| The WSF Lands on Mumbai - Day One
By Jessica Pupovac 17/01/2004 At 07:37 India, a country that has for centuries inspired the imagination of the world, provided the meeting ground for the fourth World Social Forum, which kicked-off today in Mumbai. Over one-hundred and twenty thousand delegates of the "world's second superpower" converged today at this historic international gathering of those who believe that the current rules of economic globalization are creating a future of war, inequality and environmental degradation and that “a better world is possible.” Day One at the World Social Forum
India, a country that has for centuries inspired the imagination of the world, provided the meeting ground for the fourth World Social Forum, which kicked-off today in Mumbai. Over one-hundred and twenty thousand delegates of the "world's second superpower" converged today at this historic international gathering of those who believe that the current rules of economic globalization are creating a future of war, inequality and environmental degradation and that “a better world is possible.”
The World Economic Forum, a meeting of business leaders and politicians which took place last week, ostensibly addressed issues of inequality and poverty. However, it failed to address the glaring fact that despite decades of top-down development driven by neo-liberal theories and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, 54 countries are now poorer than they were in 1990. The World Social Forum, on the other hand, is an open meeting space for “democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society centred on the human person”. (From the WSF Charter of Principles).
US militarization, particularly as it relates to the war in Iraq and the Israel-Palestinian conflict, was a predominant topic of discussion at the forum's opening, along with the need to oust George W Bush during the coming election year.
The historically large attendance at the WSF today heralds a burgeoning global movement against corporate globalization and US military dominance, a movement that first caught the attention of the world last February when over ten million people marched to stop the attack on Iraq. That movement gained momentum and rejuvenation during the recent collapse of the WTO Ministerial in Cancun, which, according to British Parliament member Jeremy Cobin, “was a result of world public opinion being mobilized.”
The World Social Forum will last six days and will include hundreds of panels, debates and meetings as networks are built, information is exchanged and the movement expands even further. Activists have poured in from Korea, Tibet, Burma, Brazil, Ghana, France, South Africa, Italy and the world over. Talks will be translated into English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean and five different Indian languages. Palestinian leader Mustafa Borghouti reminded us all today that “The world cannot change on its own. It can only change with the power of struggle, it can only change with global resistance and it can only change if we all unite together." And that is exactly what is happening here today.
Stay tuned as Indymedia India continues to bring you coverage of this historic event.
 Email:: jespup@riseup.net
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this is great....
the social forums are spreading human wisdom and hope in the world. we are planning a local social forum in Uppsala sweden.....and the inspiration from WSF helps.
// Tim
The WEF (World Eating Fatcats) are actually meeting next week (not last week). More importantly, see their website  http://www.weforum.org/ where they blatantly abuse the WSF's language by saying "a better world is possible" blurggghhhh
Its better to think of what can poor people do with their lives than shout against Mr George W.
Best wishes!!
Think about ways for improving lives not just protesting like beggars.
It's pretty embarrassing that this report of the first day's "events" gives the impression that's it more about what the author thinks probably might have happened rather than any serious report about interesting events that really *did* happen. Writing a whole lot about what most of us *expect* to happen at the WEF, but writing about it as if it really *did* happen in the past, necessarily makes the reader a bit sceptical about the rest. http://www.ciranda.net has some good reports - but just ignore the language choice - whether you choose portuguese, english or french, you'll get many reports, each of which is written in just one of these languages (someone somewhere made a decision to buy micro$oft rubbish - no wonder it's not working).
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OK - I have been completely absorbed in the events here and thought I missed the WEF. I feel like a jerk for publishing that. However, there is not speculation in the article, it is just a brief, optimistic summary of what happened and some things that were said during the first day. We thought ya'll might appreciate. Relax.
Please check out the online journals of members from the Grassroots Global Justice Delegation from the US. Over 100 delegates from grassroots social, economic and environmental justice groups from the US, Canada, Mexico, and Bolivia have come to Mumbai to build with activists from the Global South. Also, check out the women of color media collective that is supporting these delegates in documenting their experiences here in Mumbai: http://www.cultureisaweapon.org/wsfindia
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No peoples comments are permited or facilitated on WTO meetings or JWBush adress to his nation, least to think in executing peoples will according to mayorities needs as sef-determined by ourselves.Acceleration route to globalization of neoliberalism is no less than NEOIMPERIALISM, NEOPIRATES of the dominant classes (in official power)of the dominant countries DICTATING supranationaly(from the adjective:dictators)the whole world that they "take our resources because they need it and they want our consent, irrespectly of our people's objective needs and individual nation's constitutions,to pay eternally ilegal and dull loans given to known corrupt gubernmental elites by International Monetary Fund-World Bank-Imperialism, to be payed by peoples constraint, shortages in every need of human existence.Result:(1)Global environmental damage to our home-Earth: athmosphere heat holes,overall climate change creating new catastrophes killing or thwarting peoples lives (storms,inundatios,land slides,draugts-water scarcity;air-land-water-ocean-food chain contamination posing health threats and deaths;threat to human sustentability in the planet.
(2)Inequality: dominating classes of the dominating powers move to uterly control every resourse in the world for the benefit of the FEW to increase their CAPITAL and their power, promote consumerism and deplete resources is agaist sustaintability of the mayority of our citizens of the world. Also the richness of the EARTH is limited by the size and carrying capacity of the planet.We have no other and THE FEW WANTS IT ALL.These leads to even more scarcity among the mayorities of the world, hunger,health problems and poverty megaton-bombs of deaths!
(3)Imperialist Wars: because they want it all, no matter where nor who's. Any frosting excuse is good enough for the cake of war they cook anywhere NEOIMPERIALISM's never ending desire signals.And they don't care bombing with radioactive Uranium238 in Irak,Kosovo,Vieques(Puerto Rico), whose HALF-life cancerigenous radiation lasts 4.5 million years, equivalent to 450,000 times of human written history or 1,000,000 years more than the first known humanoid, namely the Australopithecus from South Africa.That is the legacy the present dominant class in USA-England lead by Petroleumpithecus Bush(and his 41 named petroleumpithecus governmental executives coming from many brands of petroleum piratery)and the industrial war machine, both economic columns leading to such imperialist-consumerist and destructive agenda.What else can come out of that twisted-antihuman frame and motives? Such is Capitalism after decades of economic and military power accumulation.Is that CAPITALISM frame the answer to global needs of the mayorities of people in the world and in each and every country?... That has not adressed but accelerated the ever widening gap between the greater s$$$uper-accumulation of fortunes and capital$$$$s of decreasing numbers of the few S$$uper-rich as opposed to the always INCREASING POVERTY-SCARCITY of the ever increasing MAYORITIES OF THE WORLD.Evidently NEOCAPITALISM=NEOIMPERIALISM is not OUR (the mayority's)answer!
NOT only another world (order) is possible, rather ANOTHER WORLD ORDER IS NECESSARY for the sustentability of mankind (ecologically, economically, socially and for a dignifying civilization).
Let's start not accepting,resisting, throwing down NAFTA's,ALCA's, Neo-imperialist war adventures and impositions and their leader's, UNITED TOWARDS NEW WORLD ORDER OF JUSTICE-EQUALITY-SOLIDARITY...LIVING ROUTE TO FRATERNITY AND PEACE.
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