this organization lasts and continues to grow. ..a positive sign, maybe
because americans have so little to do with it...
fs
The World Social Forum 2004 in Mumbai
____________________________________________________________
By Laurent Jesover
Translation. Jane Holister. Coorditrad, volunteer translator (*)
The 2004 Social Forum is scheduled for the 16th to the 20th January in
Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. The locality chosen in which the
various events will take place is in itself exceptional. It can hold
75,000 people, which augurs well for the success of this fourth WSF.
To the north of this 50 km.-long city, about an hour's drive from the
Gate of India, the tourist area in central Bombay, there stretches a
former industrial wasteland converted into a conference centre. A
wooded avenue 700m. long and 10m. wide runs through it. To the right
of this avenue 400 stands belonging to organizations from around the
world will be set up; on the left will be the hundreds of seminar
rooms and workshops. Further along the avenue there is an open area, a
square for public events and evening conferences that can bring
together between 25,000 and 30,000 people.
The square is surrounded by six halls with a capacity for holding
thousands of people each (one seats 10,000, four seat 5,000, and
another seats 3,000). This is where the conferences and panels will
take place in the morning, the speeches at midday, one conference and
four seminars (of the 200 seminars to be held in various locations) in
the afternoon, as well as a variety of evening assemblies. There may
also be the retransmission of the evening public events in a location
nearby which would offer the possibility of simultaneous
interpretation. The sixth hall is entirely dedicated to cultural
events: theatre, dance, music, etc. These types of events will be a
significant part of the WSF, made possible by the presence of an
on-site theatre and of ten stages to be found around the site, some of
which have a capacity for holding several thousand people. On top of
this, cultural events are to take place during the daytime and every
night after the public event.
It is hot in Mumbai in January. No need to read the weather report -
you can count on sunshine and blue sky every day, as it always has
been since . . . since . . . well, for a long, long time. However the
trees will provide shade and dozens of stands will be there for food
and drink. All you could want! There will be many Brazilians (a
delegation of around 1,000 people is possible) offering cachaça and
caperina, bringing back convivial memories.
The programme itself is structurally very open and interesting. Since
our strength lies in our diversity and this diversity leads to so many
possible alternatives, concrete ideas, and actions, the programme
gives a free hand to 'self-organized' events. This self-organization
is defined according to two criteria: the first is the possibility of
making suggestions; the second is that of organizing with other events
around a central theme and within the same space. We have already had
experience of these methods where workshops are concerned, and again
for seminars, but this will also be the case this time for the
conferences, the panels and the 'testimony' speeches.
The programme preparation group for the Indian organization committee
and the Asian assembly, along with the international secretariat for
the WSF, will be organizing one conference and two panels (out of
four) in the morning, two speeches (out of four) in the afternoon,
will leave the afternoon conference free, but will organize the public
event of the evening. This allows for the creation of programmes for a
day dedicated to themes of debate, reflection, and action judged to be
of critical importance: wars, exclusion, work, sexual persuasion,
discrimination, poverty, the dominant economic system, the environment
and the biosphere etc., thus developing throughout the day, with
actors who are directly involved, dynamics that will allow for the
emergence of not only new themes and challenges, but also of varying
points of view and perspectives.
The guests of the various WSF organization committees at the events to
take place will be numerous. They will include researchers, experts
and those acting directly within the fields covered, with an equal
balance between men and women. Among the most renowned of the dozens
of guests invited, Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky, and Nelson Mandela
have already accepted our invitation,
The youth camp, with its capacity of 25,000 people, will have its own
dynamic of debates and discussion. As at the previous WSF's, the camp
will not only be a place to sleep but an area of debate, of
coordination and of conviviality. Self-run, it will allow for those
who relate more to these surroundings and wish to fully participate
within them the possibility of laying the foundation then and there
for a new world, one of political and cultural diversity.
We will celebrate the end of our stay with a march starting out in the
centre of town and ending up on the beach where various fishermen's
organizations are likely to be waiting for us.
India is not far, and the WSF seems to be coming up very quickly as we
prepare the mid-November European Social Forum in Paris. Paris-Mumbai
is an eight-hour flight, averaging at a price of 600 euros for a
return trip - hardly peanuts! But it is not an impossible venture,
particularly in light of the fact that India's recent colonial past
and its linguistic realities (over 15 languages, each linguistic
minority representing around 15 million people) have imposed English
as the sole language of communication between the diverse elements of
the population. An English sometimes a little broken, sometimes with
its own particularities, not always easy to understand, but a base
that allows for normal relations with the people encountered, in the
street or elsewhere.
In addition to the cost of the plane ticket, there is an obligatory
50-euro visa to be considered. As for sleeping arrangements, hotels
are to be found nearby. Rooms can be booked from today onwards through
the WSF site - calculate around 20 US dollars / 18 euros per night per
person. A campsite is also to be installed for around ten thousand
people, for sleeping purposes only, that will cost less than 5 euros
for the duration of the forum. Transport will be provided by special
bus connections from town to allow access to the conference site from
hotels; free shuttle services will connect the two nearest train
stations to the WSF entry. The town is also overflowing with taxis and
rickshaws (little yellow three-wheeled Vespas with a wide back seat)
that cost very little and make it easy to get around.
As for the rest, my basis for the calculation of prices is that of a
cup of coffee (the relaxed morning coffee at a bar or a quiet terrace
. . .) or tea, which is 3 rupees, or 7 centimes of a euro. From there
we can work out the price of food, the reputation of which for taste
and variety is already legendary. In case of thirst a bottle of water
costs 28 centimes a litre, beer around the same. To sum up, you will
die neither of hunger nor of thirst.
The WSF is self-financed. It has refused funds from certain
foundations - for political reasons, it cannot allow itself to use
public funding from any town, state or country. Its budget relies
entirely, therefore, on help from organizations, NGO's, on us, on the
individual inscriptions and possible personal donations. At the last
Asian preparation assembly (Chennai, September 2003) it was decided to
change the pricing listed on the website: it will now cost 200 euros
for the inscription of an organization and its first delegate, and 50
euros for those to follow, as for those who sign up individually. An
appeal will soon be published in various newspapers around Europe for
those who cannot physically attend to contribute financially, in this
way involving themselves in the success of the event.
Success is also guaranteed by the presence of eleven official
languages: four Asian languages - Bahasa, Korean, Japanese and Thai;
four Indian languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and ****; three European
languages - English, Spanish and French. To this we will add an
international first (beyond that of the number of participants), as
some communities - French and Indian for example, and probably
Japanese, are planning a system for translation that will not only
allow participants to follow debates on the spot in their own
language, but will enable them to record them in all the languages
present and to play them directly on Internet, again in all the
languages (in France contact the group AP033). We would like to see
this 'nomad' system become a world standard as a result of our
international conferences, forums and debates.
Volunteers from all five continents will ensure simultaneous
translation. This in itself is more than symbolic - it demonstrates a
real political interest, for the issue is not simply one of offering a
free service but rather of organizing the full participation of
interpreters and translators committed to the construction of
dialogues and exchanges that go beyond this single event. Various
groups are now organizing themselves in India, in Japan, in Korea, in
Thailand, in Indonesia, in Malaysia, and of course in countries of
Europe, Africa and the Americas.
As the Indian Organization Committee says:
Another world is possible! Let's build it!
Laurent Jesover
Contact: [log in to unmask]
For more information:
WSF India Office
Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan, 3rd Floor
Leningrad Chowk
85 Sayani Road
Prabhadevi
Mumbai 400 025
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