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Friends,<br>
Earlier we had forwarded here a letter from COSATU to WSF IC asking
them to not hold the IC meeting in Morocco. It was in that context that
DEBATE, another listserve, saw a good deal of debate on the issues
raised. We are forwarding you a response from the Liaison Group of WSF
IC in this matter. AS mentioned in the letter below the attachments are
being forwarded separately. It might be a repetition for some who are
on both listserves but we felt its important enough to be circulated. <br>
Madhuresh<br>
<br>
-------- Original Message --------
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">Subject: </th>
<td>[DEBATE] : WSF IC Liaison Group Letter on Cosatu-WSF dispute</td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">Date: </th>
<td>Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:26:09 +0200</td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">From: </th>
<td>peter waterman <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:p.waterman@inter.nl.net"><p.waterman@inter.nl.net></a></td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">Reply-To: </th>
<td>debate: SA discussion list <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:debate@debate.kabissa.org"><debate@debate.kabissa.org></a></td>
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<th align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="baseline">To: </th>
<td>debate: SA discussion list <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:debate@debate.kabissa.org"><debate@debate.kabissa.org></a></td>
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<br>
<pre>I received the following from a companyera on the list referred to, who
also follows Debate.
The letter also had attached material which I will forward separately.
Peter W
Subject:
[Wsfic_fsmci] Letter from WSF Liaison Group members
From:
WSFIC_FSMCI <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:fsmci@forumsocialmundial.org.br"><fsmci@forumsocialmundial.org.br></a>
Date:
Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:08:25 -0300
To:
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:wsfic_fsmci@listas.rits.org.br">wsfic_fsmci@listas.rits.org.br</a>
Dear Members of the IC:
The Liaison Group which is entrusted with the job of organizing the next
IC meeting has been approached by one of the members of the
International Council, i.e COSATU, the South African trade union,
objecting to the venue of the venue of the next meeting ie Rabat,
Morocco. They addressed a letter to the LG with their objections. (see
attached).
The LG found itself in a peculiar position since it is only an
implementing body and is not empowered to change IC decisions after the
IC meetings. The structure of the social forum does not allow for
representative bodies, and there is no methodology as yet for changing
IC decisions between meetings except to discuss it on the list and
getting concurrence of all the members of the IC.
The LG contacted the local hosts in Morocco and communicated the
objections raised by COSATU. The Moroccan organizations responded from
their side (attached). One of the main objections raised by COSATU
comrades is the fact that Morocco is still illegally occupying Western
Sahara, and it would like to express its solidarity with the Sahrawi
people. The Moroccan host organizations have clarified that they do not
support the monarchy or the occupation and a number of Sahrawi
organizations are supporting the meeting and they have participated in
the Maghreb Social Forum that was held in Morocco.
Unfortunately although COSATU was present in the last IC the
representatives had to leave early and could not express its objections
in the meeting. But they did discuss their objection with other members
of the IC.
The IC’s decision to hold the next IC meeting in Morocco is a considered
one. The reasons were as follows: a) it is very important to expand the
social forum process to the Arab countries; b) The Maghreb Social Forum
is doing important work of south-south expansion toward the Mashrek
countries on behalf of Expansion Commission and they took the
responsibility to organize, on the same days of IC, a very important
seminar towards preparing an Arab Forum including movements from
Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Middle East countries: c) because
the Moroccan organizations are independent, they oppose government
policy, and they have created a space of dialogue for just peace with
Sahrawi people.
If there was more time available the points raised by COSATU could have
been discussed on the list before the IC meeting beginning May 6^th .
But there is not enough time. This does not mean the discussion cannot
be continued during the IC meeting and before and after.
We hope that all this and the clarifications given by the Moroccan
comrades will satisfy friends in COSATU, that they will also participate
in the IC meeting in Rabat (May 6-9th) and place their views. Their
presence in this meeting is crucial, not just because of the issues they
have raised, but also because the meeting is in African continent and
COSATU is an extremely important part of the African movements as well
as the International Council.
COSATU has asked that guidelines should be drafted as to where meetings
of the IC can or cannot be held. It would be useful if they or other
organizations should indeed work on such guidelines. Discussion on such
guidelines could be included in the agenda of the next IC and continued
thereafter.
Please refer to the letters which have been attached here
In solidarity
Members of the Liaison Group:
Chico Whitaker, Gina Vargas, Moema Miranda, Raffaella Bolini, Hector de
la Cueva, Ana Maria Prestes, Alexandre Bento, Wilhelmina Trout, Jose
Miguel Mederos, Changgeun Lee, Meena Menon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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--
* 'Needed: A Global Labour Charter Movement', ESF Malmo Update: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.netzwerkit.de/projekte/waterman/gc">http://www.netzwerkit.de/projekte/waterman/gc</a>
* 'Challenging Empires: The World Social Forum. (2nd Edition, 488 pp). Ordering: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.blackrosebooks.net/wsf.htm">http://www.blackrosebooks.net/wsf.htm</a>
* 'Back in the (Ex-) USSR': <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://zope2.netzwerkit.de/RusRepLatest.pdf">http://zope2.netzwerkit.de/RusRepLatest.pdf</a>
* 'Recovering Internationalism; Creating New Global Solidarity', <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/6439.html">http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/6439.html</a>
* 'Prague 1968: "Workers of the World, Forgive Me!"', <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tni.org/archives/waterman/prague1968.pdf">http://www.tni.org/archives/waterman/prague1968.pdf</a>
* 'A Union Internationalism for the 21stC', <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.plutobooks.com/cgi-local/nplutobrows.pl?chkisbn=9780745327563">http://www.plutobooks.com/cgi-local/nplutobrows.pl?chkisbn=9780745327563</a>
* 'International Labour Studies in the UK’, in "Work Organisation Labour and Globalisation", Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 180-200. <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.analyticapublications.co.uk/">http://www.analyticapublications.co.uk/</a>
</pre>
<br>
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