Accounts from the World Social Forum, Mumbai

dublin | public consultation / irish social forum | event notice Friday April 09, 2004 16:40 by Ian - Comhlamh ian at theplateau dot com

all welcome

Speakers from Trocaire and Comhlamh to discuss the last January's Wold Social Forum and the incredible energy brought to the event and the process by grassroots people's movements from across the world.

7pm April 14, Comhlamh,10 Upper Camden St

Comhlámh Development Forum:

People's Movements and the
World Social Forum


SPEAKERS:

Sarah McCan
of Trócaire who attended the World Social Forum (WSF) Last January in Mumbai;

Ian McDonald
who attended the WSF as a member of Comhlámh Media, and subsequently visited the Anjuman Mazarain Punjab, one of the largest people's
movements in the world.


The Forum will consist of first hand accounts of the recent World Social Forum, and discussion on its significance to those interested in development and justice issues in Ireland. Also a first hand account of a visit to
the AMP in Pakistan, one of the world's largest social movements. The
AMP consists of over a million people in tenant farming communities
struggling to hold on to their land against an agenda of disposession
and eviction, building their own vision of another world in the
process.


When: Wednesday April 14 2004, 7pm - 9 pm
Where: Meeting Room, Comhlámh, 10 Upper Camden St, Dublin 2

ALL WELCOME to come along, join the discussion, or just listen and learn - TEA AND BISCUITS PROVIDED!!

* * *

Background Details:

In 1879 as rural Ireland faced its yet another crisis and famine, rather that submit to more of the sufferings of the past, people
responded with Ireland's first mass social movement - the Land League.

The Land Leauge was to be Ireland's first experience of mass popular organisation, provided the first opportunities of political leadership
for the working class, and gave Irish women their first experience of
a political voice. It sucessfully brought to the public a new vision
of the rural economy - a vision of "peasant proprietorship" in
opposition to the dominant models of landlordism. To this day, the
vibrancy of rural Ireland can be seen as the legacy of the sucess this
vision.

When the World Social Forum (WSF) met in Mumbai, India, last January it brought together more than 80,000 people from 132 countries under
the call of "Another World is Possible". It was a space for
discussion, debate, networking, planning strategising, singing,
protesting and dancing - a "Festival or the Oppressed", a space of
immense energy and diversity in which to articulate, share, and build
new visions of a just, equitable, and sustainable world.

What made the event stand out, even from previous WSFs, was the unprecedented level of representation and participation of people's
movements from across the world. Indian villagers spoke of their
struggles with the World Bank alongside Nobel Prize-winning
economists. Uruguayan enviromentalists shared experience and analysis
with Mozambiquan peasants. Feeling increasingly isolated and
marginalised by the current age of corporate globalisation, the
enthusiasm with which many from these social movements came to meet
their contemporaties and potential supporters could hardly be
contained.

Just as Ireland once inspired people across the world to struggle for new visions, it is these movements that drive the WSF's energy,
legitimacy, and urgency.

This Development Forum will consist of first hand accounts of the Mumbai WSF, and reflections on its significance to anyone interested
in development issues in Ireland. It will also bring a first hand
account from one of the world's largest social movements, the Anjuman
Mazarain Punjab ( "Tennants's Association of The Punjab") where
farming connunities of the Pakistani Punjab, a million strong,
stuggle against an agenda of disposession, building their own vision
of another world in the process.

As far as we know, Ian is the first Comhlámh member to become wanted as a terrorist in Pakistan for visiting the villages of a Pakistani
social movement while working on an upcoming Comhlamh Media radio
documentary.

The Development Forums take place in Comhlámh, from 7pm - 9pm. Check www.comhlamh.org for further information on each Forum, and for
information on other events and courses run by Comhlámh.