World Social Forum
A Green/EFA delegation will attend the first meeting of the WSF in Africa
From January 20 - 25, 2007, the seventh meeting of the World Social Forum will take place in Nairobi, the first time the WSF, which began in Porto Alegre in 2001, meets in Africa. "Peoples' struggles, peoples' alternatives" is the overarching theme this year. More than 100,000 people are expected to participate, including a delegation from the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament.
Green MEP Marie-Hélène Aubert will participate in the founding congress of the Global Young Greens, just before the WSF in Nairobi. On Sunday, 21 January, the Greens/EFA delegation will organise a seminar on the oil curse in Africa. On Monday, 22 January, the delegation will visit a reforestation project of the Green Belt Movement, founded by Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in 2004. Many more events are foreseen. Over the coming days, this blog will keep you posted on all our news from Nairobi.
The following Greens/EFA MEPs are present in Nairobi :
- Marie-Hélène AUBERT (France)
- Alain LIPIETZ (France)
- Raül ROMEVA i RUEDA (Spain)
- Carl SCHLYTER (Sweden)
- Bernat JOAN i MARÍ (Spain)
WSF activities are organised around nine general objectives, defined by the consultation on actions, campaigns and struggles in which WSF participant organisations are involved::
1. Building a world of peace, justice, ethics and respect for diverse spiritualities;
2. Liberating the world from the domination of multinational and financial capital;
3. Ensuring universal and sustainable access to the common goods of humanity and nature;
4. Democratization of knowledge and information;
5. Ensuring dignity, defending diversity, guaranteeing gender equality and eliminating all forms of discrimination;
6. Guaranteeing economic, social, human and cultural rights especially the right to food, healthcare, education, housing, employment and decent work;
7. Building a world order based on sovereignty, self-determination and rights of peoples;
8. Constructing a people-centred and sustainable economy;
9. Building real democratic political structures and institutions with full people's participation on decisions and control of public affairs and resources.
