World Social Forum

Off Our Backs, Mar/Apr 2004 by Albrecht, Sarah Joy

Women Pave the Way Toward Global justice

This January, around the same time the world's bastions of capitalism met in Davos, Switzerland, to strategize their own job security at the World Economic Forum, a mass of 100,000 revolutionary leaders and grassroots actors gathered in Mumbai, India, for the 4th World Social Forum (WSF). I am one of the many from around the world who followed the call to Mumbai to make a stand for global justice and promote an alternative economic and polilical culture based on human rights and values. "Another World is Possible" was the central theme and often heard rally cry of the World Social Forum-and it truly was another world. This now annual gathering, which has doubled in size since its beginning in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001, became a world of celebration, revolution, conversation and comradeship. Each of us came for different individual purposes and one common goal: to build a better world based on dignity, respect and justice for all.

The World Social Forum began as-and still is-an open, democratic space organized around principles of equity and inclusiveness. It is a space to exercise and celebrate people's rights, strategize and organize resistance to globalization and neoliberal economics and contribute to the collective vision and understanding of a just global community. The Forum is governed by an international council and organized through a decentralized committee structure, driven mostly by groups from the global south and the particular host country. The organizers amazingly provided enough space, food, water, facilities, entertainment and activity to accommodate 100,000 people for six days. Most sessions were translated into English and Hindi, and some offered simultaneous translation into other languages. Almost the entire venue, including all stages and podiums, was wheelchair accessible. While fees for international conferences can be as much as US$800-$1000, restricting participation to those elites who can afford it, delegates to the WSF paid fees on an equitable, three-tiered scale based on country of origin. The cost for Americans and Western Europeans was just US$50. Of course, travel and lodging costs still present major barriers, resulting in under-representation from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet, these principled efforts made for a welcoming and equitable environment, unlike anything I've experienced before. The WSF stands as the world's best effort to realize a process of fair dialogue and congregation on a global scale.

The program itself was expansive and overwhelming. The WSF India committee adopted five principle focuses, or organizing themes: (1) imperialist globalization, (2) patriarchy, (3) militarism and peace, (4) religious sectarianism and fundamentalism and (5) casteism and racism. WSF organizers planned a limited amount of major plenary sessions related to these themes. All other plenaries, workshops and seminars were self-organized by individuals, groups and organizations through an open, non-competitive submission process. No abstract was turned down and much of the planning was self-coordinated through an interactive website. The result was a program with around 100 simultaneous sessions to choose from during each 3-hour time block. A robust cultural program ran parallel to the substantive one, with about 10 different performance spaces featuring an endless variety of theater, music and dance, as well as visual art exhibitions set up throughout the venue. Organizations also used exhibition stalls to display materials, vend wears and promote their work. Spontaneous song, dance, rallying and demonstration were everywhere. Groups of all kinds and for all causes constantly paraded through the pedestrian streets drumming, marching, chanting and publicizing their truths

It was impossible to experience more than a fraction of all that was happening, and each delegate's experience was undoubtedly unique. My own experience emerged from a combination of personal intention, chance and serendipity, after adjusting and surrendering myself to the vastness of the proceedings. I attended discussions on self-realization, spirituality and fundamentalism; debates on human rights and the value of the United Nations; conversations on fair drug policies, children's rights, alternatives to capitalism and countering casteism; and presentations on the role of technology, the power of media and the threat of water privatization. I peered in on women street vendors rallying for their rights and saw a Burmese theater troupe promoting non-violence through song and dramatic performance. I collected flyers advertising the Ekta Solar Cooker, movement toward a World Parliament, efforts to change dowry customs, dialogues on Knowledge in Society, a campaign to Free the Cuban Five, work to combat HIV/ AIDS and much, much more.

Gender seemed to be on the forefront of the discourse, largely because the organizers prominently recognized patriarchy as a main and integral force of oppression. "Wometi are the most victimized by globalization," proclaimed the second speaker at the opening ceremony. This sentiment was at least recognizable throughout the Forum-not in the portrayal of women solely as victims but in a broader understanding that women are disproportionately impacted by poverty and inequity, and our recognition is overdue. The number of gender-related, womencentered events were many more than one person could cover. Women took up significant amounts of time and space at the Forum. I heard many calls for the integration of gender and women's issues into every struggle for justice. Dita Sari, a feminist from Indonesia, illustrated this inherent integration by describing the international campaigns against sweatshop labor active in her country. These campaigns are antiglobalization, anti-gender oppression, anti-political suppression and antilabor discrimination all in one. "We must embrace and advance gender and political rights through these campaigns," she said.