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Graffiti in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, MexicoThe annual World Social Forum just wrapped up in Nairobi, Kenya a couple of weeks ago. Not surprisingly, most TV cameras were pointed in a different direction, towards another global forum: the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The timing is no coincidence.
The World Social Forum is a meeting of anti-globalization groups and movements from around the world that oppose neo liberal economic policy and support alternative systems that respect the human rights of all the world’s citizens.
The World Social Forum is the other side of the coin that exposes the dark underbelly of rapidly-expanding global capitalism that the Davos event celebrates.
Because of the logistical nightmare of organizing an international protest at the World Economic Forum, and in order to divert at least some media attention, WSF organizers planned their conference to coincide with the capitalist soiree in Davos.
The first WSF ever was put together by Brazilian organizations and held in Porto Alegre in 2001. The event has inspired the formation of local and regional social forums. The first U.S. social forum will meet in Atlanta in June.
After the WSF wraps up, there are no triumphant declarations of consensus or concrete plans of action announced to the media. That’s because the WSF is meant as a process for activists to coordinate global campaigns, share and refine organizing strategies and inform each other about movements from around the world and the issues.
This year in Kenya, about 40 residents of a Nairobi slum overran the food courts at a few upscale hotels at the WSF. The people swarmed the tables and grabbed what they could before being chased out.
Some of the topics discussed this year were the IMF (“Shrink it or Sink it Campaign”), south-south cooperation, strategies on resisting the power of transnational corporations and fair debt arbitration. Other presentations focused on the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and children, HIV-AIDS and the effects of diaspora remittances on development.
Check out the WSF website here
