impressions from the WSF in Nairobi 2007
by - 01.02.2007 19:48
More than 60000 participants were registered at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi, Kenya. This was the seventh edition of the WSF in parallel to the World Economic Forum in Davos (WEF). There was harsh criticism about exclusion during the WSF, and the Final Call of the Assembly of Social Movements mentioned too high prices for participants' fees and food. Even drinking water was sold at a price that was four times higher than usual.
Foto: indymedia.be
A forum with social movements protesting against the privatisation of water and the water is not distributed for free? Alongside the heaps of rubbish from plastic bottles only one of the most visible contradictions at the WSF. One participant felt reminded of TV rights at the soccer world cup considering that the mobile phone company Celtel enjoyed exclusive rights for selling its (more expensive) phone cards at the WSF and took over a part of the WSF registration as well.
The participating groups at the WSF were mainly non-governmental organisations (NGOs), foundations, church and charity institutions. At least there were some radical social movements from South Africa and South East Asia present. There were some annoying remarks in the media about Africa now being part of the global social justice movement at last. As if there were no strong resistance in South Africa against water privatisation, for instance, or as if there had not been a long-time struggle of the Ogoni against Shell, not to mention all the food riots against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, or the fight against neo-colonialism in general. A banner reminded WSF participants of the Mau Mau from Kenya and their independence struggle "fighting
terrorism since the 1880s", and another banner demanded the release of political prisoners still in Kenya's jails.
One tent was called Q-Spot and was a meeting point for queer issues. The t-shirt "This is what a feminist looks like" was a bestseller at the forum. Before the WSF started, feminist women already met at the Feminist Dialogues for discussion. At the WSF, feminist groups protested against the scandalous presence of church anti-abortionists that demanded that the cross be removed from a statue depicting a crucified pregnant woman.
The entrance fees were differentiated, 80 euros for participants from the global North, 5 euros for African participants. 5 euros are still too many for the large number of Kenyans living on less than one dollar a day. A large part of Nairobi lives in slums, for instance in small shacks on a rubbish dump. The slum-dwellers would have to worked for one week to be able to enter the WSF and additionally find money for the bus since the WSF was far away from the city centre, at the Kasarani stadium. Even journalists had to pay the fee, unlike previous World Social Forums, and had to endure the same complicated bureaucratic registration procedure.
Several demonstrations addressed the high prices. Sometimes it was possible to open the gates for everybody. The restaurant Windsor had set up a noble tent just outside the main gate with the media centre, all other food stalls were further away and not so easy to find. Coincidentally, the Windsor restaurant belongs to Kenya's Minister for Internal Security, John Michuki, who was said to have tortured freedom fighters in colonial times. The local activists protested in front of the restaurant and some activists from other continents helped to make sure the police did not start beating people. The second time round the activists managed to hand out Windsor's food for free to hungry kids from the slums.
A further issue of marginalisation was language. Even the translation radios were not distributed for free. The Kenyan customs held up the radios for weeks, apparently shipped to Kenya from the last ESF in Athens, and the radios were only released one day before the Forum. Therefore it was not possible to check the machines in advance. Many workshops and seminars were only in English, there were not enough interpreters, French and Spanish were not that frequent at events, and there was hardly any Swahili spoken at meetings. Even the opening and closing ceremonies were not bilingual. At least there was an interpretation in sign language.
Activists from the North had something to learn from the locals concerning the much more lively ways to start meetings. At first, people sing and dance before sitting down in a circle. Far too many workshops and seminars were planned as dull panels with long uninspiring speeches, and the wooden seating rows in the stadium reinforced this practice. At least there were soem big tents outside the stadium that enabled discussion circles more easily. A NGO boss from Germany longed for the big panels with famous celebrities and thought this was the explanation for the lack of media attention in Nairobi. Probably, not even Arundhati Roy would have been able to attract more reports, since the mainstream media attention was focussing on the WEF in Davos. More likely, a seventh WSF is just not a novelty anymore and it would be an idea to think of more alternative ways for encounters and debates.
(...)
Assembly of Social Movements Call:
http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/531.php
OpenSpaceForum: http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-index.php
AGP: http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/wsf/
http://www.all4all.org/wsf/
Feminist Dialogues: http://feministdialogue.isiswomen.org
Trevor Ngwane: What happened in Nairobi: http://de.indymedia.org/2007/01/167151.shtml
NGO fair? http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=11991
The participating groups at the WSF were mainly non-governmental organisations (NGOs), foundations, church and charity institutions. At least there were some radical social movements from South Africa and South East Asia present. There were some annoying remarks in the media about Africa now being part of the global social justice movement at last. As if there were no strong resistance in South Africa against water privatisation, for instance, or as if there had not been a long-time struggle of the Ogoni against Shell, not to mention all the food riots against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, or the fight against neo-colonialism in general. A banner reminded WSF participants of the Mau Mau from Kenya and their independence struggle "fighting
terrorism since the 1880s", and another banner demanded the release of political prisoners still in Kenya's jails.
One tent was called Q-Spot and was a meeting point for queer issues. The t-shirt "This is what a feminist looks like" was a bestseller at the forum. Before the WSF started, feminist women already met at the Feminist Dialogues for discussion. At the WSF, feminist groups protested against the scandalous presence of church anti-abortionists that demanded that the cross be removed from a statue depicting a crucified pregnant woman.
The entrance fees were differentiated, 80 euros for participants from the global North, 5 euros for African participants. 5 euros are still too many for the large number of Kenyans living on less than one dollar a day. A large part of Nairobi lives in slums, for instance in small shacks on a rubbish dump. The slum-dwellers would have to worked for one week to be able to enter the WSF and additionally find money for the bus since the WSF was far away from the city centre, at the Kasarani stadium. Even journalists had to pay the fee, unlike previous World Social Forums, and had to endure the same complicated bureaucratic registration procedure.
Several demonstrations addressed the high prices. Sometimes it was possible to open the gates for everybody. The restaurant Windsor had set up a noble tent just outside the main gate with the media centre, all other food stalls were further away and not so easy to find. Coincidentally, the Windsor restaurant belongs to Kenya's Minister for Internal Security, John Michuki, who was said to have tortured freedom fighters in colonial times. The local activists protested in front of the restaurant and some activists from other continents helped to make sure the police did not start beating people. The second time round the activists managed to hand out Windsor's food for free to hungry kids from the slums.
A further issue of marginalisation was language. Even the translation radios were not distributed for free. The Kenyan customs held up the radios for weeks, apparently shipped to Kenya from the last ESF in Athens, and the radios were only released one day before the Forum. Therefore it was not possible to check the machines in advance. Many workshops and seminars were only in English, there were not enough interpreters, French and Spanish were not that frequent at events, and there was hardly any Swahili spoken at meetings. Even the opening and closing ceremonies were not bilingual. At least there was an interpretation in sign language.
Activists from the North had something to learn from the locals concerning the much more lively ways to start meetings. At first, people sing and dance before sitting down in a circle. Far too many workshops and seminars were planned as dull panels with long uninspiring speeches, and the wooden seating rows in the stadium reinforced this practice. At least there were soem big tents outside the stadium that enabled discussion circles more easily. A NGO boss from Germany longed for the big panels with famous celebrities and thought this was the explanation for the lack of media attention in Nairobi. Probably, not even Arundhati Roy would have been able to attract more reports, since the mainstream media attention was focussing on the WEF in Davos. More likely, a seventh WSF is just not a novelty anymore and it would be an idea to think of more alternative ways for encounters and debates.
(...)
Assembly of Social Movements Call:
http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/531.php
OpenSpaceForum:
http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-index.php
AGP:
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/wsf/
http://www.all4all.org/wsf/
Feminist Dialogues:
http://feministdialogue.isiswomen.org
Trevor Ngwane: What happened in Nairobi:
http://de.indymedia.org/2007/01/167151.shtml
NGO fair?
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=11991