and culture.The ensuing outcry against
the MAI proposals led to the
emergence of a social protest movement that caused
France to withdraw from the MAI
talks, scuttling the agreement.jn/mw
