riFROM WORLD SOCIAL FORUM (WSF) BAMAKO 2006

TO WORLD SOCIAL FORUM (WSF)

NAIROBI 2007

A traveller’s guide

The WSF 2007 in Nairobi will be the meeting point of global civil society; the social forum will provide an opportunity for African activists and civil society organisations to put on the agenda, global solidarity towards Africa’s development and increase opposition to imperialist Neoliberalism.

It is expected that the participation of African civil society will be higher compared to previous forums which have been held in South America and once in Asia. This increase in participation is expected to be caused by the reduction of travel expenses for African groups travelling to the event in Nairobi.

THE TRAIL

The movement of participants from their respective nations will be symbolic of their commitment towards putting true development on the agenda; this movement will represent a pattern of the movement of the social forum from national level to global level.

Since the forum is a process of constructive debate, participants are expected to have national, regional and continental social forums before the main global forum; this forum movement can be viewed at two levels:

1) Physical movement

The actual physical movement of participants from their respective nations

2) Thematic movement

The movement of the issues, concerns and agendas from national, regional and continental forums, to the global forum in Nairobi.

1) The physical movement within Africa

Because the forum is taking place in Africa, the logistics of travel have been expanded from air travel to rail and road.

This movement can be seen as a ‘caravan’ towards the main ‘oasis’ (WSF 2007 Nairobi), and travellers to the forum in Nairobi will represent the forum in movement or more ambitiously, ‘Transit Forums.’

Forum in Transit

Synchronising the journey to Nairobi can be the task of regional and national organising committees. However as the African continent, the timing of arrival in Kenya would have more of an impact if the various committees throughout the continent worked together to agree on an arrival date for the benefit of maximum visual impact.

Southern Africa[1]

Because of the geographical location of Nairobi, Kenya, the movement by either road or rail from the Southern region of Africa is almost straight forward, participants from the tip of Africa in Cape Town need only to travel by bus to the event in Nairobi if they prefer not to utilise the aeroplanes.

Between South Africa and Kenya, there are about 12 nations. The movement of the participants can be organised to form a cohesive pattern.

Road

From Cape Town in South Africa, the following are the stops by road;

1. Johannesburg

2. Harare

3. Lusaka

4. Dodoma

5. And then the destination, Nairobi.

Oases[2]

For this ‘caravan’ movement in Southern Africa, the stops will also be meeting points for travellers to the forum. These meeting points can now be viewed as ‘oases’ before the main ‘oasis’ in Nairobi. The oases can be opportunities for meeting travellers to have engagements on issues in the region towards Nairobi 2007.

a) Johannesburg oasis

In Johannesburg, Lesotho and Swaziland can join the Cape Town caravan to Harare Zimbabwe.

b) Harare oasis

At this point, Namibia and Botswana can join the Cape Town caravan to Lusaka, Zambia.

c) Lusaka oasis

At this point Angola, Malawi and Mozambique[3] can join the Cape Town caravan. Lusaka also provides an access to the rail line and the caravan will have the option of using the train. The train tracks straight to Tanzania and Nairobi.

d) Dodoma oasis

At this point, what has become of the Cape Town caravan can meet, Congo DRC, Burundi or Rwanda and if Malawi and Mozambique did not join the caravan in Lusaka, they can meet the caravan here.

e) Nairobi

The social forum in Nairobi can be a true culmination of real social processes, a real African initiative and a real commitment towards reducing the unnecessary cost usually related to allowing participation of movements in events and initiatives for development.

Other African regions can utilise a similar caravan towards Nairobi.

EXPECTATIONS FOR WSF 2007

The world will turn its attention towards Africa as people from around the world converge in Nairobi to speak to policy makers. On the agenda will be a wide range of issues ranging from debt, the MDG’s to trade.

Symbolically, Africa is hosting this event to bring this wide range of issues of development closer to the continent for the benefit of showing the world the true representation of issues being discussed.

A NATIONAL PROCESS

Zambia Social Forum[4]

The idea was envisaged in the hope that Forums in Africa

and around the world may also move in the same mind frame

for social change.

Brief Scenario of National Process

The Zambia social forum was held on 7^th October 2005, it provided an opportunity for Zambia to showcase the Zambian identity, participants sought to find alternatives to current initiatives that seemed to not provide meaningful change in the nation. The majority of participants where women and in general participation was drawn from the Zambian grassroots. Participants committed to seeing the event held annually, and the adopted the theme: Another Zambia is possible. Registration records indicate an attendance of about a hundred participants

For Zambia, the event will provide an opportunity for cohesion of ideas both within and outside the nation towards achieving meaningful change towards development.

Zambia as an oasis

When the Cape Town caravan reaches Zambia, the Zambia social forum in solidarity can prepare to travel towards Nairobi. This meeting can be used as an opportunity for Zambia to showcase the values and principles of the forum to the Zambian public.

It can also provide an opportunity for strengthening and unifying Zambian civil society groups.

The road to Nairobi

The national process in Zambia is clearly very important and critical to Zambia’s participation at the event in Nairobi, for the WSF 2007 to be owned by Africa, national events like Zambia’s must play a role in building the momentum. Being the first nation in Africa to host a regional social forum (SASF), Zambia is expected to play a leading role in building the social forum process in the region.

SOUTHERN AFRICAN CARAVAN­ TRAIL

Formulated by: Kiss Abraham, Olivia Phiri and Sara Longwe (Zambian Activists)

February 2006

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[1] The southern Africa social forum (SASF) will be held in Malawi, it is expected that movements in the region will converge in Malawi for the forum before the WSF in 2007.

[2] For southern Africa, Tanzania is a point of convergence before Nairobi, this while Malawi is the host of the SASF.

[3] Malawi and Mozambique have the benefit of sharing a border with Tanzania a neighbor of Kenya, they can easily trek independently to Tanzania without passing through Zambia.

[4] The forum will be an annual event. The overall theme for the event is another Zambia is possible.

The Zambia Social Forum is not an organisation, not a united front platform, but an open meeting place for reflective thinking, 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 society centred on the human person. This is in line with the world social forum charter of principals.