MALI: Anti-globalisation forum comes to Africa

Photo: IRIN

BAMAKO, 20 January 2006 (IRIN) - Africa, the world’s poorest continent, for the first time is playing host to the World Social Forum, the anti-globalisation movement set up as a counterweight to a forum of the world’s rich and powerful. Up to 30,000 people are expected in the Malian capital Bamako in the coming days for the African chapter of the WSF, a gathering of non-governmental organisations, fair trade advocates and critics of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is to hold new rounds of talks this year in Caracas and Karachi. Gathered behind the slogan “Another world is possible”, thousands of marchers turned out for the Thursday evening opening of the five-day forum, initially created in response to the annual World Economic Forum that assembles some of the world’s most powerful business and political leaders in the Swiss resort of Davos. “No to neo-liberalism!” and “No to the sell-off of Africa”, said some of the banners carried by demonstrators. Marching alongside activists from a score of African nations, Tunisian Leila Labidi said “I came to express my commitment to the struggle against humiliation, the struggle for freedom and democracy.” Tiecoura Coulibaly, a Malian cotton farmer, said he was marching to denounce western subsidies to producers in developed nations, one of the top issues at last month’s WTO talks in Hong Kong. “We have to make them understand that this is an injustice,” he said. The WSF was set up in 2001 and met four times in Brazil and once in India. At the Bamako meeting, groups will discuss debt, trade and other issues affecting developing nations. Activists are sure that standing up for their cause makes a difference. “It was the anti-globalisation movement that brought changes of heart among G-8 members regarding issues such as debt cancellation,” said Sekou Diarra, a member of Mali’s Debt and Development Coalition. Coordinator Mamadou Goita told IRIN that during the five-day forum there would be 700 debates, talks and films touching on subjects such as war, globalisation, agricultural subsidies, liberalism, ecosystem protection and world trade. Among special guests expected are former Algerian head of state Ahmed Ben Bellah, former French first lady Danielle Mitterrand, US actor and rights campaigner Danny Glover and US civil rights activist Reverend Jessie Jackson.