The World Social Forum will soon come to a close. The first full forum to be held on the African continent, it set an ambitious agenda as it tried to steal some of the spotlight from the Davos World Economic Forum.
The 7th World Social Forum opened in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday January 20 with environmental, labor and human rights activists from all parts of the world converging in the Kenyan capital for five days to meet, network and participate in panels, workshops, theater performances, processions, music and film nights.
Since 2001, World Social Forums have been held in Porto Allegre, Mumbai, Bamako, Caracas, and Karachi, in direct response to the World Economic Forums held annually in the Swiss resort town of Davos, where business and political leaders meet with very different agendas in mind. The World Social Forum is conceived as a meeting place for like-minded, progressive-thinking groups and individuals who unite in rejecting globalization in its current form, in which both people and the environment are compromised. This year’s theme is “people´s struggles, people’s alternatives.”
Under the banner “another world is possible,” this year’s WSF is the first full forum to take place on the African continent, occurring in the midst of a U.S. attack on Somalia. Past World Forums have been criticized for marginalizing issues of race and keeping Africa in the shadows. It remains to be seen whether the geographic location of this year’s forum will bring Africa to the forefront of discussions.
Workshops will include discussions on topics like the Iranian nuclear crisis, the right to water, the sexual exploitation of women and children, and on whether UN peacekeeping efforts are “force or farce?” Specifically African issues proposed are the pan-African fight against HIV/AIDS, ensuring that the African Union provides real solutions to the problems affecting the continent, and examining South Africa’s education system. Youth unemployment is also considered a pressing issue in need of address, with more than three million people, between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four, unemployed in Tanzania and a similar situation occurring in Kenya.
Saturday, the forum opened with a ceremony in Uhuru Park attended by tens of thousands. Welcome speeches were made by members of the International Committee and from the Africa Social Forum, solidarity statements were made by journalists and representatives from all continents while African, Caribbean and Brazilian musicians performed.
This article was published Thursday, January 25, 2007.
