World Social Forum kicks off | He is 20 years old …

The World Social Forum (WSF) celebrates its 20th anniversary and will have a week of open virtual activities. The WSF begins this Saturday 23 with a virtual walk to be held with a 24-hour broadcast in which the experiences, visions and testimonies of eminent leaders and social referents of the world will be highlighted: Lula da Silva, Miriam Miranda, Leila Khaled, Ashish Kothari, Aminata Dramane Traoré and Yanis Varoufakis.

“One of the main challenges we have debated in the organizing councils is how to transcend action and achieve articulation of movements. How to connect the struggles to achieve something intersectional “ Rosy Zúñiga, Secretary General of the Council for Popular Education of Latin America and the Caribbean (CEAAL), explained during the 2021 World Social Forum press conference.

The history of the WSF begins in January 2001 when the first forum was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Since its inception, the space has led to the convergence of social organizations around the world. The current edition has around five thousand people and 700 organizations participating in the activities, although more participants are expected to join throughout the week.

Sunday begins with “Peace and War” panel: universal disarmament for a social and ecological transformation. It will focus on “Explore the strategies of social and environmental movements for the demilitarization of political structures in the aftermath of the pandemic”. The democratization of the economy will be addressed by the panel on economic justice, “we will speak with different voices about how another possible world could be in economic terms, how we manage from the peoples”, explained Zúñiga.

“The WSF is a very strong voice against the economic system that has been built since Davos”, Zúñiga added at the press conference also attended by Indian environmentalist Ashish Kothari, who spoke about the importance of recognizing the ecological debt of polluting countries. “There is a growing demand for the Global South, for all peoples and individuals who have been colonized over the past 500 years and whose natural resources and territories have been plundered for the development of Europe and the United States. ‘North America,’ Kothari told Página / 12.

“We must go further and demand that the ecological debt of these countries with the countries of the South be recognized. It must become a global movement to cancel economic and financial debt and effectively repair all the damage of the past 500 years, including the last 70 to 80 years of so-called “development”., he pointed out. Kothari also referred to the movement to recognize ecocide as a crime, “for example cell phones, companies that produce cell phones are creating enormous ecological damage and social strife in places like Central Africa. It is ecocide, a form of mass murder and we have to recognize it for these companies to stop. “This will be one of the themes to be debated at the conference devoted to the economy and democracy.

Other main themes of the WSF 2021 are Education, Communication and Culture, in this panel the situation of education in the world will be discussed, “how to challenge a space accessible to all, there we see how there is been an injustice in this pandemic. “There will also be a panel on Feminisms, Society and Diversity, Ancestral Indigenous Peoples: Claims, Complaints and Alternatives. In addition, on Thursday there will be a panel on Democracy and construction of popular power from public spaces.

Consulted on the current challenges of political participation in Latin America, Rosy Zúñiga replied to Page 12: “Defending your territory with your body and your word becomes dangerous, that is why we must join forces, it is a flag that we must all raise and seek forms of political participation in our territory”.

Discussions on democracy and participation aim to raise awareness of the role of movements, “We are the majority, we are the 99%, what we need is to be aware of this, it is also one of the roles of the World Social Forum, to be together and to know that we can make a difference ” underlined Francine Mestrum of the international council of the WSF.

On the 29th, there will be a debate on climate, ecology and the environment, those who participate will be able to attend discussions on natural resources, access to water, extractivism, community resilience against covid-19, environmental emergency and environmental emergency education, Other themes. Finally, an activity called El Ágora will take place, a sort of virtual public place to share the actions / initiatives that will be carried out this year, as well as the organization of the next face-to-face forum in Mexico.