Gandhi Peace Foundation, Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg on 4th March at 2.30 PM Ph; 23237491 WSF India : Indian Social Forum in Delhi, in November 2006
Meeting of Delhi Organisations:
4th March, GPF- Delhi
2.30 PM
——————————————————————–
Dear All,
People’s movements across the world are working to identify and demonstrate that the path to sustainable development and social and economic justice does not lie in neo-liberal globalisation but in alternative models for people-centred and self-reliant progress.
As the economic space of nation states is invaded by predatory multi-national corporations, it is accompanied not only by mounting disparities and loss of livelihoods, but by growing sectarian and ethnic strife. The rapid flow of capital in and out of countries is leaving in its wake fractured communities. It is redefining nations in
narrow and exclusionary terms, distorting the validity and worth of sovereignty and self-reliance, and sharpening racial, ethnic, religious and caste divides.
The neo-liberal assault is not restricted to the agricultural, industrial and financial sectors of the third world countries, but is also damaging the traditional artisan sector – the mainstay of so many people in these countries. Indigenous people and tribal communities and others outside the development process are losing all control
over their natural resources and their own small economies and are being completely pauperised.
There is need for an alternative vision of hope, different to this barren neo-liberal landscape of greed and profit built on the destruction of people, communities and nations. These are the concerns that the World Social Forum process seeks to foreground.
The World Social Forum developed as a response of the growing international movement questioning the neo-liberal economic policies being pursued in most countries and capitalist-led globalisation.
Since 2001 — through the organisation of the hugely successful WSF events in Porto Alegre, Brazil and Mumbai, India and numerous regional and continental events — the World Social Forum process has explored and proposed such alternatives, and questioned the rules of governance being by countries of the global North and their pliant followers in the global South. The people’s argument is that Another World IS Possible.
The World Social Forum process has struck roots in India since the organisation of the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad in January, 2003 and the World Social Forum in Mumbai in January, 2004. It is now proposed that WSF India shall organise the Indian Social Forum in Delhi, in November 2006. The Forum shall be designed to facilitate participation of movements and organisations from across the country, who believe in an alternate vision to the present corporate led globalisation. The Forum, while focusing on Indian movements and their struggles and experiences, shall also be a platform where movements from across the World will find a space to share, interact and forge linkages with Indian movements and groups.
The organisation of the Social Forum in Delhi is both a challenge and an opportunity for mass organisations, people’s movements, citizens’ bodies and groups in Delhi. In addition to the massive organisational effort required, only an inclusive process can ensure that the Social Forum in Delhi will be able to mount a challenge against imperialist globalisation in the country and globally.
To start the process of jointly conceiving the structure and format of the Forum, a meeting is being organised at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg on 4th March at 2.30 PM Ph; 23237491. We apologise for the short notice, but do hope that you will be able to come.
We also request you to kindly circulate this mail widely.
In Solidarity,
Amit Chakraborty
for WSF India
14/187 LGF Malviya Nagar
New Delhi
Ph: 2674123
Mobile No: – 9818159302
