The World Social Forum concluded on January 21st in Mumbai, India, with a march and a mass rally in the huge field of Azad Maidan, combining music and speeches. On behalf of the Americas, Ecuadorian indigenous leader Blanca Chancoso spoke: “The WSF has become a true united nations organization, because the peoples are here who had no voice”. She highlighted the challenge of further strengthening this civil-society process in every country and region of the world, and stressed that women’s participation in the Forum has shown that a world without inequalities, but all the while diverse, is indeed possible. Ms. Chancoso also stressed that the WSF has brought together those who are developing alternative proposals.

The need to pinpoint concrete proposals geared to achieve integrated changes, in accordance with the prospects of social justice, gender equity and diversity, was underscored precisely in the panel on “Diverse Alternatives for Global Changes”, held under the aegis of this Fourth WSF.

Panelists addressed the resistance strategies proposed and developed through their networks, and emphasized women’s contributions to formulating alternatives to globalization.

Sponsored by the World March of Women, the Women’s Coordination of CLOC/Via Campesina, the Latin American Information Agency (ALAI), the Network of Women Transforming the Economy (REMTE), and the LGBT South/South Dialogue, the event opened with a moving dramatization by the Via Campesina using the allegory of seeds to illustrate the importance of diversity.

Julia Di Giovanni, of REMTE, stated that, after the substantive actions taken by many movements in the WTO Ministers’ Meeting (Cancún, Mexico), which significantly contributed to the WTO’s debacle, societal movements face the challenge of designing a proposal to integrate peoples, centering on human needs and not the vitality of capital.

Francisca Rodríguez, of the Via Campesina, explored the central role played by agriculture in humankind’s survival, particularly because food sovereignty depends on farming. She called for preserving native seeds and natural transgenetic seeds, as an imperative action to resist the monopoly of corporations in this area. The big companies are flooding the world with transgenetics – which are unhealthful – but native seeds are also a vital principle of people-centered development. Ms. Rodríguez proposed that humankind spend the next decade making reparations for past incongruities and building up new initiatives in a new direction. Some key issues to address will include: food sovereignty, seeds and diversity.

Irene León, of the Women’s Area in ALAI, spoke on “Diversity and thinking for ourselves: moving toward democratic communication”. Outlining the context, she recalled that “nowadays … communications systems are the state-of-the-art mechanism consolidating the globalization process, inarguably delineated by the greatest infrastructure ever implemented: for communications ".

As alternatives to globalized neoliberalism, Ms. León called for “recovering diversity, thinking for ourselves and acting autonomously”. These are also the mainstays of resistance to the homogenization imposed by transnationalizing media, knowledge, culture – which are all becoming marketable products.

Taking into account the close relationship among communication, globalization and building society, and the proposal of a social agenda in this field, León called for recognition of the right to communication, to development of a universal ethical framework grounded in criteria of diversity, pluralism and peace, and democratization of communications systems and media.

Diane Matte, of the World March of Women examined strategies for defying globalization, evoking the need to confront humankind’s most critical problems through an agenda with women spearheading changes and development. The World March of Women advocates an agenda prioritizing eradication of poverty, violence and illiteracy and aiming to develop an economic model based on social justice.

Sylvia Borren, of NOVIB/Oxfam, put the WSF process in perspective – the new openings as well as the bottlenecks that have arisen. Regarding change strategies and pro-active proposals, Ms. Borren called for more energy in alternative-building, such as in just trade. She also stated that, for diversity to become a reality, it must be constructed.

Mheda Patkar, of Human Rights and Culture (India), highlighted the central role of human rights and a culture of peace as core issues for building a “Possible Other World”, as a basis for initiatives that will make such a world increasingly viable. Ms. Patkar stressed that the right to life is being violated by all who accommodate global changes through violence, which currently surround us.

Patkar identified three strategic change elements to make transformation feasible: goals (considered from social, economic and political spheres); human rights; and the rights of all peoples. She emphasized that women must come first on the agenda, not only in social issues but also in economic and political spheres.

In a written message addressed to the Panel, Nobel Peace Prize-winner, Rigoberta Menchú, recalled that “This meeting in Bombay, India, must help reinforce our position of resistance to globalization led by the powerful of this planet, a globalization that sweeps away everything and accepts no alternative positions. However, this meeting must also help us imbue our advocacy capacity with vigor – and this requires, fundamentally, giving our proposals the value they deserve. Peaceful civic resistance and a critical spirit are no longer sufficient to curb the present-day globalizing model – we must go even further".

Among this panel’s conclusions (Sunday, January 18th), the sponsoring networks made the commitment to continue promoting discussion of these issues.

*Taken from http://www.alainet.org