[fse-esf] WSF IN NAIROBI - INFORMATION

[Raffaella Bolini]

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM 

NAIROBI, KENIA, JANUARY 20-25

 

 

The 4th World Social Forum will be held in Nairobi, Kenia, from 20th to
25th of January.

 

All the information can be found in the website www.wsf2007.org
<http://www.wsf2007.org/> 

 

Registration of individuals, organizations and self-organized activities
are open, on the same web site.

 

Deadline for registering activities is 31st of November.

 

 

Having a WSF in Kenia is a big challenge, for the African and world
social movements.

Only five years ago, at the time of the first WSF in Porto Alegre, a WSF
in Africa was only a dream.

Now it's a reality. 

 

Everybody can imagine the difficulties the African Organizing Committee
is facing in organizing it, in a enormous continent, where social
movements have no money, where many social organizations have to access
to Internet, where connecting flights between African countries are few
and expensive. 

 

The African Organizing Committee know very well that it will be
impossible to overcome all these problems, and that it will impossible
to have in the WFS in Nairobi the whole of the African movements,
campaign, organized civil society and communities. 

 

Nevertheless, they consider the Nairobi Forum as a crucial step, in
order to strengthen the links and the unity

of the African movements, which can give them energy and possibility to
start a new process of convergence and mutual cooperation, which is
needed by them and by all of us.

 

 

The African Organizing Committee is organizing bus caravan from
different African countries in order to let people from all the
continent to reach Nairobi. 

 

They need money: if you can ask money to Government, Local Authorities,
institutions please do it!

 

 

The Forum will be held in a stadium, in a Nairobi suburbs 13 kilometres
from the centre of the town. 

There will be a Youth Camp close to the Forum venue. 

The Parlamentarian Forum and the Local Authorities Forum will be held in
the same period.

 

 

On the 20th afternoon, there will be the opening session.

On the 21st, 22nd and 23rd the self-organized activities will take
place.

The 24th will be a special day, devoted only to activities aimed to
create convergence for actions, campaigns and mobilization.

On the 25th there will be the closing session.

 

The axis for registering activities will be nine. You can find them on
the web site.

 

Every day a slot will be devoted to big debates and events organized by
the African Committee, in order to invite everybody to discuss global
issues seen from African perspectives.

 

 

For the first time the International Council overcome the old discussion
about the Forum: if it is only a space for debate or it is also an
opportunity for organizing mobilization. The decision taken about the
forth day devoted only to meetings aimed to launch actions and concrete
initiative is very important and provide all the movements with new
opportunity.

 

 

The International Council took another important decision: in 2008 there
will not be a WSF. Instead of it, the WSF will promote a global day of
mobilization. 

 

It will be not a thematical one: it will be the occasion to show to the
world, to the public opinion, to media and to politics that there is a
global and broad alliance of social actors for a "different world" ,
even if we are working on different issues and with different
priorities.

 

The discussion about the global day of mobilization will be done in
Nairobi. A working group of the International Council has been form in
order to spread information and collecting ideas.

 

Remember that 2008 will be also the year of the presidential election in
USA. The global day of mobilization can be a great way to try to play an
influence for helping the defeat of Bush. 

 

In this context, it can be useful to remember also that from 27th of
June up to 1st of July 2007 the USA Social Forum will be held in
Atlanta. Everybody is invited to take part in a so crucial event.

 

(info given by Raffaella Bolini to the EPA in Frankfurt)

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