I attended the World Social
Forum in Nairobi
from 20 to 25th January 2007. I also attended the two days meeting of WSF
International Council meeting at the same place after the WSF.
What I would like to say is very simple.
This is not the WSF I like to attend for the following technical, political and
economical reasons. The WSF in Nairobi
was not held at the main city center but outside in a massive sports stadium.
Away from the city center meant a very low participation by the local
community. The very expensive rent paid to sports stadium also helped the cost
of WSF to go up.
The stadium stairs were
transformed into meeting rooms for workshops and seminars. This arrangement was
more suitable for a lecture than an interactive dialogue and open space to
speak about problems.
When a peacock dances in a
jungle, no one is there to watch this beautiful tremendous effort of the
peacock. So this WSF was like a peacock dancing in the jungle.
The initial decision to hold
the WSF in the city park was changed to this massive sports stadium on the
reason to “secure” delegates from the local petty criminals. But most
of the delegates were staying at the city center. For this logic, the delegates
were secure in the day time but were left t mercy of the criminals in the
evening. The stadium was around 10 kilometer away from the city center.
There was no proper
information center at the stadium. One may have spent hours before finding a
meeting room you want to attend. The volunteers were no where to be found and
if you are lucky, they knew nothing. They were not properly briefed. All they
knew that they are volunteers and they will be paid.
There was absolute no
translations available. The translations had to be organized by those who had
organized the event by themselves. This meant translation in one or maximum two
languages. Many were left out of the proceedings. There were no proper
justifications by the organizers why they were unable to organize the translations.
All they had to say sorry. I heard later that the translation equipment was
bought but was substandard. The organizers had not taken the help from Babel, the organization
that had provided translations in at least seven languages during the past forums.
The WSF was very expensive.
For Kenyans, the entry fee was $8, for Pakistanis and for those from South was
$ 35 and for those from advance countries at least $100 must be paid for
registration.
One of the two local
telephone company Celtel was contracted to collect the registration fee
alongside with their line. So, a business opportunity for Celtel was there to
make maximum profit.
After the protest of the
locals and international radical forces and an act of defiance to open the
gates for the locals, the organizers of the WAS were forced to reduce the fee
for the locals. But who would know that the fee is been reduced.
The food on sale was very
much expensive. The normal cost of a lunch was around $8. The half a litter of
water bottle was sold for $ 0.70 and an ordinary juice packet was sold for
$1.30. There was no simple free water was available. That meant a roaring
business for the local and international water companies. All the trade that
was carried out in the venue was not on normal local prices but may be ten
times more for every single item. The local traders have paid a lot of money to
the organizers to rent the place. So they were passing on the weight to those
attending the WSF.
The toilets constructed for
the venue was like those which are in the airplanes. Very expensive
construction must have been one reason why the Forum final cost has gone up 3
million US dollars. There were many tents erected around the venue with no one
inside, thus adding the cost.
There was no mobalisation of
the locals to attend the forum. No posters, banners or flayers around the city.
All the locals knew that there is conference which will bring a lot of business
to the city. So, every one has raised the prices. From taxies to hotels, every
one was busy in making money from those attending the WSF. It was like a loot
bazaar and a one time chance to loot the buggers.
It was the most
commercialized WSF of the three I had attended during the last three years.
There was a lot of police and military at the venue. Every aspect of building
the WSF was organized on contract. The presence of the state forces at the
venue was adding to the harassment for the locals and international delegates.
There was a lot of presence
of the church in the venue. They had registered a lot of activities as well..
There were some advocating on the abortions and other aspects that the WSF
principles do not allow. The WSF is not a religious place for the any religious
institutions to preach what they are up to.
The local press reported that
the organizers had claimed over 60,000 registered till the last day of the
forum. It was a news and surprise for many who were looking where the 60,000
are registered. The opening and closing ceremony was not attended by more than
5000 each.
These two functions were held
at a city park. The opening ceremony had a 45 minutes speech by former
president Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia boring every one and many
left during the speech. I never heard that long speech on the opening ceremony.
The former president was praised again and again by the organizers thus leaving
a personality cult over the WSF. it was again against the spirit of the forum.
The maximum attendance at the
WSF at any one time did not exceeded more than 10 to 15 thousands at the most.
In fact, this WSF became the lowest attended WSF so far.
The WSF must change its
priorities in organizing the events. It should not be for those who has the
money to attend but for those who can not affords to attend.