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 Re: WORLD SOCIAL FORUM - MUMBAI-INDIA (Re: Elmamoun khider)
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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM, Bombay, 2nd Day's report by Dr. Leo Rebello
Today was the second day of World Social Forum packed with diverse forms of interaction :
plenary sessions, conferences, panels, round tables, seminars, workshops, cultural events,
solidarity meetings, rallies and marches. There are so many groups and people jostling for
media attention, that the media, for once does not does not know what to chew on.
The main issues are sidelined and the Press reports little tidbits like the organisers did not
recognise Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Well, that is fact. I was personally a witness to it
yesterday, that one of the members of organising committee was telling the Chairman of the
Reception to Committee to shift elsewhere and I had to intervene.
As is the habit of the mainline media, "if a dog bites a man it is not news, but it a man bites
the dog, that is news", most papers tomorrow will report two unhappy incidents.
One incident in which disabled people on wheel chairs blocked the entry to Media centre
for about 5 minutes to draw the attention of inadequate arrangements for them. And in another
incident one foreign journalist was sprayed with some chemical and looted of his camera, passport,
and everything, while our Khakee (mumbai police dozed. They are in full strength, but out on
picnic, as always. Infact, they are not happy doing this job, because they have to buy food, books,
etc.) Infact, this experience will do them good, because no one bothers about them.
To attend something like 300 events, some unnecessary, where speakers themselves do
not know what they are saying and what they want, is difficult. So, today, I went out in a chaffeur
driven car with my family to three venues of happening.
First stop was Mumbai Resistance. More police than the participants! Because, Mumbai
Resistance consists of some 300 organizations, some of which also subscribe to armed struggle.
While WSF's slogan is another world is possible, MR is saying we need to fight for it. And
I agree with them, though I may not agree with their method of fighting. Because tit for tat will
make us meat fit for big cats!
Dr. Darshan Pal, convenor, MR 2004 says : "The truth is that globalization was never meant to improve
our lives. This is evident from the fact that today, more people are poor, hungry and oppressed than at any other time in history. Five billion out of the world's 6.3 billion people don't earn enough to live decently.
A billion people go hungry every day, of which 200 million are malnourished children under 5 years. Two billion people do not even have safe water to drink. Globalization has instead been designed to make more money for the monopoly capitalist banks, corporations and governments in industrialized countries".
MR slogans are : Strengthen People's Struggles. Resist Globalisation. Smash Imperialism. Build a People's World.
The inaugural programme of MR was lacklustre. So, from there we drove to Don Bosco ground Matunga, to witness what was happening at the Intercontinental Youth Camp 2004. The venue is central, the arrangements were better than at WSF in Goregaon, and there were about 10,000 young persons who had converged there. With Peace Boat from Japan also having brought some youth peace activists from Japan and Korea.
"Education for All : Can Globalisation Provide It?" session was in progress. Someone recognised me and I addressed the youth for about 5 minutes. By then, it was lunch time and we took a walk of the venue and met some Tibetan monks who could not communicate in English or Hindi, but gave a cheery smile and handed over a booklet on Tibet's strugle for freedom, which I plan to read later.
Back to the main venue of WSF, in Goregaon, after about 30 minutes drive, we participated in the Global March of Children, where Kailash Satyarthi had invited me to be the Guest of Honour along with Mahesh Bhatt, a prominent Hindi film producer. We also took a walk of the Exhibition area and among others found a stall of Falun Gong. They gave a me a free CD and literature of their exercises meant to improve health and literature. Mr. Suren Rao explained that All Falun Dafa activies are conducted by volunteers and are free of charge. There is no membership and no donations are accepted. He said he would visit me, at mutual convenience and also told me to download books, audio and video clips from Galun gong websites : www.falundafa.org
The founder of Falun Dafa is Master Li Hongzhi. In early 1999, an official report placed the number of Falun Dafa practitioners in China at over 7 crores -- a number larger than the membership of the Chinese Communist Party. Therefore, despite its peaceful nature, and great improvement of health of Chinese people, the President of China aided and abetted by the transnational pharma MNCs who could not invade China with drugs, ganged up and thus began a brutal crackdown against Falun Dafa in July 1999. So, the message is : Falun Dafa tried to create Another world, a better world and the forces of darkness tried to crush them. But can with the coming of light darkness persist?
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Elmamoun khider
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست