Minutes from the second meeting of the African Commission on the World Social Forum, ACWSF, held on 14 September 2005 at the Workers´ Educational Association in Finland, TSL, in Helsinki, Finland.

Present: Antonio Martins (WSF secretariat), Lauri Holappa, Merja Leskinen, Mika Rönkkö, Mikko Sauli, Katarina Sehm-Patomäki (who translated these minutes into English), Ville-Pekka Sorsa (who took the minutes of the meeting in Finnish), Tarja Valtonen and Tuomas Ylä-Anttila.

Antonio Martins arrived in Helsinki from Perugia, where a meeting of the organisers of social Forums in Africa met in connection to the People’s United Nations –event. The organising committee of the Bamako (Mali) Social Forum – as one of the three polycentric forums – and the council of the African Social Forum took part in the meeting in Perugia.

In Perugia, a general impression was that organisations seemed to be very careful regarding most things. In addition to this caution, the arrangements had encountered many problems and difficulties - such as the coordination of a joint meeting. The organisation of the Mali Social Forum had been delayed quite a lot. In Perugia, it was decided that in Mali, a kind of a reporting session on social forums would be arranged on 24 January. This decision brings with it a prediction that the Mali meeting grows in importance. The decision on Mali as a central point for information sharing of social forums had been unexpected.

Antonio Martins suggested that the arrangements for Mali 2006 serve as indicators on how the World Social Forum in Nairobi in 2007 should be organised. In order to ensure a successful WSF 2007, the creation of a network should be embarked upon immediately. The task is vast, as the African continent offers many challenges regarding civil society mobilization. The first challenge is bad connections regarding information, communication and transportation. A part of the participants will have to be flown via Europe. This cannot be done for everyone – flying 25 000 persons is too big an operation in many regards. The logistical arrangements require lots of development and coordination, in order to ensure a financially viable system. A second set of problems is related to the lack of or bad situation of citizens’ freedoms. Governments can be aggressive, which in turn may cause certain risks regarding the possibilities of success of the social forums. A third factor is the overall lack of resources.

On a more positive side, the African experiences of social forums are amazing. On the continent, more than 30 successful local social forums have taken place in addition to three African Social Forums (Bamako, Mali 2002; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2003, and Lusaka, Zambia, 2004). The main importance lies in mobilising local movements and to emphasise the importance of communication. Proposals on arrangements are called for, and the organisation must also be transparent both in the North as well as in the South. A second important task is to avoid too centalized structures and keep the process international and democratic. A natural way of dealing with the organisational part is to rely on local networks. Given this, time is short and the goals are set high. The goal being the aim of getting 20 000 Africans to attend the Nairobi Forum in 2007 when only about 2 000 are expected to attend the Mali Forum. This strive for high goals must also be understood in a historical context. Since the World War II the ideas of liberating societies are high, and in this present age of globalisation, the state and roles of movements have decreased because countries have become weak and their political situation is locked and breathing space shrinking.

In conclusion, in Peruggia it was decided to support the hosting of a four point program to ensure success for the WSF process in 2007. The aim of the programme Voices of Africa is to map events organised by African networks. The role of Northern partnership programmes could be to map and to support projects and initiatives by their respective partner organisation. The aim of Pictures of Africa is to bring forward African concerns and themes. In this program, communication is in a central role, Northern participants will have to get information on the situation. Wings of Africa focuses on facilitating participation from everywhere in Africa by coordinating transportation systems and logistics. Within Ideas of Africa, the organisers will construct a WSF 2007 on a thematic level. The core aim is to set up a web site offering everyone interested a possibility to get acquainted with the situations, problems and proposals emerging from every African nation. Through the site, it would also be possible to make donations, both in terms of financial donations as well as information.

Following the introduction by Antonio Martins, the floor was opened for comments and questions. Among other things, it became clear that the themes of the Bamako forum have not yet been decided upon, but the organising committee of the African social forum is presently working on identifying the themes. In the council, where ENDA (www.enda.sn) in Dakar, Senegal, serves as secretariat important roles are played by the Jubilee campaign and NGOs such as Action Aid and the Friends of the Earth, among others. It is of importance to identify who is involved at this stage in order to avoid unnecessary tensions. Transparency is essential, and the committee is expected to communicate rapidly and widely of their work. Antonio Martins was of the impression that linguistic tensions have so far been insignificant and opinion dividers are mainly issues such as where it would be desirable to host the WSF event, both from a logical and technical perspective. Interpreters are of course in strong demand for. In practical matters it is of course good to benefit from the successful arrangements at the WSF IV in Mumbai.

Antonio Martins posed a question to the participants in the meeting of what the plans in Finland are for the transferral of the WSF process to Africa? It was noted, that the work of the ACWSF presently taking form will concentrate on three main aims or tasks. The most important task is to involve all Finns involved in Africa-work to commit to the WSF process and to introduce them to the issues discussed at social forums. In other words, the aim is to increase their understanding of the expectations and desires of the Africans regarding their futures thorough listening, discussing and building networks. The ACWSF will actively seek cooperation with the Church, KEPA and development aid workers. A second aim is to produce cheap easily graspable and available good material in Finnish on the WSF process. A third important aim is to function as information channels between African and Finnish social forum actives in order to avoid tensions and to promote open dialogues. An important part of the project is also to inspire to the birth of similar projects to the ACWSF in other areas and regions. To facilitate the ACWSF will of course remain in active dialogue with European networks. The ACWSF encourages civil society elsewhere to set up similar commissions.

At the meeting, it was notes that it is important to formulate concrete aims and goals and to make different kinds of initiatives to Finnish Africa actors.

It was decided, that goals and aims will be formulated following the meeting of the organisation committees of the Bamako social forum (28 September – 1 October in Mali). All interested are invited to attend this process.

Proposals are developed and fine tuned at the next meeting at Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland, SASK, on Wednesday 12 October 2005 from 15.00 onwards.