Author: Patrick Ochieng, Steering Committee Member KSF
Date: January 4, 2007
Source: Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke http://www.ms.dk/sw58978.asp

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It is only a matter of weeks. A momentous period in world history has been unfolding, a period that is precariously characterized by a curious mixture of hope, despair and determination to fight for a better world in the wake of neo-liberal globalization that grows like ill-weed. It is a period in which trade imbalance have consigned Third World economies to perpetual poverty and militarism and rogue control of world politics by the US and its evil axis continues to compromise the sovereignty of nations.

The World Social Forum comes to Africa at a time when the continent is caught between the jaws of endemic poverty and a canvas of contradictory forces. While popular resistance against neo-liberal hegemony has hit fever pitch in Latin America and rapid economic development promises to make a significant difference in the lives of the people of Asia; Africa continues to suffer from a debilitating debt overhang, perennial armed conflict, and unrewarding terms of international trade, economic mismanagement and an increasingly unfriendly framework for international cooperation.

The populations of Africa are restless, most are on their knees, caught in a fierce and unrelenting embrace of corporate-led globalization.

It is this restlessness that the WSF in Nairobi promises to crystallize into a viable political force with a radical agenda for social transformation. In Kenya, the host nation, an unstable coalition government that romped to victory four years ago on the platform of change after defeating the autocratic regime of president Moi has squandered its goodwill and turned against its own people. Tribal politics, based on exclusivist sub-national and, more often than not, chauvinistic interests have taken root. These realities constitute for the forum in Nairobi formidable challenges, and yet in them also lay the forum’s greatest opportunity.

Progressive forces in Latin America

The political problems that afflict Africa and the political formations of Africa are increasingly turning out to be the seedbeds of the growth of radical social movements. It is these that the forum has been investing in to feed into a successful event from January 20 to 25, 2007 at the venue of the WSF 2007 in the outskirts of Nairobi. Nairobi 2007 is happening against the backdrop of developments elsewhere; for example there is a resurgence of social movements and progressive forces in Latin America: on January 22, 2006 an Indigenous leader and militant trade unionist was elected President of Bolivia; in the neighboring country of Venezuela Hugo Chavez is breaking the tradition of that nation’s oligarchs by harnessing Venezuela’s enormous oil wealth for the benefit  of the people; in Chile a left-leaning leader was elected the first female president; all over Central and South America grass roots formations are being rejuvenated. Together and in different combinations these developments define the sixth edition of the WSF which will build the collective and accumulative  experience of the World Social Forum process from its origins in Brazil and its further elaboration in Mumbai, Caracas, Bamako, Karachi and other venues. WSF Nairobi 2007 will mark a step upwards in the maturity of the WSF process and the global phenomenon it has engendered across continents, within nation-states and among hundreds of city and community based social forum formations around the world.

Africa will change the forum

When the World Social Forum leaves Africa, it will never be the same, it will acquire a bond of unity as great as that which the African Union and the African parliament is exhibiting; the forum will also benefit from the experience of peace building in Africa that is bearing fruits in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Sudan and Somalia; the forum will gather the collective endeavors that have seen a retreat, however slight, of the AIDS pandemic; vibrant African women and youth will be joining this forum after Nairobi. Interestingly the forum comes to Africa when African governments have over the years made strides in asserting their independence when it comes to foreign policy as evidenced recently in the United Nations or some of its bodies like the UN Human Rights Commission where African states refuse to buckle under the pressure of the United States who made exerted efforts to further demonize and isolate Cuba or in the deliberations of  the WTO where Africans have joined their Southern colleagues to resist the diktats of  the G-8. Africa is at the turning point and like Zambia who vociferously objected to being force-fed with GMO foods and seeds the WSF will amplify the resistance paradigm to confront neo-liberalism.
 
Still gaps to be filled before the event

Kenya’s social movements will lead African movements to showcase how; squatters are intensifying their land occupations;  ethnic, religious and cultural minorities have stepped up the fight for their inalienable land, language, religious and cultural rights; workers are getting increasingly restive against the retrenchment-happy  neo-colonial state and other anti-worker reactionary tendencies; women are at the forefront of the struggle against rape, sexual molestation and other forms of violence against women and children; the continent’s youth are getting increasingly militant; the broad democratic and patriotic forces are destined to usher in more reform friendly regimes geared more towards the realization of the long sought after democratic constitutions.

Kenya’s renowned Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai will give a fresh impetus to social justice struggles based on protection of the natural and social environment and many participants to Nairobi will be making a date with her.

In managing the preparation to WSF Nairobi 2007, many challenges have dogged the organisation. Up till now there doesn’t seem to be indications that the forum has captured the psyche of ordinary citizens in Africa and this can be attributed to the fact that the organizing committee has not hyped the forum enough. Perhaps this is because of resource constraints but more poignantly there has been lack of real and durable links between those in Nairobi and the social movements.

The Kenyan government has not been sufficiently mobilized to embrace this important process and create an enabling climate for its success. As the dates draw nearer it will be interesting to see how allies of this process can come forward and support the organizing committee to make the Nairobi 2007 the most formidable edition coming as it is to Africa, the cradle of humanity.

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Other stories from Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke:

Slum youth to perform at the WSF - By Christina Bonde Pedersen, MS-Kenya, January 2, 2007

The youth will put Tanzania on the world map - By Lisbeth Jensen, MS-Tanzania, January 2, 2007

Democracy as a way of life - By Vibeke Quaade, MS-Uganda, January 3, 2007

Singer pulled crowds to the MS Kenya stall - By Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke Kenya, January 24, 2007