WSF: The view from Senegal
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COMMENTS 
Africa was the focus of the World Social Forum 2011 held in Senegal in February. But oddly enough colonialism, which is responsible for depleting the continent’s resources and its present crisis, was simply not discussed, says Sachin Kumar Jain
This year, the World Social Forum (WSF) raised several new questions but there are many older questions that we still need to find answers to. Since we met in Senegal, it was quite natural that the focus of discussion was Africa, which proved to be a fruitful learning ground for civil society groups. Situated in the eastern part of the continent, Senegal is considered a resource-rich region of Africa, yet its first major highway was constructed just four years ago. It is said that the Senegalese President spent the largest chunk of the country’s budget on building the road, yet it peters out into a dust trail after a mere 40 kms!
WSF 2011, organised in the Senegalese capital of Dakar between February 6-11, 2011, attracted more than 50,000 people pursuing the vision of a better world. But I have been observing a worrisome trend in this forum over the 10 years that I’ve attended its deliberations – you get a sense of the growing dominance of NGOs over people’s movements at every step. You get the sense that many of these organisations are present only to advertise and publicise themselves. The ruling political party of China put up a stall. Also participating were a host of international funding agencies that push a liberal neocolonial and capitalist approach to development along with the financial resources they disburse. There should be no illusions about the kind of linkages these groups seek to establish with the WSF.
My African interlude began with one of those unpleasant encounters that bring India to mind. I alighted from the Iberia Airlines flight and proceeded to the immigration department to complete the formalities for entering the country. After stamping my passport, the immigration officer said something to me in French, which I didn’t understand. He then called me aside and, gesturing with his fingers, whispered: “Money, money.”
That was my first experience of Senegal. I pretended I hadn’t understood. But I couldn’t help recalling what people say about corruption in African countries.
I later learnt that many people in government service (teachers, revenue officials, nurses, etc) don’t get their salaries for six months at a stretch; two to three months’ salary of a petty official could even ‘disappear’. This creates the ideal environment for corruption to flourish.
The only visible symbol of government administration is the police, clad in military uniform, armed with weapons, menacing. At first I could not tell whether they were guerrilla fighters or city police. That’s the look the colonial powers cultivated for their police to stamp their authority across the globe, especially after the first and second world wars.
It is unfortunate that African countries, once victims of Spanish and French colonialism and now free nations, manifest their freedom only superficially, while continuing to remain under the control of European powers. Their natural resources have been systematically looted. Modern Europe, whose beauty is widely lauded, was built with resources sent from African countries -- from wood and stone to art and cultural materials. Even sand! Today, Senegal is trapped in a web of poverty and has little choice but to remain slave to Europe.
Around 50% of the participants at the Dakar WSF were European, and 45% African. The Europeans, Coca-Cola cans in hand, almost always use one word in their conversations -- capitalist. At night many of them partied in bars, discussing and analysing the daily goings-on at the WSF. But there was not a single session in the proceedings where colonialism featured in the discussions. No one had the courage to open up those pages of history that described how African nations have come to such a state, and who is responsible for their plight.
Some did suffer a sense of guilt which they sought to mollify by paying whatever the taxi drivers demanded, without bargaining, as if by doing so they were returning something of what their forefathers had taken away from here!
A few days earlier, French President Sarkozy visited Senegal to discuss possible ways of helping the country. He suggested that there may be some benefit in remaining a French colony! It is in the context of such ideas prevalent among the dominant nations that the WSF becomes relevant to those of us with an alternative worldview.
African society in a neo-colonial framework
Africa is slowly becoming a colony for newly-developed countries like India and China. Walter Fernandes, well-known social scientist and expert on the subject of displacement caused by development, reports that the rich capitalist class and their governments are in the process of usurping 40 million hectares from Saharan nations. Most of these countries are under the control of dictators and lack any vestige of democratic functioning. Their people are denied even basic facilities.
Take healthcare, for instance. The maternal mortality rate in Senegal is a distressing 1,000 per 100,000 births because there are no health facilities for women. Private health facilities are few, and limited to the capital. When Rami, one of our companions from the Philippines, came down with the flu it took us two hours to locate a doctor; he charged 26,000 CFA francs (the Senegalese currency) as consultation fees. That’s around Rs 2,600. The antibiotics and paracetamol we bought cost another 49,000 CFA francs (around Rs 4,900)! Can anyone dare fall sick in a country where the average monthly income is less than Rs 2,000?
Representatives from Sudan and the Congo attending the WSF explained how it took people two years to walk across the Sahara, the world’s largest desert, when they decided to migrate from their homeland in search of a better life. They then sailed across the Atlantic in tiny boats to reach European shores. Many died on the way; others were caught slipping across the border into European countries. The inhuman face of international diplomacy can be seen in the way they were transported and dumped back into the desert from which they had sought to escape.
Over a million people from Kenya, Namibia, Congo, Algeria and other African countries are forced to migrate every year to escape their pitiable living conditions. European countries such as France, Italy and Spain pay around Rs 10,000 million every year to countries in Africa and the Middle East to ensure that they make the necessary arrangements to prevent people from crossing into Europe. Developed countries see the influx of migrants as a drain on their resources and a blot on their image.
The face of colonial development and progress stands exposed when viewed from Senegal. The colonising powers first create conditions of scarcity and then enslave the people of the country they target. They know that it is necessary to control culture, education, resources and language in order to enslave a society or a country. This process is still under way in the African continent today; only the way in which colonisation is taking place is changing.
India, which was itself enslaved, has over the past two decades, adopted neo-liberal policies for its economic development. It is cutting down on government support/subsidies for agriculture and social welfare whilst at the same time increasing allocations for an industrial-capitalist framework. The bottom line is how to increase the growth rate.
As a consequence, wealth has indeed increased. But imbalances in its distribution have grown much more starkly and rapidly. Today, a single industrial house, the Ambanis, control 5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Around 70% of India’s resources have been captured by 7% of its people. It is these Indian industrial houses that are now targeting Africa to expand their colonial empires; exploiting the industrial expansion policies of African nations to take control of the continent’s natural resources. China is already sending its citizens to cash in on the employment opportunities that are being generated in Africa. Thus countries that were once categorised as ‘developing’ are now adopting colonial practices, the greatest irony being that we are now beginning to enslave the societies that have always been closest to us.
WSF 2011: In need of direction Over 50,000 social activists from across the globe gathered in the first week of February in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, to participate in the World Social Forum (WSF) 2011. This series of global meetings has been held regularly every year since the first forum was organised in Porto Allegro, Brazil, in 2001. It provides a platform for social activists to share their ideas, strategies and struggles for a new and better world. The focus at WSF 2011 was on international migration, democracy and the political character of different countries, exploitation of land and natural resources, and related issues. The main agenda was the current recession in the global capitalist economy, which is severely impacting the poorest countries of the world. Its effects are evident in the turmoil in the financial, energy and food sectors of most countries as well as climatic changes taking place the world over. Privatisation of public resources under neo-liberal policies supported by global institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund has had a most deleterious effect on countries in the African continent. Keeping in mind global economic conditions, the Dakar forum focused on three main ideological issues: the growing criticism of capitalism, growing strength of struggles against capitalism and imperialism, and ways to replace repression and exploitation with democratic and traditional methods. This year’s WSF was significant for two reasons. First, it was organised on African soil. Second, the people’s movements and activist groups that assembled in Dakar sought to understand how they could strengthen themselves in the struggle to change the political contours of the world. Though the event’s organisation may have been found wanting in many ways, it nevertheless provided the ideal opportunity to examine recent developments in the Middle East and Africa. It’s been a time of turmoil in the region. Even as 50,000 people gathered in Dakar to explore ways to democracy and happiness, in neighbouring Egypt hundreds of thousands of people came onto the streets to free themselves from the dictatorship and fight for democracy. It was an exhilarating experience watching people at the forum excitedly discussing Egypt and tracking whether Hosni Mubarak had stepped down or not. A large rally was organised in support of the people’s movement in Egypt, which ended in a demonstration in front of the Egyptian embassy. Meanwhile, a similar political environment was building up in other African and Middle Eastern countries -- Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen, Iran, Libya. And groups from around the world were rallying in solidarity with these people’s movements. For those 10 days, newspapers across Africa and Europe devoted much of their space to what was happening in Egypt and the other countries because of their implications in the region. There were around 1,000 activists from Burma and the Congo who had sought political refuge in France, South Africa and other countries after being forced to flee their homes because of their participation in revolutionary struggles. The first WSF was a response to the World Economic Forum organised in Davos, Switzerland. It boldly articulated that it is possible to create a world in which basic human needs take precedence over corporate exploitation. Ten years have since passed, during which the WSF has sought to unite social movements across the world against neo-liberal capitalism and militarism, seeking a world order based on social justice and dedicated to humanity. The chain of global meetings held in Brazil, India, Kenya and now Senegal reveal that the political orientation of not just local, national or regional forums but even the WSF is veering left. In Africa this year, the attempt was once again to link local conditions with the global struggle for justice and equality. The six-day forum began with a huge rally from downtown Dakar to the university, where the programmes were being held. There was tremendous enthusiasm among the participants; the diversity of messages and slogans they shouted pointed to the wide range of social justice issues. The rally ended with a speech by Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales. Denouncing imperialism in no uncertain terms, he underlined the importance of the WSF, pointing out that it was like a school where activists learnt how to develop, consolidate and strengthen their social revolutions to make them more effective. A host of activities were subsequently planned. The first day was devoted to Africa and emigrants from the continent. The session was attended by the daughters of Franz Fanon and Malcolm X who discussed the legacy of their famed fathers. There was also a session chaired by former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in which he urged stronger ties between African and South American countries (Brazil is home to the largest number of African emigrants). The next two days of introspection highlighted a wide range of concerns and rights issues that had brought participants together from across the globe. Evenings were devoted to music and cultural programmes, as well as informal meetings. The last two days saw the coordinators of various organisations, networks and revolutionary groups explaining their action plans for a better world based on the collective thinking of the forum. The closing ceremony had organisations making their announcements and reiterating their responsibilities. In the initial years, the WSF was a platform where civil society groups could sit together and reflect on their common concerns. It was conceived to assist and strengthen grassroots organisations so they could grow and develop. But the forum has become increasingly open to criticism for its inability to articulate a stand on several issues. At the first forum, in 2001, a consensus was reached on the influential role played by Washington in the privatisation of global resources. In subsequent forums, there was a tendency to view governments as part of the problem. This led to the organisers excluding governments, political parties and armed terrorist groups. However, subsequent global political developments over the past decade point to a polarisation of left forces, most clearly seen in South America. As a result, most participants today enthusiastically accept the view that political parties and governments can be used as weapons to resolve the problems raised by the crisis of global capitalism. As in previous years, most of the delegates this year were from the host nation. There were also large contingents from neighbouring African countries, and many delegates from France, Senegal’s colonial master. The preponderance of Francophone countries from Africa meant the language of discourse was mainly French, unlike earlier forums which were multilingual. Forums in the past have attracted over 100,000 delegates, hence the 50,000 who congregated in Dakar made the WSF 2011 appear comparatively small. The largest forums organised till now have been in Brazil and India, which have a much larger population than Senegal’s 12 million. The Dakar forum also had to contend with a number of logistical problems. The local committee given the responsibility of organising the event was not up to the task. Yet, it refused international assistance. It was inevitable therefore that the event was somewhat chaotic. The concept of punctuality was all but forgotten and many delegates found it difficult locating the venue of their sessions. The problem was compounded by extra classes organised by the university to make up for losses caused by a strike a few days earlier. As a result, in many cases, students shooed delegates away from their allocated locations! Many believed that the organisers should have made an attempt to invite the students to participate. Although some haphazard attempts were made to put up tents to keep the sessions going, the confusion led to many being cancelled. The greatest setback was the backlash from the successful rebellions in Tunisia and Egypt. It generated a fear in Senegal’s President Abdoulade Wade that such an organised assembly of social activists may somehow catalyse the fall of his own government. The help and permission of the host government is crucial for organising food, housing and other necessities for such a large assembly. But in Senegal, an unwilling President tried instead to ruin the forum. Another issue discussed at the forum was whether it is necessary to organise such a gathering of social activists from around the world considering the large capital expenditure involved, its organisational shortcomings and environmental impact. Activists suggested that instead of holding these events it would be better to organise virtual forums. So, even after a decade of successful organisation of these forums, the future of the WSF is still in limbo. The international organising committee met at the end of the Dakar forum to discuss future strategy. When the first forum was held in Porto Allegro, it was decided to hold these meetings to demand social and economic justice from the perspective of the Global South. However, the original enthusiasm has paled in the face of organisational difficulties. Many delegates would still like to come to such forums. Certainly, as long as the WSF is held the fight for social justice will not falter. But there is a need for a review. |
(Sachin Kumar Jain is a development journalist and advisor to the Commissioners of the Supreme Court in the right to food case.)
Infochange News & Features, April 2011