Regency Experience: World Social Forum

From January 16th thru January 21st, the “Dehonian Delegation” of seven regents, Fr. Beppe, and Br. Leonard, attended the World Social Forum, 2004, in Mumbai. About 80,000 people represented by 2,660 organizations from 132 countries participated in the 4th year of this event. The WSF organizing committee presented 35 large scale events in different formats: panels, round tables, conferences and public meetings, while the smaller self-organized activities such as seminars, workshops, meetings, etc. numbered more than 1,200 events. During the 6 days of WSF, more than 1,500 artists, poets, play-writes, writers and film directors took an active part with their cultural works. Key topics included issues as diverse as arms control, tourism, rights of women and indigenous peoples, and international trade. The common thread linking the sessions was social impacts, particularly on weaker and under-privileged groups. Indians were especially appreciative of the presence of Arundhati Roy and Medha Patkar.

Created as a response to neo-liberal economic policies and a globalization driven by capitalism, the World Social Forum is built around the slogan ‘Another World is Possible’. According to the WSF Charter of Principles, the Forum is not an organization, not a united front platform, but “…an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a society centered on the human person.” The first WSF, held in January 2001 in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil was timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, as the annual WEF was perceived as being an ‘exclusive club’ for elites to chart out a global economic agenda to the exclusion of innumerable social groups around the world.

Each morning the “Dehonian Delegation”, in the context of Morning Prayer and the Celebration of the Eucharist, reflectively deepened our experiences of the previous day, and made plans for the coming day of events, which normally began at 9am and ended at 10pm with a cultural event.

Click on the following names to read each submitted reflection:

Bhaskar

Jijo

Jose R.

Raju Ch.

Sanil

Sunil

Xavier

Also, click PHOTOS to view pictures.



Greetings of peace!

We would like to thank our District for giving us permission to participate in the World
Social Forum held in Mumbai. It was a golden opportunity for us to be a part of the WSF. We feel that we have profited something good out of this five-day programme. In one way these days were an experience of joy to get to know and what they are doing, the people and other organizations from other countries and all over India. This experience will enrich us in the future when we do our ministries. We express our sincere gratitude to our District for granting the permission, and spending all the expenses (boarding and traveling).

Thank you very much,

Bhaskar
Jijo
Jose
Raju
Sanil
Sunil
Xavier
Fr. Beppe
Br. Lenny