World Social Forum 2007 (Jan 20th - 25th)- Nairobi, Kenya

The eagerly awaited meeting of World Social Forum (WSF) started on 20th January 2007 at Nairobi of Kenya as it was flagged off by former Zambian president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda with a vow to fight inequality and social injustice in the world. At the presence of graceful Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda said,”Let all group of people participate in the decision making process of their respective country and denounce all forms of exploitation of person by person in any shape or form”. He was giving the inaugural address at Uhuru Park of Nairobi. Thousands of participants had earlier marched before converging at the Uhuru Park. Regarding the problems of women, indigenous and downtrodden people, Dr. Kaunda said, “Why are we being inhuman in a world of civilization? why cannot we change our mind in this changing world?”. He gave the example of women and said we are entirely dependent on women for a good nine months before we come out to be what we are today. Dr. Kaunda urged this world to think over this reality and allow this mother her dignified place on earth. He added, dignity is a must for every people. Speaking on behalf of Europe, Mr. Flavio Lotti urged African to forgive the west for the historical injustice meted out to them by colonialism. Mr. Lotti criticized the west for spending millions of Dollars in buying armaments, building new bases and involvement in wars while millions in the world are going hunger. Speaking on behalf of participants Mr. Guy Ryder of International Trade Union Confederation said unemployment rates had reached the height of unreasonable proportions due to unfair trade practices.

From the 2nd day of the world social forum, the events and marchpasts were held at a great venue of Kasarani Sport Complex of Nairobi. Nearly 1,00,000 delegates from all over the world gathered in the complex to discuss the major problems. The delegates from developing and developed world shared the common goal of making the world a better place. Taking part in different events delegates from Asia including Nepal urged the world to fight against all forms of racial discriminations and provide an environment to exercise full human rights.

As delegates from Nepal Mr. Moti Lal Nepali and Mr. Om Prakash V.K. with some other non Dalit delegates attended events in different camps at the Kasarani Sports Complex and found everywhere condemnation of the global wars which have left millions without food and shelter. In the procession made daily at the venue, the participants were chanting the slogans, “Down with capitalism, neo-colonialism and privatization”, and hoped a better world is possible.

At the venue different types of art shows were presented from the groups of USA, South Africa, Senegal, Brazil, Kenya, Japan, India, Zambia, Bangladesh, Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, France, Spain, Rwanda, Nigeria, Turkey, Italy, Germany and Egypt. At the venue different types of cultural shows were also presented from the local tribal groups. In the mean time, Mr. Moti Lal Nepali, South Asian Convener of World Dignity Forum (WDF) and Mr. Om Prakash V.K., Member of WDF have made lobbying visits with various prominent personalities among the delegates such as Mr. Salil Shetty from UN millennium campaign, Mr. Fillipo Addari and Mr. Ben Rattenburg from the Association of Chief Executive of Voluntary Organization (ACEVO-Third Sector Leaders)-London, Prof. S. T. Hettige from university of Colombo , Dr. Mohmad Ali Said from Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mr. Mesbah Kamal of Research and Development Collective (RDC) from Bangladesh. The lobbying visits and interactions with them were fruitful in helping raise the voice of Dalits in the international arena. The Nepalese Dalit delegates shared the meeting with Nairobian World Dignity Forum also. At one meeting with WDF-Nairobi when Mr. Moti Lal Nepali spoke on the issues of Dalit, peace process and socio- political transformation of Nepal, a journalist from Italian News Agency Mr. Emiliano Bos came to us and asked about the current inclusion and peace process of Nepal. He interviewed with Mr. Moti Lal Nepali and Mr. Om Prakash V.K. for half an hour. After the interview Mr. Bos showed his satisfaction with the number of nomination of Dalits by CPN (Maoist) in the Interim Parliament and showed his dissatisfaction with the poor number of Dalit nominations by other political parties. On his comment, he added, now it has been proved that CPN (Maoist) had chosen a right track for the sake of country and Nepalese people. At last Mr. Bos assured us to support the movement of Dalit in Nepal through journalism.

The forum is the first one which is being held on African soil. This 7th forum will end on 25th of January 2007 with a hope, “Another world is possible”.

A contingent of Nepali Dalit activists had left Nepal on 19th January for Nairobi, the capital city of East African country Kenya to participate in the World Social Forum 2007 .