VII WORLD SOCIAL FORUM Anuradha Mittal Soon the Kenyan capital of Nairobi will be bustling with over 150,000 activists, representatives of social movements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), networks, and coalitions from around the world, who will converge at the VII World Social Forum (WSF) from January 20-25, 2007.

Anuradha Mittal

First organized in the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre in 2001, WSF’s call of "Another World is Possible" and its message against war, injustice, and social inequities, is no longer regional. It traveled to Mumbai, India, in 2004 and to Bamako, Mali; Caracas, Venezuela; and Karachi, Pakistan in 2006. However, as the attendance to each Forum increases in numbers (150,000 in Caracas) from its modest beginnings in Porto Alegre, WSF has also generated criticisms from several quarters.

One of the main critiques has been that while WSF portrays itself as a challenge to capitalism, standing in direct opposition to neoliberal policies espoused by the World Economic Forum (WEF), it has come into being, with support from large NGOs and foundations, within the very system it opposes! Some question its ability to integrate all quarters of civil society, and different approaches to questions of power, resistance, and organizing in the WSF process. For instance, can COSATU, South Africa’s largest trade union federation and member of the International Council of the WSF, be open to grassroots group, Anti-Privatization Forum’s critique of the African National Congress (ANC) government in WSF space? Others have painted the Forum as an annual tourist event – an opportunity for professional NGOs to globe trot – devoid of real teeth and action plans to ensure Another World…A Better World… for all.

The seventh WSF marks the first time when an African country is the sole host of the event. Not surprisingly then, the African edition with its motto "Peoples Struggles, Peoples Alternatives," is under hard scrutiny to see if the WSF proves to be more then civil society’s jamboree such as Live Aid concerts for Africa. This is the biggest challenge facing the WSF 2007.

Will the WSF step up to its host – Africa, its social movements, grassroots groups, its citizenry, and take on myriad social, economic, and political issues that haunt the continent and are most often fueled by international geo-politics? Will it step up to Africa’s poor who despite years of humanitarian aid, concerts, good will of Hollywood and rock stars, continue to reel from endemic hunger and poverty?

According to the 2005 UNDP ranking, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 12 of the 18 poorest countries which are doing worse on most key human development indicators than they were in 1990. South Africa has fallen 35 places to 120 and Botswana 21 to 131. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that there are 206 million hungry in the Sub Saharan Africa, marking a 50% increase between 1980-2001. Sub-Saharan Africa is also more heavily affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region of the world. An estimated 24.5 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2005 and approximately 2.7 million new infections occurred during that year. Over twelve million children have been orphaned by AIDS.

These distressing figures stem in part from the fact that, despite promises made at international events, such as the Millennium Development Goals (aimed at reducing the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by half by 2015), and the debt-reduction package unveiled at G-8 meeting in Gleneagles in July 2005 (the world's richest countries agreed to write off some $40 billion in debt owed by 18 mainly African countries and agreed to increase aid by $48 billion by 2010), mere lip service has been paid to finding solutions to the continent’s daunting problems. For example, international pledges have been backtracked. Despite promises of doubling aid to Africa, aid for agricultural production in Sub Saharan Africa dropped by 43 per cent between 1992 to 2002. Germany and Italy have said that budget problems might prevent them from reaching their aid targets while others have conflated their debt write-offs and aid increases into one sum.

Cognizant of such criticisms, the fourth day of the WSF has been devoted to solidify joint actions and campaigns