[WSF-Discuss] Americas Social Forum held in Central America

[CACIM]

OCTOBER 20, 2008...4:07 AM

Americas Social Forum held in Central America


[image:
http://trumanmonitor.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/abortion.jpg?w=300&h=229]<http://trumanmonitor.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/abortion.jpg>

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*Story by | Marc Becker*

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http://trumanmonitor.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/americas-social-forum-held-in-central-america/

Thousands of Maya farmers took over Guatemala City's main boulevard in a
massive march on October 12. Men and women, some carrying months-old
infants, were dressed in the colorful outfits of their local communities.
They carried banners advertising the names of their Indigenous and peasant
organizations, and denouncing the privatization of land and water. They
shouted out slogans that popular movements are sweeping across Latin
America, and that the people united will never be defeated.

This continental march on the Day of Resistance of Indigenous peoples and
nationalities brought an end to the Americas Social Forum, a gathering of
civil society and social movements. With the participation of more than
7,000 delegates from throughout the Americas and Europe, the 6-day event
condemned corporate-led neoliberal economic policies, and pledged to build a
better world.

Billed as the "forum of resistance," the gathering intentionally culminated
on the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Elites
previously celebrated October 12 as the Day of the Race, but now Indigenous
peoples commemorate it as a day of resistance to exploitation and
oppression.

This was the third meeting of the Americas Social Forum, and the first one
in Central America. Since the World Social Forum began in Porto Alegre,
Brazil, in 2001, these gatherings have brought together social movements to
create alternatives to corporate globalization and empire. Although somewhat
smaller than previous gatherings, the participation of 350 organizations in
a wide range of events resulted in a very rich meeting.

Forum organizer Joel Suárez from the Martin Luther King Center in Havana,
Cuba, noted that "we tried to have a different kind of forum, one with a
strong presence of women, Indigenous peoples, young people, and peasants."
The forum, indeed, did have a large Maya and female face.

Indigenous peoples, not only from Guatemala but throughout the Americas, met
to discuss issues of land and water. Blanca Chancoso, an Indigenous leader
from Ecuador, proclaimed that "water is not a commodity; water is life. Land
is our mother and our mother is not a commodity."

Tom Goldtooth from the Indigenous Environmental Network based in Minnesota
said "we are witnessing the collapse of capitalism." He came to Guatemala to
join with other Indigenous peoples across that Americas in opposition to "a
neoliberal system that is not working and continues to oppress our people."

The forum came on the aftermath of voters in Ecuador approving a new
constitution that embraced that country's plurinational nature. Ecuadorian
Indigenous leader Humberto Cholango contrasted plurinationalism with
pluriculturalism that tends to reinforce
neoliberalism and the folklorization of Indigenous peoples.
Plurinationalism, Cholango argued, was a broad political, social, and
economic concept. It means fighting for a new political process, not just
for a small representation in government, but for a new concept of state
structures.

In addition to plurinationalism, "sumak kawsay" or living well was a theme
that ran throughout the Indigenous meetings and spread to the rest of the
forum. Bolivia's foreign relations minister David Choquehuanca introduced
this concept at the 2007 Indigenous summit in Guatemala. He noted that
development plans look for a better life, but this results in inequality.
Indigenous peoples, instead, look to how to live well, or "sumak kawsay" in
Quechua. Choquehuanca emphasized the need to look for a culture of life.

As Joel Suárez noted, the forum did have more of a female face than previous
meetings. Women's groups used the forum to build their ongoing struggles.
The Nobel Women's Initiative, a group of women who have won the Nobel Peace
Prize, released a statement at the forum in support of Mesoamerican
feminists. They urged government "protection and respect for the rights of
women and feminist leaders." They expressed concern
for the deteriorating situation of millions of women in Central America,
particularly in regards to attacks on abortion rights and feminicide.

The Nobel Women's Initiative stated that Another World Is Possible, "and
that world must include gender equality and a life free of violence for all
women." Women, they said, "are a central part of our dreams and actions to
achieve a better world."

As a movement that emerged out of the global south, the United States has
always played a relatively marginal role in the social forum process.
Grassroots Global Justice has worked harder than any other organization to
bridge that gap. GGJ was formed in 2002 as a vehicle to build solidarity
with social movements around the world, and to develop joint strategies to
confront neoliberalism and the conditions people face. They brought an
energetic delegation of several dozen activists from the U.S. to the forum.

The forum helped connect broader issues to communities of struggle in the
U.S. Maria Poblet, from Saint Peter's Housing Committee said "as an
organization that works with immigrant Latinos, we have come here to
Guatemala to be face to face with the conditions that cause people to
migrate." She was inspired by her experiences at the forum, and in
particular the spirit of resistance in Guatemala in the face of extreme
violence and repression. "Here we are in Guatemala that presents to us the
challenge saying after 200 thousand people disappeared from our country and
were killed, we are organizing this forum and we are inviting you to
participate," Poblet says.

*Published in the Monitor Volume 15, Issue 4. October 20, 2008.*
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