“Another World NOW!”
The 16th World Social Forum (WSF) was held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 15-19 February 2024, bringing together more than 50,000 people and 1,400 movements and organisations from across the world. The Forum has long been held as an “open space for the free and horizontal exchange of ideas, experiences, and strategies oriented toward enacting and generating alternatives to neoliberalism,” taking place in Asia after nearly two decades, at what is a critical inflection point for the peoples of the Global South.
In a message in the lead up to the event, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also highlighted how “Uniting for the common good is critical as conflicts rage and geopolitical divisions grow”; emphasising the imperative to “reform an outdated, dysfunctional, and unfair global financial system” and how the WSF “represents an important space to lift voices, focus on the most vulnerable, restore hope, and find innovative solutions for people and the planet.”
Workers, farmers, peasants, fisherfolk, forest peoples, trade unions, social movements, women’s organisations, LGBTQIA+ organisations, Indigenous peoples, Dalits, ethnic organisations, cultural workers, artists, civil society organisations, and students gathered in solidarity and voiced their demands and proposals for a more just, equitable, peaceful, and sustainable world for all.
Issues around climate justice, food sovereignty, gender equality and LGBTQIA+ rights, workers’ rights, living wage, social justice, debt justice, among others were brought to the forefront.
Session with N.E. Thai groups linking with groups from India, Nepal and other countries on rights of forest workers. Picture credit Ms. Wanun Permpibul, Climate Watch Thailand
Calls for peace and end to the genocide in Palestine, in particular, dominated the discussions and mobilisations.
Walden Bello, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Board of Focus on the Global South (Focus) spoke at the opening ceremony, making a stand for Palestine. Focus also released our statement, PEACE, JUSTICE, AND SELF-DETERMINATION FOR PALESTINE: OPPOSE OCCUPATION, APARTHEID, AND GENOCIDE; CEASEFIRE NOW!, during the Palestine Social Forum which was held on 18 February 2024.
Walden Bello speaking at the Opening Plenary of the World Social Forum held in Kathmandu, Nepal on Feb 15, 2024. Photo by: Galileo de Guzman Castillo.
In addition, Walden Bello also made interventions on building movements to fight the rise of fascism and on the roots of war, in a thematic panel on Peace, Conflict, War, Occupations, Displacement and Security co-organized by the Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum (AEPF) and several other peace movements.
In a panel discussion organized by the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Raphael Baladad participated in and contributed to discussions on food sovereignty, agrarian reform, peasants’ rights, rights to food, land and water, as well as challenges facing social movements on the ground, drawing on the struggles of communities and networks in the region and the extensive work of Focus with allies and partners in these areas. The call is to “go back to the basics – in organizing, movement building and creating social pressures amidst the constant threats against activism, and reclaiming rights through solidarity.”
Galileo de Guzman Castillo engaged in discussions on climate justice and resisting false solutions, land, food sovereignty, and housing rights, peace processes, as well as the Intercontinental Youth Forum (IYF) that gathered young activists, students, and youth in various peoples’ struggles in more than 30 countries.The discussions especially highlighted the role of growing climate and environmental justice movements, connecting inter-sectional struggles for workers’ rights, just transitions, decolonisation, gender justice, democratisation, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, peace and self-determination among others; as well as the importance of youth uniting to challenge unjust systems.
