[WSF-Discuss] [Fwd: Re: [nigd-list] [filtered] The Montreal IC through my eyes]

[P. Waterman]

Peter Waterman wrote:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject:
> Re: [nigd-list] [filtered] The Montreal IC through my eyes
> From:
> Peter Waterman <p.waterman at inter.nl.net>
> Date:
> Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:03:22 -0500
> To:
> Giuseppe Caruso <giu.caruso at gmail.com>
>
> To:
> Giuseppe Caruso <giu.caruso at gmail.com>
> CC:
> nigd-list at nigd.org, Post WSFDiscuss 
> <WorldSocialForum-Discuss at openspaceforum.net>, Janet Conway 
> <jconway at brocku.ca>, "Reitan, Ruth" <r.reitan at miami.edu>, 
> mallory at mayfirst.org, zoul at no-log.org, Ana Margarida Esteves 
> <anamargarida.esteves at gmail.com>, Gina Vargas <ginvargas at gmail.com>
>
>
> Thanks, Giu and NIGD for this clear and rapid account of the Montreal 
> IC. This is what, in my mind, justifies the existence of NIGD.
>
> Am I, however, alone in noting in the account a reproduction of two 
> tendencies within the IC, and one possibly not recognised as such. 
> This is between an anti-neoliberal and an anti-capitalist tendency. Or 
> the other way round since the analysis seems to talk of the crisis of 
> capitalism, but the 'alternatives', as always, seem to embrace 
> anything not neo-liberal.
>
> The weakness of the 'alternative' comes out also in the two possible 
> slogans mentioned:
>
> 'Let's build another world now!' Or 'Together for another world now!'.
>
> The inspiration here must be Obama, who won an election and an 
> (ignoble) Nobel by talking endlessly about Change and saying it was 
> Possible, without specifying on either content or principle.
>
> Bearing in mind the rapidity with which corporations, politicians and 
> states are capable of picking up on movement slogans and campaigns, 
> and emptying them of emancipatory potential, I hope and pray that any 
> slogan and symbol is going to be one that cannot be turned into an 
> electoral jingle or a company logo.
>
> I just watched Michael Moore on two nationally networked TV talkshows 
> here (in the USA). Asked on one of them what his alternative to 
> capitalism was he said 'Democracy' and then specified the areas in 
> which it doesn't apply under capitalism but should do.
>
> I think that this could be more sharply specified likewise by the WSF 
> and would suggest something like this:
>
> For the Radical Democratisation of Everything:
>
> the Economy, Politics, International Relations, the Nation, the 
> Region, the Community, the Household, the Bed, the Environment, 
> Culture and Communications....etc.
>
> This would leave open the possibility of a dialogue about the general 
> slogan as well as about its application to specific social areas, 
> locales, identities.
>
> PeterW
>
> Giuseppe Caruso wrote:
>> Dear All, i put together a quick report of the IC that you might be 
>> interested in, please feel free to circulate it among those who might 
>> be interested (appended and attached)
>>
>> Ciao
>>
>> giuseppe
>>
>>
>>
>> *International Council of the World Social Forum *
>>
>> *Montreal meeting 6^th ^ to 8^th October, 2010*
>>
>> Giuseppe Caruso
>>
>>
>> The first day of the International Council (IC) meeting focused on 
>> crucial issues of democratic import. How to evaluate the work of the 
>> Liaison Group (LG) and how to set in place a process to replace, as 
>> originally agreed, some of its members. Such task was set originally 
>> as a concrete assurance to those who were concerned with the possible 
>> (or indeed inevitable) concentration of power in such group. Today 
>> these preoccupations were renewed and the members received clear 
>> reassurances on the commitment of the LG and its members to the 
>> values of the IC. The next crucial issues was how to replace some of 
>> the members to generate the renewal desired and to allow an influx of 
>> new energies and experiences. A proposal encountered the favour of 
>> the members: a Working Group would be set in place that would 
>> establish the Terms of Reference of such new process. This working 
>> group will be constituted by 2 current LG members and three new IC 
>> members. The group will report before the end of the meeting on the 
>> outcome of its preliminary work.
>>
>>
>> The afternoon session focused on the conjuncture. In break out groups 
>> for anglophones, francophones and portunholophones (due to 
>> translator's constraints) some 20 to 30 members per group discussed 
>> the current development of the global crises. After an hour of work 
>> the groups returned to the plenary session were they reported back 
>> and a joint debate followed. As in Rabat, at the previous IC meeting, 
>> the members broadly converged on an assessment that defined the 
>> crisis as an accumulation of interrelated crises that showed its 
>> structural and systemic nature. The general crisis of capitalism 
>> shows its multifaceted aspects as a crisis of values, civilisation, 
>> finance, economy, culture and most importantly environment. On this 
>> latest point the convergence seemed general that this crisis deserves 
>> the utmost attention and indeed incisive action. If capitalist crises 
>> are recurrent and their effects are forgotten too soon indeed, the 
>> environmental devastation caused by the current lifestyle of a 
>> minority of the planet's inhabitants is generating irreversible 
>> consequences which may soon enough compromise the same ability of 
>> humankind (and not only) to survive. A loud cry was raised by the IC 
>> members to stop considering the environment only a sectoral struggle 
>> engaged by the environmental activists and movements and indeed 
>> consider it our common struggle for survival as humans.
>>
>>
>> But something new was to be clearly perceived in the mood of the 
>> conversation, something indeed in stark contrast with the mood in the 
>> previous meeting. If in Rabat the general mood was hopeful and 
>> charged with expectation for the opportunity that the crisis offered 
>> to the world activists to highlight the failures of capitalism and 
>> propose a way ahead to building another world, in Montreal many 
>> articulated analysis inspired by a more somber mood. The perception 
>> was that the window of opportunity that had presented itself from 
>> September 2008 is quickly closing and the activists might have lost 
>> their chance to generate a substantial momentum for change. 
>> Capitalism once more is bouncing back and the main 'talk in town' is 
>> that of recovery and of the end of the crisis. A comparison was drawn 
>> between the atmosphere of the G20 meeting in London and the recent 
>> almost self-celebratory for the brilliant response provided to the 
>> crisis by the world leaders of the G20 in Pittsburgh.
>>
>>
>> Why did the activists of the world movements and of the WSF IC lose 
>> the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the 
>> global crisis? No words were spared on the analysis of the possible 
>> reasons but a degree of convergence was rather soon generated. The 
>> global crisis is consequence of and has in turn consolidated a 
>> systemic crisis of the global left. In the first instance the global 
>> left has allowed capitalism to go unchallenged while implementing the 
>> policies that generated the conditions for the current crisis and 
>> after the crisis exploded was not able to incisively lead the way for 
>> change. This crisis is so deep and structural that it has involved 
>> the same WSF, inducing its IC members to questioning its role and its 
>> current nature and possibilities to influence change. A common voice 
>> responded to this painful cry that this analysis only depicts one 
>> aspect of the crisis of alternatives. The WSF indeed has produced, 
>> generated, incubated thousands of alternatives, it is indeed been a 
>> constant generator of viable alternatives, but the movements that 
>> were supposed to implement those alternatives have failed in their 
>> ultimate task to promote that change. If a crisis exited it was not 
>> to be considered a crisis of the WSF but a crisis of the movements 
>> that converge in its space.
>>
>>
>> What has the forum and it's IC not done or done wrong to contribute 
>> as some said to the crisis by not opposing neoliberalism in as a 
>> strong way as it could have? The all time favourite debate in the WSF 
>> was articulated once more around this crucial question with some 
>> members suggesting that the main responsibility of the WSF is to be 
>> flexible and able to respond to the needs of the movements which in 
>> the current conjuncture is one of leadership. The WSF needs to evolve 
>> from its open space identity, in which no representation and no 
>> direct involvement in social change process is sought for, towards 
>> becoming a more assertive actor in the global dynamics of resistance 
>> to capitalism and for change.
>>
>>
>> The morning session of the second day was dedicated to list the 
>> events that will constitute the 2010 year of activities around the 
>> world. Among them the celebration for the 10^th anniversary of the 
>> WSF in Porto Alegre at the end of January, a social movement 
>> challenge launched recently in Quito to the Global City Forum 
>> organised by UN Habitat in Rio de Janeiro in March, the Unites States 
>> SF in June in Detroit, followed shortly after by the ESF in Istanbul, 
>> the Forum de las Americas in Asuncion, Paraguay in August, the Iraqi 
>> Social Forum in November just to mention a few. Due to the extension 
>> of the list and the possibility that this list is later updated with 
>> dozen more events, it was debated to what extent the WSF can 
>> associate itself with all the events who claim to be a social forum. 
>> What, it was wondered, can the IC do to ensure that those events take 
>> place in coherence with the spirit of the WSF rather than getting 
>> unduly legitimation by the WSF endorsement? It was agreed after a 
>> brief conversation that a strict adherence to the Charter of 
>> Principles will be necessary and the practice of the open space 
>> philosophy.
>>
>>
>> Following, the conversation moved towards another crucial issue of 
>> the agenda, earlier introduced in Rabat and now further developed. 
>> What can the IC do to ensure some degree of continuity or indeed 
>> unity among all the events that will bear the WSF torch around the 
>> world in 2010. Indeed the metaphor of the Olympic torch was used and 
>> a common slogan and a common logo are to be developed soon towards 
>> this aim. Small groups of around eight to ten people worked to draft 
>> proposal for possible slogans. A degree of convergence was discovered 
>> on returning to the plenary on the spirit of urgency that the slogan 
>> should communicate. Examples are Let's build another world now! Or 
>> Together for another world now! The principle of plurality has been 
>> remarked once more to avoid suggesting that this process should lead 
>> towards a global campaign but to a multiplication of existing or new 
>> campaigns in the spirit of the WSF.
>>
>>
>> In the afternoon of the second day Taoufik ben Abdallah presented in 
>> detail the current work of the African and Senegalese organising 
>> committee for Dakar 2011 and while sharing the excitement of all 
>> involved it also did not hide the enormous challenges, financial and 
>> human that such an endeavour implies. However he confirmed the 
>> support of the Senegalese government and that of some old donors of 
>> the WSF. Moreover, he stressed vigorously that a fundamental novelty 
>> introduced by the Dakar forum will be the aggressive fundraising 
>> strategy aimed at raising internal resources inn Senegal and Africa 
>> to consolidate the ownership on the forum. This however has to be 
>> considered a fully World SF rather than an African Social Forum. All 
>> partners and all members of the IC should consider themselves at home 
>> in the whole organising process. He added also some remarks on the 
>> extent to which the whole year 2010 will be considered by the 
>> organising committee a long mobilizing march towards Dakar 2011. This 
>> process will be launched later this year with a seminar in Dakar to 
>> which all IC members will be invited and where the inclusive 
>> mobilization strategy will be highlighted by the participation of 
>> important social movements from Senegal and wide range of partners 
>> from the whole continent, old and new members of the WSF African 
>> Council. This seminar will also give all the opportunity not only to 
>> meet and design articulations for the year to come but also to 
>> imagine a shared strategy on presenting the Dakar 2011 strategy to 
>> respond to the crisis and develop alternatives from the vantage point 
>> of West Africa.
>>
>>
>> Questions were asked from the floor which echoed the congratulations 
>> for the work already done and the wishes and promises of support for 
>> the hard work ahead. What would be the relationship between NGOs and 
>> social movements and will there be a strong prevalence of the formed 
>> as was the case in Nairobi? What will be the role of culture in the 
>> event? Will it be possible to maintain the WSF devoid of 
>> multinational corporation encroachment? Will the Dakar forum be fully 
>> designed for self-organised events or are the organisers thinking of 
>> setting up special events and what would be the way to contribute to 
>> the organisation of such events? What are the expected numbers in the 
>> forecast of the organising committee? What would be the articulation 
>> between IC commissions and functional groups in organising committee? 
>> Would we have the chance as IC to reflect on the fundamental role of 
>> migrations in the world today from the West African crossroads of 
>> important fluxes of migrants? The members of the African process for 
>> Dakar, responded to the questions reassuring that the organisation 
>> will be conducted in full respect of the principles of the WSF 
>> Charter and that the lesson learnt in Nairobi will become a solid 
>> foundation on which to bring the new forum. For other more specific 
>> issues the IC members were invited to actively contribute to shaping 
>> the answers by participating in the efforts starting from the Dakar 
>> forum in a month time which will officially launch the true 
>> organisational process.
>>
>>
>> The first half of the third day was dedicated to the work of the IC 
>> Commissions: Strategy, Resources, Communication, Methodology and 
>> Expansion. In the first and longest session of the afternoon choral 
>> reports were made by members of each commission.
>>
>>
>> The Communication committee presented first. Due to the intensity of 
>> the conversation that had touched on issues not immediately related 
>> to the task at hand (designing a communication plan for the 2010 year 
>> of forums and for the mobilisation towards Dakar) the commission 
>> could not complete its work and will meet again in the night. However 
>> the presentation touched on crucial issues of communication in the 
>> forum and with the outside and on the substantial issue of difference 
>> between information work, with mainstream or alternative media, and 
>> the communication that best embodies the values of the WSF. It was 
>> indeed clear in the presentations made by several members of the 
>> group that substantial ground had been covered on issues of 
>> interpersonal relations in the commission's open space, on efficiency 
>> and productivity versus faithfulness to the values embraced by its 
>> members, on the nature of communication and its impact on the overall 
>> methodology of the WSF year-long 2010 process and beyond, the role of 
>> facilitators and contributors both directly involved in the work of 
>> the group or from a wider territory of potential contributors to its 
>> work, and on further issues of such import.
>>
>>
>> Next presented the Resource Commission. The spokesperson of the group 
>> updated the plenary on the finances of the forum and their allocation 
>> for the year to come but most importantly it invited all to reflect 
>> on the fundamental constraints that the forum has to be ready to face 
>> in the years to come. These constraints are due to donor fatigue and 
>> to the considerable loss in the value of their endowments that the 
>> foundations of Europe and America have to face as a consequence of 
>> the crisis. Moreover, some funders might also start revising their 
>> funding policies and recalculate their costs and the benefits they 
>> derive in the engagement with the forum. Although, was added by 
>> another member, the forum cannot allow funders to lead its policies 
>> and visions, yet donor constraints could give the forum some needed 
>> focus. Indeed as someone noticed, the message that seemed to come 
>> across from this presentation did resonate what previously reported 
>> by the communication commission and by others during the whole 
>> meeting: it might be useful to return to the central values of the 
>> WSF and redesign a vision statement on the basis of a more 
>> sophisticated strategy that could successfully be communicated to old 
>> and prospective funders. This process may indeed facilitate focus 
>> within the WSF as asked for by several members in the previous two 
>> days, consolidate the position of the WSF with current funders and, 
>> finally, entice new partners to join its journey to contribute 
>> building another world.
>>
>>
>> The Expansion commission reported on process of accepting new members 
>> to the IC on the basis of the application recently received (two of 
>> which were accepted and two were postponed due to lack of information 
>> on the applicants). The process of selecting the new candidate for 
>> admission to the IC had also generated a lively conversation on 
>> criteria for admission. Past contribution to the forum, future 
>> potential input, regional relevance and sectoral balance were all 
>> considered when assessing organisations that may have been excluded 
>> if assessed on a stricter application of the guidelines of the 
>> expansion commission. In particular if the Rabat work of the 
>> commission focused on the indigenous sector, given the conversation 
>> of the previous days, this time the commission suggested that extra 
>> efforts were to be put in welcoming environmental organisations and 
>> networks. It is also customary of the commission to set the date for 
>> the following IC meeting, that was fixed for the 5^th to 7^th of May 
>> 2010 in Mexico City.
>>
>>
>> Next, the methodology commission presented its work. Its ambitious 
>> and so much needed work to create a compendium, a memory of the past 
>> experiences of the forum in the 10 years since its inception, has and 
>> will generate in the following months a set of documents among which 
>> the compendium itself and a set of guidelines for future forums. At 
>> the heart of the elaboration of the members the acute awareness that 
>> methodologies are not ideologies and are context specific and cannot 
>> simply be transported from one forum to the next. However, a spirit 
>> is common to the WSF and that spirit was highlighted in their 
>> presentation. A key issue that attracted particularly the attention 
>> of the floor was that of the agglutination process by which the 
>> commission facilitates the process of convergence of several 
>> self-organised events into wider ones giving the possibility to 
>> activist from different parts of the world working on similar issues 
>> to share their experience and present more compelling cases to their 
>> partners during the events. It was also suggested that the 
>> fragmentation of the events does not necessarily extoll the 
>> multiplicity of views of the forum but it may indeed generate a 
>> feeling of chaotic confusion which is hard to navigate and therefore 
>> disempowering both for organisers and participants.
>>
>>
>> Intense and identity searching debate took place in the Strategy 
>> commission as well, as previously in the communication and resources 
>> commissions. It was reported that the now clearly understood loose 
>> mandate of the commission did not help to facilitate as fruitful a 
>> conversation as it could have. Moments of confusions about what was 
>> that the members were going to discuss generated moments of impasse 
>> and the call to go back to the drawing board. The plenary heard that 
>> in the next weeks a new set of guidelines will be drafted to guide 
>> the work of the commission. At the same time a new questionary will 
>> be circulated to the members of the IC so that they could contribute 
>> to the analysis that will inform the strategy of the commission and 
>> of the whole IC.
>>
>>
>> The questions of the questionnaire on which the members were asked to 
>> reflect, were the following:
>>
>> What is your analysis of the current crises? What are the possible 
>> alternatives? What should the role of the WSF be in such context? A 
>> further subject of conversation in the commission was the 
>> organisation of an international day at the USSF were the recurrent 
>> theme of the 2010 world forum events would see a direct resonance in 
>> Detroit. Finally to help the strategic thinking of the commission 
>> three new position papers will be circulated by the facilitators on 
>> the issues of poverty, war and environment. The meeting ended with 
>> two brief presentations by the working group on the 2010 forums and 
>> by the working group on the liaison committee. Finally one of the 
>> organisers of the next meeting said few words of welcoming to the 
>> next IC in Mexico City.
>>
>