Die Weltsozialforen: Eine andere Welt ist möglich!

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Concept Paper/Proposal on South and Southern African Social Movements and Civil Society Participation in the World Social Forum in Nairobi 2007

(Source: Southern Africa Social Forum)

(This concept paper and proposal has been endorsed by a number of NGOs and social movements as a basis for their preparation and participation in the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya next January 2007. Some of the organisations that have endorsed this paper are Khanya College, ILRIG, AIDC, SCLC and the APF. More organisations are coming on board and where relevant an updated list will be circulated.)

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 marginalized 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 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.

Part 1: Khanya and the WSF Process

Khanya College has been involved with the WSF process since its inception in 2001. In the early years this involved Khanya sending delegates to the WSF in Porto Alegre, and to the African Social Forum in Bamako (2006). In 2005 Khanya produced a special edition of its quarterly Journal focused on the WSF in Mumbai, India. In 2005 Khanya began playing the role of facilitating the participation of social movements in South Africa in the social forum process, in particular in the Southern Social Forum in Harare, Zimbabwe. Khanya organised the participation of more than 60 activists from social movements in South Africa, and become an active member of the organising committee of the Southern Africa Social Forum.

As part of the preparations for the Southern Africa Social Forum and the World Social Forum process, the college convened the Annual Winter School on 3 - 8 July 2006. Attended by more than 150 participants from South Africa and Southern Africa, the school deliberated on the theme "building solidarity across boarders".

Besides the discussions and debates on the politics solidarity and the WSF, participants also discussed concrete issues around which solidarity can be built with other social movements in the WSF in Nairobi. Practical suggestions were also made about ensuring that social movements are able to attend the WSF.

Part 2: Southern Africa Social Forum 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[1] 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.

Part 3: 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 democracy, social and economic rights in the postcolonial period.

The transition from the apartheid regime to a democratically elected government in 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.

Part 4: Nature of the engagement between SA and Kenyan movements and NGOs

Three kinds of joint activities by SA and Kenyan movements are proposed:

a.   Joint seminars, workshops or similar events at the WSF in Nairobi

b.   Closed organisation to organisation meetings between SA and Kenyan orgnisations, focusing 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.

c.   Site visits to township, rural areas or cities in which the Kenyan movements and NGOs work. This will be an opportunity for South African activists 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.

Part 5: Thematic areas around which SA and Kenyan movements will work together

HIV/AIDS

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world that is most affected by HIV and AIDS. An estimated 24.5 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2005 and approximately 2.7 million new infections occurred during that year. In just the past year the epidemic has claimed the lives of an estimated 2 million people in this region. AIDS has orphaned more than twelve million children.

Kenya has a number of social movements and organisations that are struggling for the dignity and respect of people infected by the HIV virus. The struggle against HIV AIDS is located within the general struggle for social and economic emancipation. Likewise in South Africa the Treatment Action Campaign has emerged as important social movement in the struggle against the HIV AIDS.

Water

Investigations of what water privatisation means for sub-Saharan Africa—where more than half the population lacks access to safe drinking water—show a crucial role being played by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

A report last year showed that countries were required to open up water supply to private companies as a condition for receiving IMF loans. Eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa had to move towards water privatisation or introduce greater cost-recovery. This involves introducing a market price for water supply, so governments must bring in full cost-recovery as a prelude to privatisation.

A 1999 water policy act recognized water as a human right, and made the government fully responsible for ensuring very citizen access. But a new policy in 2002 defined water as an "economicgood" and called upon consumers to pay for it. The administration of President Mwai Kibaki, which is trying to curry favor with international institutions to increase aidflows, has also supported private sector participation in the water system. A U.S $75 million Privatization and Private Sector development Project for Kenya is in the World Bank pipeline and it has water privatization as a core objective. For now, the water systems remain publicly owned.

The privatization of water is one of problems that face social movements in South Africa. While access to water is one the rights enshrined in the constitution, the involvement of the water multinationals in the privatization of water, the reduction of water subsidies and the entire general approach of water privatization have undermined the provision of water to poor and working class communities. In Gauteng, for instance, communities that are campaign for access to water are taking the state to court for violating their right to have access to water.

The joint activities between Kenyan and South African organisations struggling for access to water will be one of the importance spaces for sharing experiences and building solidarity around water struggles. The Anti-Privatisation Forum and the Water Coalition are South African organisations that can co-host such a forum together with their Kenyan counterparts.

Housing

The demand for housing is one of the issues that will be discussed and debated at the World Social Forum in Kenya. An engagement between the South African social movements and their Kenyan counterparts around this topic can help facilitate the sharing of strategies and approaches to the housing question.

Based in one of Nairobi’s teeming slums, Huruma Social Forum has galvanized its township members to carry out self-help projects- the most significant being a totally self-financed housing project that will allow ordinary Huruma residents to own their own housing units- after participating in the construction of said units. Another organisation engaged in struggle around housing in Kenya is the Shelter Forum.

In South Africa, a number of social movements under the banner of the Western Cape Anti-Evictions Campaign, in the Western Cape, have taken up struggles against the impact of neoliberalism on housing - including struggles against evictions and lack of housing. The Social Movements Indaba Western Cape region has a number of organisations including some of the WEAC organisations that have been struggling for housing. A joint programme between these organisations, the Huruma Social Forum and the Shelter Forum, an organisation struggling for shelter in Kenya, can facilitate networking and the building of solidarity during and beyond the WSF.

Land

One of the unresolved questions of the liberation struggle in Africa is the land and agrarian question. This has led to the formation of a number of grassroots and peasant organisations that are campaigning for access to land and the agrarian reform. In South Africa the Landless People’s Movement is one of the organisations that have been campaigning for land and agrarian reform. Established in 2001, the LPM is also part of international land and agriculture network, the La Via Campesina. On the other hand, the Kenya Land Alliance (KLA) brings together a plethora of land-based Kenyan movements who have spearheaded the national debates and struggles around land-grabbing, land occupations and agrarian reform in the country. The WSF provides the LPM and the KLA with a platform for exchanging ideas and strategies for building land and agrarian struggles in both Kenya and South Africa.

Gender and the building of women’s leadership

African women’s movements continue to grow across the continent and seem to vary in strength and interconnection with other movements based on region and country. There is a growing push to connect the work on HIV/AIDS with the work for women’s rights. Not only does AIDS have an African woman’s face, but violence against women, women’s access to education, land rights and employment all have a direct relationship to the pandemic.

In a South African context women in social movements have been grappling with genders struggles and the fact that they are the majority in these organisations but this has not been translated into women leadership. In addition, it is women through project work and other forms of solidarity work that have sustained households in a general context of a neoliberal onslaught.

Kenyan women’s organisations such as the Kenya Women Workers Organisation (KEWWO) will have an opportunity to interact with other women’s groups such as the Kganya Women’s Consortium from Orange Farm, South Africa. These interactions would assist in the sharing of perspectives around the impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and neoliberalism on women and strategies for building a women’s movement and leadership.

Debt cancellation

The Debt crisis is a critical factor in retarding the achievement of sustainable development in Africa. It has been and continues to be one of the biggest barriers to development in Africa and is the most powerful tool that the Western countries are using to keep the whole continent in bondage. Africa’s total Debt as of 1999, stood at US$ 231 billion. At the same time, annual Debt service payments from Africa amounted to US$ 15.2 billion. Thirty-three of the 41 countries classified as Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are in Africa.

In 1970, Kenya’s total external Debt was less than US$ 5.5 billion. Ten years later, it stood at US$ 53.4 billion. It continued to grow sharply during the 1980’s and the early 1990’s, reaching a maximum of US$ 57.4 billion in 1995. It then decreased slowly to about US$ 4 billion in 2004.

In the post-apartheid South Africa Jubilee South Africa emerged as an organisational and political expression of a campaign for the total cancellation of the apartheid debt. The organisation has also demonstrated the manner in which the apartheid debt servicing is undermining government delivery on social services. Beyond that Jubilee South Africa together with KENDREN have both participated in the African Social Forum’s debt network and Jubilee South. The organisation of joint seminars and events at the coming WSF will be the strengthening of the relationship between the two fraternal organizations.

Environment networks

Africa has a growing environmental movement. In 2002 the convening of the United Nation’s World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg led to the consolidation of the environmental networks of Africa. The Kenyan environmental movement has an international and a continental profile. At the same time, South Africa also has a number of grassroots networks that have campaigned against the multinationals such as Shell and Engen.

It is proposed that a joint forum bringing together the Forest Action Network, one of the leading environmental networks in East Africa, and the Southern Durban Community Environmental Association, a grassroot network of environmental activists in the South of Durban. The forum will facilitate the exchange perspectives on environmental questions in Africa and the building of environmental networks in the continent.

Strengthening farm workers networks

Over the past few years Khanya College has convened a number of Southern African regional workshops and solidarity meetings of farm workers. One of the outcomes of these engagements has been a production of a booklet discussing the conditions and rights of farm workers in the region. We propose a joint forum between the Southern African farm workers network, the Kenya Land Alliance and other organisations of plantation workers in East Africa. This forum can also bring together South African and Kenyan NGOs working around land issues. In South Africa possible organisations are SCLC, Afra, Nkuzi, and others.

Youth

The Kenyan youth has been excited and re-energised by the WSF. School fees, access to education, HIV/AIDS and debt seem to be high on the agenda for youth movements in different nations. The Kenyan youth movement also participates in the Youth Forum of the African Social Forum and there is the hope that there will be a strong African and Kenyan youth presence at the World Social Forum next year.

The Kenyan Youth Agenda has been in existence for over ten years. It is one of the leading organizations mobilizing Kenya’s youth to agitate for empowerment, democracy and social justice. Along with several other like-minded youth-based movements, Youth Agenda is a formation that the Kenya Social Forum is deepening its links with.

While the South African youth has generally been demobilised, there is a number of locally-based youth formations that are struggling for jobs and access to education. The WSF is one the important spaces for creating a long-lasting dialogue between the Kenyan and South African youth formation. We propose that the Kenyan Youth Agenda and the South African Unemployed Youth Forum (SAUYF), a youth organisation affiliated to the Anti-Privatisation, co-host forums for debating strategies for organising the youth in both Kenya and South Africa.

Mobilising through arts and culture

As part of the preparations for the WSF Khanya College has facilitated the interaction of artists the Southern African Social Forum which was held in Zimbabwe last year. As a continuation of this process the College will also facilitate the interaction between the Sound Edutainment, a group of Johannesburg based artists, and various Kenyan artist organisations such as Five Centuries Theatre Group.

Facilitating a space for social movements’ support organisations (NGOs)

Besides the dialogue between social movements, this proposal also seeks to create a space for engagement between Kenyan and South African social movements’ support organisations. These are NGOs who have chosen movement building as the primary orientation of their work. Joint seminars on various themes can be hosted by Kenyan and South African support organisation at the WSF.

We propose that the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), a Johannesburg-based support organisation campaign against censorship and repression, may work with Kenyan organisations around issues of repression, freedom of speech, the right of assembly and so on.
The International Labour Research Group (ILRIG), a Cape Town based labour support group working on the theme of globalisation and international solidarity, will work with Kenyan organizations on trade, globalization and related issues.
Khanya College, a Johannesburg-based social movements’ support organisation, works on various themes such gender, the building women’s leadership, the informal sector, atypical workers, ICTs and community empowerment, popular history and solidarity. Khanya College will work with Kenyan organizations around some of these issues.
Justice and Women (JAW), a South African organisation dealing with gender-based violence, will host a seminar on violence against women in South Africa.
South Africa has a number of support organizations working in the field of land and agrarian reform, namely Inkuzi, the South Cape Land Committee and AFRA. These organizations may look at working with Kenya land organizations on issues of land and agrarian reform.
CCS, AIDC and other NGOs identified at the SMI meeting in Durban in late July.

Part 6: The road to Nairobi - or the plan of preparation for Nairobi 2007

The following steps will form the preparation for Nairobi 2007:

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