Participants at the recent World Social Forum (WSF) in Karachi praised the polycentric approach for granting greater freedom to individuals and groups, where regional communities would benefit greatly and be able to participate more actively.
FORUM-ASIA representative to the WSF Heidi Han said however, such a positive result can only be possible from harnessing the energy generated from past WSFs in order to consolidate and strengthen a true global justice movement.
Participants at the recent World Social Forum (WSF) in Karachi praised the polycentric approach for granting greater freedom to individuals and groups, where regional communities would benefit greatly and be able to participate more actively.
FORUM-ASIA representative to the WSF Heidi Han said however, such a positive result can only be possible from harnessing the energy generated from past WSFs in order to consolidate and strengthen a true global justice movement.
“In other words, the movement should not end here in Karachi.
“Although individualism and tolerance of multifarious issues of the world today deserve respect, the current structure of the WSF could undermine the true objective of the WSF itself,” said Han, who is FORUM-ASIA Human Rights Defender Assistant Programme Coordinator.
“The network could become loosened and the forum will inevitably suffer from the possibility of turning into another jamboree and temporary celebration of internationalism. This of course could be manipulated by specific groups such as the current government of Pakistan,” she clarified.
FORUM-ASIA participated at the 6th Polycentric World Social Forum (WSF) in Karachi from 24-29 March 2006, and brought to the fore issues related to human rights defenders in South Asia and the present crisis in Nepal. FORUM-ASIA organised two public panel discussions and several other informal consultations amongst its members, partners and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the situation of human rights defenders, Ms Hina Jilani.
The WSF did not escape without a hitch, though. As repeatedly criticised by groups and the media, a lack of a basic structure and organisation of the forum (via elected representatives or a permanent secretariat) has hindered the activities of participating groups and activists as events, workshops, and seminars took on an uncoordinated form.
Han said the creation of a permanent organising committee which takes on the role of coordinating action, clarifying vision, and formulating strategic steps to come up with a specific and strong programme would put an end to the complaints that have plagued the Karachi Forum.
However, she added, that the political experimentation of splitting the venue has created several different impacts and it was a credible attempt to rouse real participation against neo-liberal militarism and South Asian politics.
“It is without doubt that the WSF-Karachi has become a venue for wider anti-globalisation movements, however, at the same time, the polycentric nature of the forum now more than ever has given way to more multifarious alignments and coalition building.
“This of course calls for a change in constructing and implementing strategies”.
Han reiterated that the WSF-Karachi has shown tremendous potential for civil society to challenge neo-liberalism as it brought together diverse groups and different ideologies but the key challenge now is to unify these groups with the fundamental objective to mobilize the people and place the grassroots groups in the forefront of this movement.
She said the movement should not be directed by a selected few but must focus on all social movements of the world, united under the theme of countering neo-liberal imperialistic agendas.
“…and while focusing on all social movements, without alienating all groups from the grassroots movement, efforts to strengthen political space for these groups must also be made to bridge the gap between politics and the people,” she added.
“This essential and deep-rooted vision of the World Social Forum should not be dampened experimentation, but must be fueled through increased and continuous popular participation”.
