Reading between the lines -DAWN - The Review; April 6, 2006

There have been lukewarm memories for some yet lasting memories for many from the WSF. “It was beyond the expectations of the public that the WSF would turn out to be such a big affair,” said one coordinator of the WSF activities.

Though delegates faced logistical problems, from late processing of visas by Pakistani embassies in foreign countries to no water in the camps on the venue, they were happy to have attended the WSF. “I haven’t bathed in three days for lack of water in the camps,” said a delegate from India, working as an environmentalist, in New Delhi. “I had to go to a friend’s house that I met here in Pakistan, to bathe and clean myself.”

Funnily enough, it was the locals who complained more about the heat, dust and the chaos than the delegates from other countries or other parts of the country. “We don’t care if there is no water in the camps,” said a young supporter of the Awami Tehreek from Sindh. “It does not match the huge water crisis that we face in interior Sindh today. There you can see people’s skins cracking up because of lack of water in the rivers, how much can you complain?”

Many people ended up only looking for the tent numbers that the sessions were to take place in. “Had it been more organised, I would have been able to listen to the good speakers who came from abroad,” said a visitor at the gate. But then we shouldn’t forget that we are a country where such chaos is the order of the day.

Whether such an event was only meant to be a cosmetic face-lift to guise a military regime is food for thought, but the fact remains that the organisers were helped by the city government to sort out problems of venue, promotion and other relevant issues which at least looked nice to the outside world.

The WSF finished with a good feeling at the end of the day, that socialist movement had a chance to resurrect despite heavy capitalist leanings, that people are more aware than we think, that they can get up and break the proverbial wall. Civil society organisations that were perceived to be at the fringe not letting themselves fall into the pool of politics, were made to realise that unless NGOs merge their activities with political movements, like the issues of water crisis in Sindh, or the fisherfolk, or religious intolerance or women’s issues, the glass would only remain half filled.

Some still thought they had been left behind in raising their grievances at the forum. “We were not given time to speak over the Bhasha Dam in Gilgit,” said Malika Baltistani, a social activist.

Indian peace activist, Nirmala Deshpande felt that a lot of locals came to the WSF though many felt that the event was a mere show of NGOs and civil society organisations, unlike that of Mumbai last year where the locals attended the WSF more than civil society organisations. “I don’t think so. One should not see the crowds so cynically. Look at the families roaming around here,” she said.

Diehard leftists, who have lost all hope over the future of this country, had also dropped by to see the fanfare. “I saw many of my NSF friends here whom I hadn’t seen in a long time,” said one person.

A multitude of students worked as volunteers, helping people look for the venues of sessions to be held. Junaid Hasan and Sara Khalid from NUST and Zunair Khan from CBM said they had mobilised many students to volunteer and attend the WSF. “We have lost so much sleep over this event but we are so happy that we were able to attend it.”

Wadanuddin Khaksar, a delegate from Nowshera, had travelled out of his little village for the first time in his life to come to Karachi. “I never saw anything like this before,” said the General Secretary of the Social Mobilisation Society Labour Wing, District Nowshera, NWFP. “I learned here that humanity is more sacred to mankind and that we can all connect on a common plain despite our grievances and differences.”

He intends to take back this experience and share it with his fellow villagers. “I also attended a workshop on women’s rights and I was reminded of my two daughters back home who teach at a local school.”

Isn’t there a possibility of a better world after all? n

The awami spirit

The good thing about the World Social Forum was the awami spirit that enveloped the entire venue. You didn’t need a prior appointment to meet the forum celebrities like Yasin Malik, Tariq Ali, Wahu Kaar, Ghinwa Bhutto, Nirmala Desh Pande, Jamal Juma…the list is endless. You could just grab them, wherever you saw them -–– near the water fountains or outside the media centre, or near the tea stall –– and could ask them anything. The best part was that they, too, seemed eager to have their say.

In the same way, the place was a journalist’s haven with absolutely no dearth of stories. And there were enough for each to go around. From minority issues with particular reference to the dalits, Christain women abductions to arms race, gender and gay issues, neo-liberal imperialistic agenda of the United States to urban issues including big dams and mega projects that lead to forced evictions; from militarisation to WMDs and invasions, to fisherfolk and survival of indigenous communities and even the space for alternative media -– there was not a theme that was not talked about, discussed or reviewed.

Women from around the world denounced the social ills affecting them at a women’s court at the World Social Forum. The World Court of Women sat to hear women talk about how they had been affected by numerous aspects of globalisation. A symbolic process, the court held public hearings on crimes against women, including the violation of their rights.

A token hunger strike was held by a mother at the venue, in protest of her son’s abduction by the intelligence agenies as a result of this country’s deep involvement in the US-led ‘war on terror’ in neighbouring Afghanistan. Though not an event in the literal sense, it somehow left an indelible mark than the scores of sessions on local issues that were taking place everyday. “They must be torturing my son. I know they do, from the newspaper reports of people who have come back (from detention),” said Nasima Bibi. “We were told that if we come here, foreigners will hear about us and tell the whole world about our anguish and how the government treats its citizens,” she says tearfully in between reciting verses from the Holy Quran.

And yet it was the Kashmir conflict that remained at the heart of the forum. The first session started about three hours late. Yet under the pink and yellow marquee, inside the amphitheatre, people waited patiently braving the afternoon heat. If there was talk of the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, there was discussion of the wishes of the people of Ladakh for independence from Jammu and Kashmir. Eleven Kashmiri leaders from all walks of life, who had traveled to Pakistan to specially attend the WSF, with divergent views sat on one platform. They came to talk to the ordinary people of Pakistan about the futility of the CBMs as it did not involve Kashmiri representation, tell them about the human rights violations perpetrated upon women by both the militants as well as the security forces. If the Kashmiris, they asked, were excluded from the peace process between Pakistan and India, how could any headway be made?

“Till there is justice, equality and dignity, the dream to have an independent Kashmir will not be fulfilled,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq emphasising the need to look to the future not the past. Yasin Malik spoke of his long and hard journey from taking up the gun to surrendering it in search for a peaceful solution to Kashmir. But while the Kashmiri people tried hard to shed various myths surrounding the issue, Tarek Fatah, a Pakistani-born host of ‘The Muslim Chronicle’, a weekly show on Canadian TV said that peace between India and Pakistan was needed for demilitarisation in the region but added that this would lead to a situation in which the “Pakistan military would have no role to play, no raison d’etre. Pakistan,was not serious about the peace process and the Indian side has an obsession to control Kashmir.” n –– Z.T.E