VOICES RISING
YEAR IV - Nº166
January 27, 2006

CONTENT
1.- WSF - 2006


CARACAS

THE WORK PLATFORM OF THE AMERICAS AND THE GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY

By Adelaida Entenza - ICAE
Translated by Marcela Hernandez – ICAE

Organized by Global Policy Network (GPN), Interamerican Regional Organization of Workers (ORIT), International Organization of Wood and Construction Workers (ICM), Institute of the Work World (Argentina),among others, and with the participation as panelists of Tony Avirgan, Marita González, Ruben Cortinas and Vicente Carrerass, this workshop was organized with the aim of sharing reflections on the importance of joining forces and carrying out joint political actions, the Work Platform of the Americas and the World Social Forum as a space for its presentation, in order to further go into some of the issues dealt with in this document.

Important contributions on the present situation of labor, the terms in which today informal work is defined and which can be summarized in: loss of rights and invisibility, stating that among the key challenges is the fight for poverty eradication.

Getting into the issue of the Work Platform of the Americas and after a brief introduction on its process of elaboration, the importance of this document was remarked, not only as a political tool of proposals for the union movement throughout America, but as a tool to eradicate poverty.

The Platform as a working document and instrument of action for unions, a document that comes from the union movement but which has been opened to other civil society organizations.

Among the key principles promoted, is to urge governments from the Americas to abandon neoliberal economic policies inspired in free trade fundamentalism; adopt sustainable development policies that focus on quality employment with social justice; design policies from a gender perspective with the main purpose of strengthening democracy, reduce inequality, adopt sustainable development policies; strengthen the processes of subregional integration in response to free trade agreements which only widen the gap between poor and rich countries.

Within the contents of the Platform, the inclusion of a gender perspective was remarked, the importance of including a gender perspective in a permanent way,  cross-cutting the group of public policies, and the significance of this. as an advancement in the labor field. These are some of the aspects taken into consideration: to guarantee the active participation of women, respect their rights as workers, guarantee their sexual and reproductive rights, etc.

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GROW AND MULTIPLY

Tuesday, 24 January 2006

COLLUMN
 
By Cândido Grzybowski 
Source: TERRAVIVA  www.ipsterraviva.net

Translated by Louisa Burford

louisaburford@yahoo.es

CARACAS  Many are those who, even within the anti-globalization movement, predicted its exhaustion and particularly that of its main referent, the World Social Forum (WSF). Meanwhile, here we are, full of vitality and creativity.

Surprising and innovating, the WSF is becoming increasingly closer to the people who suffer most from the effects of globalization, made to measure to increase the profits of the large financial and economic corporations. This year, we will not only show our capacity to grow, but also to multiply, as we will celebrate not just one, but four forums: in Bamako (Mali), in Caracas (Venezuela), in Bouznika (Morocco) and in Karachi (Pakistan). We are shooting up suddenly where we are least expected. With difficulties? With problems? Unleashing new contradictions? Of course. But what we are building here is amazing.

Today we come to the sixth edition of the WSF, as always with new challenges. We emerged in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001. In those days nobody could imagine the organizing power which the initiative contained. In Latin America, dominated by the most exacerbated current of globalization policies derived from the so-called Consensus of Washington and, in the midst of general disbelief, we sowed the seeds of hope.

It appeared to be nothing more than a dream. But dreaming is one of the most human acts that exist, and it drives us to live and believe in the future. This was how the dream started to become reality: the governments who supported the Consensus of Washington began to fall, one by one, via votes in elections or direct action in the streets. Latin America began searching for new directions. Without a doubt we are changing, maybe not at the speed we expected and hoped for, but with real changes which have repercussions in the whole world. We have experienced political turbulence, but we stimulate creativity and the will of a citizenry hungry for rights, social justice, freedom and participation.

This political and cultural movement of transformation, firmly based on the WSF  which many still today hesitate to consider a movement and doubt that it has its own energy, and which moves like a wave as it advances without any way of knowing its final impact upon its breaking on the coast  has won over practically the whole world. The initiatives inspired in the World Social Forum are multiplying in all corners of the planet. The only common reference is a
Charter of Principles, ethical in its deep inspiration and radically political as a potential transformer of practices and cultures, appropriate to and interpreted by the most diverse movements, entities, networks, coalitions, alliances and campaigns in the whole planet, without the existence (or the possibility of the existence) of an Inquisition or Politburo which dictates what is right and wrong.

The idea of a polycentric WSF, as we’ve had this year, is part of the innovative human adventure which has at its heart the common sense of humanity in diversity, the support reference of all human rights for all human beings, and the radical awareness that the greater good is nature and her resources, which we must preserve and share.

In this context, we must celebrate the fact that the World Social Forum is recognized as a reference on the World political scene, and the fact that governors, political representatives and even the “owners” of the world feel obliged to give answers to this rebel citizenry, in its way part of the world power, shows the magnitude of the impact which we have already made. We must also celebrate the fact that the World Economic Forum of Davos, performing contortions, deems it necessary to adopt themes from our agenda, as it has been doing in recent years, and that Heads of State and government, as well as representatives of multilateral institutions, aim to be in tune with the humours of the WSF and that increasingly each day the media report our activities. All of these are indicators that our strategy is the correct one.

Many uphold that we run risks and take uncertain routes. Guided by a feeling of radicalism we answer that opting for the democratic way in social transformation is accepting uncertainty as a way of human coexistence. It is also the proof of our vitality and conviction of our condition as citizens, and citizens of the world, always ready to fight. It is for this reason that our presence as WSF in Caracas, in Bamako, in Bouznika, in Karachi and in many other places causes such intrigue and discomfort to the dominating system. We must continue onwards!
(FIN/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(*) Cândido Grzybowski, brazilian sociologist, director of Ibase and member of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF).