Birth of a Coordination Committee for Alliance Participation at the WSF in Mumbai

Dear Allies,

Please excuse us for not having given any news since the end of September. There will soon be a lot of information, since an Indian Committee was formed in Bangkok to coordinate Alliance participation in the next World Social Forum in Mumbai on January 16-21.

Early September, we took the initiative of opening a debate on the Alliance’s possible participation in Mumbai. Many Allies sent information to the [alliance] and [alliance-info] lists on their intentions for participation in Mumbai. A summary of these intentions was published on the lists toward the end of September.

Otherwise, the FPH indicated that it was prepared to back a coordination of the Allies, but that it would like to know beforehand how the different workshops and workgroups intended to participate in Mumbai. It also indicated that it was prepared to back a meeting of a group of Indian and Asian Allies at the end of October to discuss this coordination and its practical implementation.

This meeting took place in Bangkok from October 26 to 28. A report of the meeting is available on the new Web site of the Allies at WSF . In addition, a Communication Team has been set up along with a specific information list

The Bangkok meeting was attended by 20 Asian Allies (India 13, Nepal 2, China 2, Philippines 1, Cambodia 1, Vietnam 1), to which 4 Latin Americans were associated (from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil, who had come to a consecutive preparatory meeting for economy of solidarity events at the WSF), and Philippe Amouroux from the FPH.

A Coordination Committee was set up for the Alliance’s participation in Mumbai.

* Bhim Raskar (RSCD, Mumbai) will coordinate the logistics with the help of Ashvini Kulkarni (VACHAN, Nashik, close to Mumbai) and Arun Raste (Fair Trade Forum India, Mumbai).

* Ashvini Kulkarni (VACHAN, Nashik, close to Mumbai) and Siddhartha (Bangalore) will coordinate the program aspects.

* Gouridasan Nair (The Hindu, Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala) and Milind Paranjape (Times of India, Mumbai) will coordinate systematization and communication.

* John Samuel will coordinate the financial aspects together with Philippe Amouroux

On the logistics level, the Committee will reserve a number of rooms in a well-located hotel so that Allies will be able to be as close as possible to each other and use meeting rooms for their workshops and workgroups. A shuttle service will be available to go to the Forum venue, Goregaon.

January 15, the day before the opening, will be devoted to two common work meetings: one on the place of alliances in Asia (coordinator: Makarand Paranjape), the other on the internal governance of the Alliance (coordinator: Siddhartha).

Systematization activities will also be part of the common activities. An essentially Indian team including participants from other Asian countries will be backed by a small group of Allies who participated in systematization at Porto Alegre.

Kamal Mitra Chenoy, one of the influential people of the Programs Commission of the Indian WSF Committee, a member and very active participant of the International Committee of the WSF, participated in the whole meeting. He assured us that he would facilitate contacts between the Alliance dynamics and the Indian Committee.

The FPH’s new guidelines and its priorities for the WSF were presented. The FPH will make decisions in the next few days on its commitments, according to the specific proposals it will have received from the Allies who have manifested their intention of organizing activities at the WSF. Its criteria remain those that were publicized late September on the Alliance lists.

In solidarity,

Philippe Amouroux
; John Samuel