Prepare for the WSF 2007
At the beginning of 2006 Khanya College, together with social movements and progressive NGos produced this concept paper on how the social justice movement in South Africa will approach the WSF in Nairobi. This is an edited version of the concept paper agreed to by various social movements.
Over the last few years the world has seen the re-emergence and growth of a (global) social justice movement. This
movement has led to the recognition, by the public and by those in positions of authority, that while the world has unprecedented levels of production of material wealth, the majority of the world’s people are still mired in poverty. Increasingly, and to varying degrees, the poor and marginalised are organising and mobilising to change their lives. These organisations and movement have realised, however, that given the globalised nature of the environment within which they have to operate, they too have to build solidarity among the poor both within their respective countries and at a regional and global level.
As a result non-governmental organisations and movements have formed a number of national, regional and global networks and solidarity movements as part of their struggle to change their lives and to end poverty. This global justice movement is based on the realisation and understanding that the poor do not only need charity in order to climb out of their present conditions, but they need power to be able to shape their own lives. Civil society strengthening and movement building is thus one of the key ways for addressing issues of poverty eradication and marginalisation. On the other hand, civil society strengthening and movement building is not only an important element of democracy and democratisation; it is also a guarantee of the depth and effectiveness of democracy in our societies. While cooperation with those in authority and
power is needed and is necessary, the global justice movement understands the centrality of self- organisation, self-initiative and self-empowerment by the world’s poor.
One of the most high-profiled movements of this kind has been the World Social Forum (WSF). The WSF had its first international encounter in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in 2001. The formation of the forum followed the high-profiled struggles against the WTO in Seattle, which signalled the resurgence of resistance against the negative effects of globalisation. For most of its life the WSF held its international encounters in Brazil, and went out of Brazil only in 2005, when it hosted its international encounter in Mumbai, India.
In 2007 the WSF will be hosted in Africa (Nairobi) for the first time in its history. This event gives African civil society organisations and social movements an opportunity to take stock of the process of solidarity and movement building on the continent and in its various regions. The Nairobi WSF also provides African civil society with the opportunity to exchange ideas on new ways of building solidarity and of strengthening civil
society in Africa.
SASF as a preparatory step for Nairobi
As part of the regional organising committee (ROC) of the Southern Africa Social Forum Khanya sees the hosting of the SASF in Lilongwe, Malawi, as part of the preparation for the WSF 2007. Within this context, the organising committee of the SASF met in Johannesburg around the time of the Winter School. Some of members of the ROC participated in the Winter School; gave reports at the school on preparation for the SASF in Lilongwe as well as
on the state of preparation for Nairobi 2007, and reflected on their own experience of solidarity building in the African context.
Motivation for engagements and joint events in Nairobi
South Africa and Kenya as African countries
share a similar history of struggles against British colonial and white domination at economic and political levels. Historically, the political struggles
in Kenya encompass the struggle for independence which was ultimately gained in 1963. Just like
other postcolonial societies, the attainment of independence and the one-party state posed challenges to those that were struggling for the real social transformation. The Kenyan social
movements have been instrumental in shaping the struggle for democracy, social and economic rights in the postcolonial period.
The transition from the apartheid regime to
a democratically elected government in the 1994 elections is seen as important landmark in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The transition was followed by the deepening of poverty and unemployed among the working class and the poor. As a result new social movements emerged out of concrete struggles for democracy, accountability and the provision of social services.
The WSF as a platform for debate and sharing of perspectives by various group provides the Kenyan and South African social movements and social movements’ support organisation with an opportunity to discuss issues of organising strategy, programmes and solidarity.
It is upon this basis that Khanya is proposing to facilitate the hosting of joint events by South African social movements and NGOs, and their Kenyan counterparts. Khanya proposes to engage social movements and social movement support organisations (NGOs) to partner with Kenyan counterparts. The co-hosting of events with Kenyan social movements and NGOs at the WSF in Nairobi will facilitate the building of solidarity between
the SA and Kenyan organisations; it will ensure that the events have impact in the forum, and it will provide the South African organisations to with an opportunity to get a better understanding of conditions of organising in other African countries. After consultations with the participating movements, a timetable of preparation will be agreed upon and a committee formed to monitor
the preparation process.
Engagement between SA and Kenyan movements
Three kinds of joint activities by SA and Kenyan movements are proposed:
- Joint seminars, workshops or similar events at the WSF in Nairobi
- Closed organisation to organisation meetings between SA and Kenyan organisations, focus- ing on an exchange of organising strategies; the political context around which their work
takes place; and strategic and tactical challenges faced by each organisation or movement, and how these are met; and possibilities for ongoing cooperation. This is a working session in which we should aim at arriving at concrete strategies for ongoing cooperation.
- Site visits to township, rural areas or cities in which the Kenyan movements and NGOs work. This will be an opportunity for South African ac- tivists to move beyond the confines of the forum venue, and so engage with working class people in their own terrain.
Following the WSF in Nairobi, it is proposed that a publication bringing together the presentations/ papers of SA and Kenyan organisations in the joint events be published.
The road to Nairobi –the plan of preparation for Nairobi 2007
The following steps will form the preparation for
Nairobi 2007:
Step 1: the Khanya College Winter School
The Khanya College Annual Winter School took place in July and its focus was on the WSF as a modern-day instance of international solidarity. The school also discussed the state of preparedness of various movements in the Southern Africa region for the SASF meeting in Malawi and the WSF in
Nairobi.
Step 2: the ROC of SASF meeting in Jhb
The Regional Organising Committee of the Southern Africa Social Forum will meet in Jhb to prepare for the SASF meeting in Malawi in October. The Malawi meeting will be an important milestone in the preparation for the WSF in Nairobi.
Step 3: Engaging South African social movements
]A process of engagement with movements has to take place in order to reach agreement on the process towards Nairobi 2007. It is proposed
that this national meeting coincide with the Ilrig
Globalisation School, to be held in Cape Town in the week of 25 to 29 September.
Step 4: Khanya Journal focusing on the Khanya Winter School
A special edition of the Khanya journal focusing on the 2006 Winter School and the WSF will be published and will be available by the time of the ILRIG School at the end of the September.
Step 5: Social movements meet to discuss plans for
Nairobi 2007
A meeting of all the movements and NGOs that are willing to be part of the plan for Nairobi 2007
be held during the ILRIG globalisation school in Cape Town. The agenda of the meeting will include finalising agreement on the approach to participation in the WSF; report on state of
preparations for WSF Nairobi, among other issues.
Step 6: Preparation for SASF Malawi 2006
A team to coordinate the preparation for SASF Malawi and to (coordinate the) mobilisation of resources should be set up at the Cape Town meeting. The team should spend the time between end of September and mid-October tying up the preparations.
Step 7: Engaging Kenyan organisations
Following the Cape Town meeting, and parallel to the preparation for the SASF, an engagement of Kenyan organisations should take place, and an agreement reached with them about the ideas agreed upon in the Cape Town meeting. This process of engagement has to be synchronised
with the process of submitting events for the WSF in January. Khanya will check up the timetable for this submission and will report at the Cape Town meeting.
Step 8: Attending the SASF meeting in Lilongwe, Malawi
The Southern Africa Social Forum will host its annual encounter in Lilongwe from the 12 to 15
October 2006. South African social movements,
based on the agreements before and at the Cape Town meeting, would attend the forum and host events. The events hosted at the SASF should be linked to the plans for Nairobi 2007 and should thus form part of the preparations for Nairobi.
Step 9: Exchange of plans with movements in Southern Africa
At the SASF meeting in Malawi, and during the SASF-ROC meetings in the buildup to Lilongwe and Nairobi, we should ensure that an exchange of
views and plans on the Nairobi meeting takes place.
Step 10: Khanya Journal on the state of social movements pre-Nairobi
On the eve of the Nairobi WSF, and after the SASF meeting in Malawi, Khanya (with Ilrig) plans to publish an edition of the journal that will focus on the state of preparedness of Southern Africa social movements for the WSF.
Step 11: South African Social Movements Indaba
In December it is proposed that South African movements and NGOs who are part of the WSF plan meeting to finalise preparations and logistical issues for going to Nairobi. This meeting could be held during the meeting of the SMI, which will be held in Durban in early December (during the week beginning 4th).
Step 12: Ongoing political education on the WSF and its significance
It is clear that not all the activists in South Africa are going to attend the Nairobi or the Malawi meetings. As part of the preparation for the WSF we propose that a series of seminars be held in different regions and towns on the significance and future of the WSF as an expression of international solidarity today.
Step 13: Nairobi 2007
South and Southern African movements participate in the WSF in Nairobi, and host events, joint meetings with Kenyan counterparts. The movements would also participate in the Assembly of Social Movements, the Anti-war Assembly, as well as in other events at the forum.
Step 14: Khanya Journal on WSF in Nairobi
A special edition of the Khanya Journal reporting on the discussions and debates at the WSF to be published in March 2007.
Step 15: Report back meetings on WSF 2007
A series of report back meetings should be held in the various cities (and towns) across South Africa. These could take the form of seminars where issues coming out of WSF 2007 and their significance for South African movements are discussed.
Step 16: A book on South African and Kenyan movements at the WSF
This book, which would be published around May/ June, would put together the papers prepared by
SA and Kenyan movements, the reports on the movement to movement meetings, and the reports on the visits to the townships and villages.
Step 17: Book launch at the Khanya Winter School in July
The book on South African and Kenya movements at the WSF to be launched at the Khanya Winter School at the beginning of July (20
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