Preparatory WSF Dakar 2011 seminar from 16 to 18 November, in Dakar, Senegal

Report from 17 November.

by Mikael Böök (NIGD)

The Preparatory Seminar on WSF Dakar 2011 continued yesterday 17 November with a short general discussion where Francois Ambroise Tine (Caritas internationalis) noted that, in a situation where a phobia about political Islam is spreading,   Senegal is a positive example of a society where different religions can live in peaceful co-existence. Hereafter, the seminar split into four working groups.

FOUR KEY ISSUES, FOUR WORKING GROUPS

1. Strategy, Content, Methodology,  Chaired by Hélène Rama NIANG

- Reaffirmed that the WSF is an open space. However, the forum must also be a place where strategies can be discussed bu the groups and movements. (Discussion betwwen Samir Amin and Chico Whitaker). Both self-organised and "sponsorised" by the Senegallian org. committee. (Senegallian, because not all who live/work in  Senegal are 'Senegalese'.)
- WSF 2011 should be forum for the people of Senegal and for Africans. Chico: The local participation is  80 % ; o process of local consultation
is needed for local participation.
 -  The South is the principal victim of the crises of Capitalism.  The WSF 2011 is to have a  South-South Vision
- What is our proposal for new North-South relations?
- slogans?  south-south solidarity for a just world order?
- Methodology: Mikael from Finland(the present writer) pressed for the adoption of the "21 actionable themes"  as a permanent catalog of WSF
activities, and  distributed an excerpt of a draft article on the documentation of social forum(s) in libraries
(http://www.wsflibrary.org/index.php/Image:Documentation1and2.pdf).
- It was decided that the working group should meet again (in Porto
Alegre?)

2. Mobilization,  Expansion, 2010-2011

Notes from the report by by Solange Kone from Côte d'Ivoire. (The working groups had participants from all continents.) : The local committee should
-  identify those specific groups (in Senegal and West Africa) who know why they participate.
- visits in the neighbouring countries and the rest of Africa.
- All Africans (Maghreb, Westafrica, SADEC...) must feel concerned.
- a caravanshould travel from West Africa to Maghreb, East Africa and South Africa
- a cartography of the WSF events before 2011 is needed
-  create a unifying slogan

3. Communication, Culture
Agenda for press relations. Translation, activities in  the local languages peul and haussa will be needed. [...]


4. Logistics, Resources
Demba: the preparatory committee has asked  the Senegalese government for a financial contribution 'sans conditions' .
Taoufik:  Should the Banque africain de developpement be approached ? (Although it may not be  likely to provide support.)
Discussion: which governments of the South should be approached:
Venzuela, Brazil, South Africa...

Jason Nardi (fr Italy) raised the question about corporate sponsors and related problems: Who  will be allowed to sell water, food etc.  in the
forum premises? The need to establish a  protocol for "responsible comsumption".

- - -

At 16 pm the seminar eneded, and the participants went on a tour to visit the potential sites (venues) of the WSF 2011:

1) UCAD 2 : Université Cheikh Anta Diop 2 ; this university campus, with big auditoriums and technical facilities, would be well suited as a WSF
site.

2) CICES:  Centre International du commerce extérieur du Sénégal ;
Exhibition Centre with numerous pavillions spread over a wide area, a main hall with a big auditorium etc. Could be compared to NESCO /Goregaon, which was the venue of the WSF event in Mumbai 2004.

3)  The Stadium. Might be compared to Kasarani in  Nairobi.  Surrounded by sheep, and a bus station.

(some photos to be added)

ADDITIONAL (PERSONAL/SUBJECTIVE) OBSERVATIONS

During the nice African dinner I  found myself being the only European at the table, the other guests being either African, Indian or Brazilian. I
discussed this fact with the lady from the Ivory Cost on my right. We constated that there had not been any participants from France in the
seminar. Perhaps the World Social Forum is no longer à la mode in Paris?

Backdrops of the seminar: African trade-unions, catholic women's organisations, international womens'  organisations and  the Brazilian WSF
founders/activists. Also: the Algerian Youth organisation, African social forums, International Alliance of Habitants, CADTM, Attac Cote d'Ivoire

Discussed European Nuclear Disarmament with Samir. Could there be a South-South initiative on this issue? Yes! But the priority is to dissolve
NATO and the system of foreign military bases. (On the plane to Dakar I learned from a brochure which I got at the Nuclear Disarmament conference in Stockholm, about the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases (www.no-bases.net - linked via the Internet Archive ), which has come to being through the WSF events.)

Peace and love,

 - Mikael
PS While we meet in Dakar, the Web Foundation is launched in Sharm-el-Sheik, at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting. May the Social Forum and the Web Foundation converge as soon as possible!
Mikael Böök * book(a)kaapeli.fi * gsm +358(0)-44 5511 324 *
http://www.kaapeli.fi/book/  * http://blogi.kaapeli.fi/book/ *
http://blog.spinellisfootsteps.info/