wsf 2007 | archives of global protests - archives des protestations mondiales - archivos de los protestos globales | www.agp.org | www.all4all.orgWSF007? LOVED IT!!!
Kachingwe
As critics come, I can be as blasé, disillusioned and cynical about 'the struggle' and the worst of them. The politics of social movements, NGOs and the development industry, the misogyny and racism, the corruption and dishonesty, the grandstanding egocentrism and hypocrisy, the fights over resources, the dependency on donors, the exclusion and selectiveness of who and whose struggles are legitimate, the lack of innovation and creativity, the replication of patterns of patriarchy and exploitation ... all of that and more still have over the past 15 years of being an 'NGO activist' (and therefore part of the same problems to an extent) been a source of frustration, sadness and disappointment.
Cometh WSF07 Nairobi! With mutterings of all manner of uncomradely scandals happening behind the scenes or in broad daylight, WSF07 was in many ways the theatre of all the ills we have lambasted, wrung hands and fought over when it comes to the state of social justice activism in Africa. Hardly surprising then that the 'civil society watch' squad had more than enough material for their alternative press feeds. And feed they did. Reading around here and there, the overall image that emerges is that the 'wild social forum was also the 'worst social forum' -- nothing worth buying the t-shirt for even if you could afford it. I certainly haven't found anything particularly enthusiastic written about it outside the 'official' WSF media, from the lack of a substantive grassroots presence to the high price of the water and food.
And strangely, while I can agree with most of this, I find my jaded self wanting to come to the defence of this seemingly total let-down that---we are given to believe--was WSF07. In fact despite the many things that were not right, I am most disheartened about the avalanche of negative writing that has thundered from on high. The local media was completely uninterested in anything about WSF except the an opportunity to gloat at every mishap (why this was I am yet to understand). But also activist commentators from all sides have spared no effort to use the power of the mighty pen to relay their dejection about the first African WSF.
Terrible coordination and programme management to start with, bad communications, shallow analysis in the workshop blah, blah, blah, blah. But you know what? At the risk of sounding like a reactionary counter-revolutionary sell-out, this was the WSF where I had the most fun!!! Yes, fun (also known as enjoyment, taking pleasure in something and generally associated with the feel-good factor). Of the 3 WSFs I attended, this was where I was the most comfortable (it being on African soil and being surrounded by so many Africans). Where probably I had some of the best meetings. Where, despite having had no part in the organisation, I felt a sense that this was 'my social forum' which I could claim as my own...'a family affair.' And when its your family you love it before anything else and you rally to its defence regardless of its faults.
When you are in a family, you see the good because you know the people, where they have come from. You know the challenges of their backgrounds intimately and you are able to make an assessment beyond what there is at face value. You look at where you have come from collectively, and the different thresholds the various members have crossed. And so you celebrate the things they do---not because they are perfect, but because you know the paths they have travelled to get to where they are.
I loved WSF Nairobi ... for many reasons. I met so many old friends and comrades and brothers and sisters, and was so 'chuffed' that they made it there. I met new ones too. From the entire African civil society spectrum, I had to try to remember who WASN'T there rather than who was. From east, west, north and south they rolled in to meet, to speak, to network, to hear, to see, to be seen, to commune, to strategise, to vent, to reflect. And I felt a sense of pride and exhilaration of being part of this community, sometimes with faults, but also with brilliance and colour and humour. Pride and exhilaration to see that all in all, there wasn't any major part of institutional African civil society that did not register its presence at the WSF ... academics, media, feminists, lesbians and gays, film-makers, musicians, NGOs, HIV and AIDs activists, landless people, migrants, churches (including nuns). They were there because they believed that it was important to be there and to support what WSF tries to achieve. Feverishly they registered their events and decorated their tents and stalls... without their efforts there would not have been a WSF ... human rights, economic rights, gay rights, land rights, women's rights, workers rights, migrant rights, political rights, food rights... you could take your pick. Poetry, drama, music, film. Marches and demonstrations, flyers, posters, banners, placards... Every topic under the burning equatorial sun (and burned we were) was up for discussion. OK, so you couldn't find things at the time and place posted on the hard to find/decipher programme, but it was all happening with passion and dedication. To me this was an incredible collective effort. And for this I celebrate.
I can look past the Celtel monopoly and all the other not so great things, because on the other hand, a few hundred made an endeavour to have a venue that worked, have tents and shades and toilets and stands erected so that the whole jamboree could happen. Probably for events organisers it was no big deal, but for me it was incredible to see all this infrastructure laid out to welcome the global south on our African soil. It can't have been a walk through the park---more than a few hundred people had sleepless nights, high blood pressure and extra grey hairs. Here we all were Africans and others, but for once not brought together under the auspices of the UN or some such body with that pulling power ... at last the hosts rather than the guests at a World Social Forum. To be in the majority rather than a small token exotic minority. All these things meant something to me. The pleasure of sitting in the open out on the slope at Uhuru Park, laughing, joking, hugging and gossiping with comrades while speakers and singers did their thing on the stage, and a host of other precious moments was quite simply powerful and immemorable.
I am more than in favour of seeing more representatives of the millions of socially excluded (referred to in one meeting as 'the people down there') participating in the WSF space. But on reflection, this is not a problem of Africa alone. When I went to the European Social Forum some years ago in London, I certainly did not see the massive presence of the oppressed communities in Europe... migrants, asylum seekers, single black women, homeless people, unemployed youth. Bang in the middle of London, talking about social injustice and this was the hardest place to find a black face. The largest group of people there that could be classified as 'poor' were the students, who while certainly out of pocket, don't quite qualify as the marginalised. Likewise, when I went to the last WSF in Brazil, the Afro-Brazilians had a tent of their own (having found it difficult previously to find a space in the mainstream programme) somewhere on the margins of the cultural section... and while being 40% of the population, they could barely have been 5% of the WSF participants that year. As for their issues? Racism, exclusion, illiteracy, poverty, violence ... well these had to give way to the anti-war, anti-WTO and end-poverty-now groups on the overall programme agenda. Black people it seemed have higher ornamental than political value ... we were more present in the images of the WSF than in its reality. And while we talk about exclusions ... women's rights? Mainstreamed into oblivion--to quote some of my feminist friends (that is another article, but this one isn't about complaining).
So the same dynamics operate everywhere, though perhaps more starkly in Africa (and boy don't we pay for it!!!). At every WSF there are fights and conflicts, people unhappy about being excluded or about why certain people were given podiums rather than others. What is troubling is that when it is elsewhere, the problems are just problems, when they are in Africa ... well the problems are because its Africa.
Reality check. Most WSF's are about organised civil society and activist communities. Your average citizens, wherever the WSF is held---rich or poor---will be hard put to leave their homes, market stalls or 10th floor offices to come to listen to the high prophets of revolutionary movements at the WSF unless they are already engaged in some type of social action. Do we really think that the 5 million good citizens of Nairobi didn't attend the WSF because of the expensive entrance fee and bus fare? Give me a break. The problem lies elsewhere, so let's deal with that!
As for the NGO bashing ... well, it is a popular sport for our commentators and clearly that group of mercenaries and their lackeys were the bane of the entire WSF07. Oh! Those NGOs! I do confess to being one of those who has on thought some bad thoughts about those NGOs, but now I am switching sides. So what can we conclude from the dominant presence of NGOs? Maybe that (i) it was the NGOs (and their evil funders) who rose to the challenge and made the WSF07 happen? And that (ii), other parts of civil society---social movements--and others failed to mobilise their constituencies to turn out in their numbers and take over the WSF? Most stark in their absence to me were the workers, the trade unions, the vanguards of our liberation struggles. I saw lots of trade union officials round and about, but no large presence of workers organised to attend--even from East Africa. Are we going to blame the NGOs/academics/donors for not mobilising the workers? The space was there ...registration of events was a free-for-all. So where were the all powerful COSATU's and their mass membership? I guess they stayed away because of NGO/donor dominance at the WSF and the lack of grassroots participation. Right.
Anyone who understands Africa will know it is a challenge to organise an event like the WSF if you are not a government, a UN agency or a political party. We don't have the social movements of Latin America and India to carry it and give it that 'people flavour.' Our NGOs (who were the main organisers) are weak and under-resourced, heavily dependent on external finance and not as connected to the rest of society as we would like them to be. Often they (being also humans by the way) reflect the same ills plaguing our societies. Our trade unions have been decimated first by one-party rule and then by liberalisation. Our women's movements have been isolated because they are betraying traditional values. Our academics have had to sell their souls for World Bank consultancies so that they can make it to lecture rooms. What others can do with 50 people, we have to attempt to do with 5. Where others can look to the public/citizens for financial support, citizens look to NGOs to raise the money to assist them. Governments do not see 'civil society' as public interest groups whose activities are worthy of public finance---rather they are asking 'what's in it for us?' In Africa, distances to travel are massive and there is no such thing as 'budget air travel'. Some groups valiantly made the trip by road (from Malawi and Mozambique) so that they could have ten rather than one representative attending but they were the hardier souls. Many West Africans could not attend because of visas (now there is something to rant about). And we all agree that our alternative discourses around African development are in disarray and need to be deepened, broadened, repoliticised and reconstituted into a coherent whole. We know about all these limitations. What miracle were we expecting to suddenly, from nowhere, change the dynamics to which this 'hopeless continent' is currently hostage? And doesn't it mean something that in spite all of that, people rallied and organised and engaged with as an expression of their African solidarity and commitment? Doesn't it matter that I, as an African, along with so many other Africans thought it worthwhile to pack our Che Guevara t-shirts into our well travelled Samsonite suitcases, laptops and all to be part of the experience despite our lack of grassroots credentials? You think I was doing this for the airmiles? From Harare? Who matters more, the 50,000 who participated or the 100,000 who were 'expected' but didn't? We rightly accuse Europeans and the West for never acknowledging anything good Africans do. But if we can't give ourselves credit for what we do, then we are just part of that vicious racist cycle.
Was WSF-Africa a dismal failure or an achievement?
I loved the WSF07 and can embrace the good, bad and the ugly, because I had a great time (starting with dancing to Yvonne Chaka Chaka singing 'I'm burning up'). But also because it really upped the ante for us activists in Africa. We should not trivialise what went wrong, but we should be understanding, balanced and positive (or as politicians tell us 'constructive'). If we could manage this, think what else we can do? Usually the annual African Social Forum attracts a few hundred people. Now we know there is no reason why the next one should not manage at least a few thousand. So lets think about how we can make it better, louder, bigger...How can we share our ideas to carry forward the momentum? What can we do to broaden the ownership and participation? How can we structure events so that they are inclusive and accessible to those who don't have a PhD in political science or constitutional law? How can we mobilise more resources locally so that we balance external and local contributions? What can we do so that our logistics and event management systems function deliver better results? How can we get those trade unions on board? What processes must we begin collectively so that the millions who are not part of regular activism--citizens, public authorities, the media support the social forum processes (national, sub-regional and continental) and engage with the WSF07 beyond seeing it as a money making opportunity or a chance for some sensational stories? Whether we like it or not, the WSF and other social forums are our laboratory for making another Africa possible. Its our baby, no-one else will raise it.
I hope that we can find some spaces where we can talk to each other frankly but with a generosity of spirit. In the current environment, it is almost intimidating (worse still unfashionable) to be the one to say 'I thought it was great and I am really proud of ALL those that made it happen!' But from the bottom of my heart to all those people who came to WSF, who organised their workshops, seminars, tribunals and marches, who set up their tents and sat through hours of discussion, who travelled for 3 days on the bus, who got grey hairs being in the organising committees or dealing with the organising committees, whose possessions were stolen or burnt, who lost luggage, who were denied visas, who monopolised communication services, who catered, who invaded the caterers, who brought partners, ex-presidents and Nobel prize winners, who played drums and rapped and sang and danced, who spoke for an hour rather than 10 minutes, who shared their personal experiences, who wrote all manner of nasty articles, who ripped us off in taxis, who cleaned the portable toilets for little thanks, who printed not so practical programmes .... everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone ... till we meet again ... ASANTE SANA! VIVA!