WSF: Bringing back the memory of Mumbai 2004

They are from South Asia, the subregion that hosted the World Social Forum in 2004. They came to Porto Alegre despite the disastrous Tsunami that struck their countries recently. They are enthusiastic to attend an event they believe will empower them and give them more hope for the future.

“The most precious thing in the World Social Forum is that people are opening up and starting to learn from other countries’ experiences,” says Sunila Abeysekera from Sri Lanka regarding the linkage between Mumbai 2004 and Porto Alegre 2005 Social Forums. She is very happy to participate on behalf of Inform, an Sri Lankan Human Rights organisation. For her, the most important events are the Feminist Dialogues and the women’s rights discussions.

Asia did not come to the forum? People cannot come — the tsunami disaster has ruined a lot. Sri Lanka is suffering very much, the tsunami distroyed the small that was built since after the war. “Maybe there are 50 participants from Asian countries. People have no funds to come — Brazil is so far away from us!”

Flashback from WSF Mumbai 2004 “People travelled for 5 days by train just to come to Mumbai for the Forum. It was really an important event for Asian people,” says Bina Srinivasan who works as a researcher for Inform and FEMNET in India. “But we also had many more womens’ rights acitivities in Mumbai. Women there got together and mobilised. Here, they somehow cannot get together.” They are both happy with the Feminist Dialogues: “It is a tribune to exchange ideas and hear from other countries”, relates Sunila. The WSF in Mumbai gave much more visibility to the Forum, it gained much more popularity, but did it bring about change in any way to the difficult situations in many countries?

The tsunami funds and the Srilankan women “The tsunami came as a big disaster. It affected Sri Lanka more than India. Sri Lanka is much less prepared for disasters. The problem with the funds that keep arriving is who is taking the decision on how to spend it. It is a fact,that more U.S. army troops have arrived, and more funds have been allocated for weapons. The conflict is brewing.” The money for weapons are given mainly to the separatists on the island and in this way they feel more powerful to attack. The rising conflict is going to affect first the mothers and the children since they are the most vulnerable groups in society.

Can WSF help in addressing the tragedy? Srinivasan is very clear on this issue: “Mumbai helped us to discuss and get along with many regional problems, the Porto Alegre Forum and its demonstrations are also very essential in our work for world peace. I deeply believe that the Social Forum is a way to say what we think, and a means to create a path that leads to freedom!”