1- Building Bridges : In search for alternatives
January 13 to 15
Série de consultations et de rencontres qui s’étendent sur 3 jours, entre groupes indiens et canadiens, dans le but d’élaborer le travail de solidarité et de développer des alternatives au système néolibéral.
Alternatives is planning a consultation of its delegation with select Indian persons in order to strengthen the bridges that are necessary to find global alternatives to the existing neo-liberal onslaught enslaving the World.
FIELD TRIP
Date : January 13, 2004
Time : 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
Place : Residency Hotel
Suren Road, Andheri Road
Andheri East, Mumbai
Phone : 5692-3000
The delegation from Canada will visit a women’s organization called Awaaz-e-Niswan (Women’s Voice). This group works amongst women from minority communities living in the slums. Its focus varies from vocational training, micro credit, human rights etc.
INDIA : AN OVERVIEW
Speaker : Jawed Akhtar/Shabana Azmi (To be confirmed)
Date : January 14, 2004
Time : 5:00 to 7:00 PM
Venue : Conference Hall, Hotel Residency
CONSULTATIONS
Date : January 15, 2004
Time : 2:00 to 7:00 PM
Place : Conference Hall, Hotel Residency
The following persons will be participating in the consultations from India :
Achin Vanaik is a well-known peace activist both for his extensive writings and for being a key activist of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) in India
Subhashini Ali - an ex member of the Indian Parliament and President of the All India Democratic Women’s Federation is a key figure in the women’s movement in India
P.K. Murthy is a tireless trade union worker belonging to the Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). He has worked in the coal mines of central India, and is a fluent French speaker !
M.Phil is a history teacher at the Delhi University, he is a resident of the central Indian district of Hoshangabad, a movement supporter, including that of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. He has worked on indigeneous water systems, and has recently taken over the responsibility of running one of the most significant alternative media efforts in India, the Sarvodaya Press Service from Indore.
Madhuri has dedicated her life working with and for the rights of indigeneous people (adivasis), living and working with them in a very remote region - the Pati block of Barwani district. She has been put into jail a number of times for her relentless fight for the rights of the adivasis.
Using adult literacy campaigns as an entry, Kashinath works in an entire spectrum of developmental issues, including guarantee of minimum wages for unorganized workers in the adivasi dominated Jharkhand state in Eastern India.
Vinod Raina from the People’s Science Movement is a close associate of Alternatives, who works in areas of Education, Environment, Development and Local Governance.
It is hoped that an interaction with such a variety of Indian activists would help in exposing the Alternatives delegation to the varied shades of Indian social movements, and the issues they espouse.
In addition to the above, there will be three more consultations during and after the WSF. The organizations working in nearly all regions of India working on rights of working children, environment, healthcare, micro credit, sustainable agriculture, watershed management, etc. will be involved in this process.
Coordinator : Feroz Mehdi, Alternatives
Phone (in India) : 9810620634
2- Launching of the "Social Movements Directory"
January 17, 9:00 to 12:00, Room B48
Presented by Alternatives, CETRI (Belgium), CLACSO (Argentina), CUT (Brésil) ARENA (India), ATTAC
The goal is to debate on the convergences of social movements and to present an international databank of social movements on internet.To demonstrate how we can build and use an interactive and participatory databank of social movements to contribute to the trans-thematic and trans-national networking process against globalization.
3- Seminar Peace Education : Lessons from Afghanistan
January 18, 9:00 to 12:00, Room C92
Presented by Alternatives, Afghan Peace and Democracy Act, and Action Aid Afghanistan.
The goal is to explore current issues faced by peace educators, drawing on lessons from parctitioners in Afghanistan. There is a lack of understanding about peace education, and lack of financial and political commitment to international peace education efforts. The seminar includes a presentation by Afghan practitioners on their experiences in the field of peace education, followed by a wider discussion amongst participants relating to the issues involved in peace education efforts internationally. Participants will benefit from the shared experiences/lessons learnt from one group of practitioners. Also a chance to build up an international network of individuals/ organisations concerned with peace education
4- Using ICT for social mobilisation
January 18, 1:00 to 4:00, Room B39
Presented by Oneworld international
The objectives are to network, learn from each others experiences and highlight best practices. ICTs are increasinly important in our work. However, with scant resources, and information overload, we need to ensure that our efforts are engendering maximum impact and reach.
5- Panel : US occupation of Iraq and the problem of Palestine and Afghanistan
January 18, 2:00 to 5:00, Room Hall 1
Presented by the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace with the special collaboration of Alternatives
The goals are to develope awareness among activists and groups about American imperialist designs in the region, to promote and work for anti-imperialist designs in West Asia and Central Asia, and highlight the condemnation of US occupation of Iraq and Israeli occupation of Arab terrotories. In addition to examine US war against terror and its implication in Asia, and to organise a one day conference on the above mentioned theme to give an official charter of demands.
6- Seminar : The New Triad : India, the United States and Israel
January 19, 5:00 to 8:00, Room A1
Presented by Alternatives
The objective of this seminar is to examine the formation of new alliances with the USA in the region. The speakers will examine the various facets of this development, more particularly, - What are the implications for South Asia and India in particular of the new "endless war" strategy of the United States ? - What are the proposals by the US that can affect India’s regional policy at the political and military level ? - What is the role of Israel in this development ? - What are the alternatives to this policy in terms of the struggle for peace and regional cooperation ?
The seminar will bring the expertise of many scholars and activists including : Michel Warshavsky, Alternative Information Center (Jerusalem) - Achin Vanaik, activist in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) in India, and a US speaker to be confirmed.
7- Teachers in solidarity with Palestine : Globalization, Education and Social Change !
January 20, 9:00 to 12:00, A15
Presented by Quebec National Federation of Teachers, the Teacher Creativity Center (Palestine) and Alternatives
The goal is to explain the situation of education in Palestine. The workshop is premiliminary to an international conference on "Globalization, Education and Social Change" in Ramallah, Palestine, October 4th to 6th 2004.
The conference will present the experience and the struggle of Palestinian teachers to build a new popular and democratic education system. In particular, we will look at :
– Clarifying the relationship between education and social change ;
– Identifying the impact of globalization on education and culture ;
– Mobilizing alterglobalization movements to help people living under traumatic situations ;
– Gaining experience from other teachers’ movements’ experiences in the struggle for social change.
8- Seminar : Networks : beyond networking
January 20, 9:00 to 12:00, Room A9
Presented by Alternatives, Forum mondial des Alternatives (Maroc), IPAM (France), Groupe Alternatives (Niger)
Speakers from various international networks will ask and try to answer some of the following fundamental questions : What are the impacts of these new networks ? What do they do ? What could they do ? What are their challenges and limits ?
We also invite you to click on the following links to consult our special issue on Mumbai. You will find many articles and essays on the city, India and the WSF.
Link for the french documentation :
FSM 2004, de Porto Alegre à Mumbai !
Link for the english documentation :
Have a nice forum !
