A Critical Utopia Moves to Africa

NIGD News and Notes Double Issue Febuary-March 2006

In this issue:
I. A Critical Utopia Moves to Africa
II. Hard Questions on the WSF
III. Bamako Appeal Spikes Contoversy
IV. Global Political Parties?
V. World Public Finances
VI. The Role of the Library in the WSF process
VII. Development, Poverty and Security: Treacherous concepts and Proposals for alternatives
VIII. The Future of the WSF: Focus on Africa
IX. Further reading
X. Rendezvous with NIGD

I.A Critical Utopia moves to Africa
by Mika Rönkkö
As the WSF made its move towards the African continent with the forum in Bamako, Mika Rönkkö congratulates the organizers of the Mali forum, yet addresses the challenges in the WSF process towards Nairobi. The author ends with the conclusion, “if the WSF in Africa does not create powerful campaigns and proposals for concrete programs to end the neoliberal hegemony that maintains the global mechanism that suck up the African wealth, it has failed,” which, for the author, must come from the building up of radically democratic processes of agglutination within the forum process.

2. Polycentric World Social Forum: Caracas 2006
by Marc Becker
Marc Becker provides us with an overall view on the WSF Caracas edition in which according to the author, “Chavez was present everywhere, and nowhere at the same time.” Marc also addresses also the sometimes nightmarish logistical conditions of the forum, coming to the conclusion that, “after having a good five-year run that significantly advanced the agendas of social movements around the world, perhaps the WSF has served its purpose,” whilst “no matter what shape it takes in the future, the WSF has been a historic experience with a lasting impact on social movements around the world.”

II. Hard Questions on the WSF Debate: the relationship between the WSF, political parties and governments.
Compiled by Ruby van der Wekken
On 10 January 2006, Jai Sen, CACIM, India brings up for debate a main issue which he believes has been left unaddressed in the period leading up to the polycentric WSF 2006, namely the relation between the WSF, political parties and governments. Read the debate that took place between Jai Sen, Teivo Teivainen and Immanuel Wallerstein.

2. The WSF needs to seriously discuss its relationship with political parties and states
by Marcus Aurelius
In this interview of Marcus Aurelius with Teivo Teivainen, which appeared in the Brasilian magazine Carta Maior, Teivo addresses the issue of the WSF, political parties and states and throws the hypothesis that “the WSF process has been facing difficulties in answering a question... how is this other world possible, and how can we get to it?... We have a dilemma to solve...”

The interview is followed by a comment from Moema Miranda, Ibase, and collective responsible for the office of the WSF, on what actually constitutes the political of a politicised WSF.

3.Caracas 2006 – A Chávez show or not?
by Anna Ylä-Anttila
The author ponders the question of whether the Caracas forum was a showcase of the boliviarian revolution and Chavez regime? Touching the topics of Chavez financial, logistical, and personal support and his overwhelming media attention, Anna explains that “El Presidente did use the opportunity to his best advantage but it did not dominate the actual content of the forum”.

4. The World Social Forum and the Bolivarian Revolution
by Hanna Laako
In these footnotes of a novice to the WSF as she calls her article, Hanna recounts her “street view” experiences at the WSF complemented with her background knowledge of the “so called leftist phenomena in Latin America”, and discusses its two sides: “the common front for alternartives” and the “be the change you want to see”. Hanna concludes by asking “what does all this mean for the left wing processes?”

III. Bamako Appeal spikes controversy
Compiled by Ruby van der Wekken
On 18 January 2006, one day before the opening of the Bamako polycentric WSF 2006, a gathering took place of some 80 invited altermondialists from different parts of the world. The gathering was not an official WSF activity but issued a statement at the end of the meeting, the Bamako Appeal, a text organised around 10 bullet points. The conference and the appeal gave rise to controversy and debate, both regarding its process and the content of the Appeal. Read a compilation of the exchanges between NIGD and Debate list members.

2. ...That Another World is Possible
by Antonio Martins
“Recent criticisms against the World Social Forum (WSF) have been made by well-intentioned people, but reveal a reactionary thinking. They introduce a certain logic into the alterglobalisation movement that characterises the Left in the 20th century, and led it to a historic failure.” This is the opening statement of Antonio in his article, which addresses certain recent writings regarding the WSF, as well as the Bamako Appeal. He makes a “criticism of the criticisms” of the WSF process they entail.

IV.Global Political Parties?
by Katarina Peixote
Katarina Peixote attended the NIGD debate on Global Political parties at the Caracas WSF and opens this article, which was published in Carta Mairo January 2006, by writing that “parties need to elaborate new forms of organisation that incorporate new ideas of horizontality and flexibility, and are able to create a new strategy for a more efficient form of political action. This is a political exigency of the present.”

2. Read more on Global Political Parties
Recent contributions suggest NIGD confuses the term 'political party' with the concept of 'agency'.

3.World Voting
Can we extend universal suffrage to every man and women on the planet? What about extending voting rights to every man and women on the planet? Read how the World Wide Vote Field Test is collecting data on this possibility.

V.World Public Finances
A start off for this new platform was made at the polycentric WSF 2006 in Bamako, where organizations gathered around the proposal of presenting, collectively, a practical-political proposal for a new basis of an international system of Public Finances. World Public Finances is a process of articulation between involved actors from the WSF in Bamako, to the WSF 2007, in Nairobi. Read more on the initiative and join!

2.World Public Finances discussed in Bamako
by Matti Kohonen
Matti Kohonen wrote a report on the WPF event in Bamako which sheds deeper light on the aims of the WPF initiative. Matti believes that “if we set ourgoals high, and justify them with the language of human and socio-economic rights, the market will need to accommodate to them, and not the other way around....I think there could be a big bang effect for global democracy in Nairobi, so I think we should consider making a statement, outlining the thesis for World Public Finances.”

VI. The Role of the Library in the WSF process
by Mikael Böök
Mikael writes, “support from librarians, as a professional group, should be just as necessary to the WSF as is, say, the contributions of journalists and translators.” This is one conclusion drawn from the NIGD workshop, “The Role of The Library in the WSF Process” held in Bamako, 22 January, 2006. He explains how Librarians could provide the global justice movement with an essential documentation service, and the valuable role of libraries in the WSF process.

VII. Development, Poverty and Security: Treacherous concepts and proposals for alternatives
by Francine Mestrum
As an introduction to a seminar held at the Caracas WSF Francine explains,“that the link between development and security is far from new, and today it is being materialized in a way that implies a risk of re-colonization of poor countries.” Exploring aspects of the redefinition of security and development she draws links between neoliberal institutions and policies, and social inequalities. In her conclusion she states, “we definitely have to change the formal development agenda, and we need to promote social security instead of military security.”

2. Two concepts of security: Some thoughts on the merging of the development and the security agendas
by Francine Mestrum
In this article, Francine continues on the theme and takes a closer look at the links between peace and security in order to try and understand their underlying meaning. First she analyzes the redefining of ‘security’ and the contradictory developments it entails. Second she looks at the redefining of ‘development’. In her final reflection she emphasizes the choices societies should be able to make, she writes, “with social security disappearing, military protection takes over, as a logical consequence. In that sense, there really is not a merging of security and development. Both concepts would mean the same: a police or military-led managing of conflicts.”

VIII. The Future of the Forum: Focus on Africa
by Tuomas Ylä-Anttila
Since the Mumbai WSF in 2004, NIGD has organised debates on the WSF at the WSF. Tuomas Ylä-Anttila wrote a report on the WSF debate held in Bamako in which one of the main topics considered the challenge for the future of the WSF regarding the moving from talk to action within the WSF process. Read more on the debate which among others benefited from the participation of Taoufik Ben Andallah, Demba Dembele, Sara Longwe, and Esther Obachi.

2.Translating Discourse into Concrete Mobilization
by Sergio Ferrari
In this interview in December 2005, Antonio Martins continues on the theme of translating talk into mobilisation and writes, “I can foresee the moment, based always on the principle of voluntary adhesion and horizontal coordination, where we can give in to the impulse to boycott certain transnationals (as Arundhati Roy proposed in Mumbai), mount an international campaign for the reduction of the work day, or provide free access to AIDS medications (financed, for instance, by a tax on the profits of transnationals).” The interview touches on different issues as the crises of the Brazilian PT and the role of the WSF secretariat in the WSF process.

3. Four Radical – Democratic Challenges for and of the WSF
by Peter Waterman
Peter Waterman also addresses the future of the forum in the form of four radical democratic challenges for the WSF process: democracy as the necessity for popularisation, democracy surpassing politics, democracy as emancipating the Left, and intellectual and cultural activity is increasingly central to democracy.

IX. Further Reading
Brazil and the crises of the PT
An extensive report by left wing activists discussing Brazil and the crises of the PT

Material on the European Social Forum (next edition 4-7 May 2006, Athens)