Activists arrive at anti-globalization gathering

Activists arrive at anti-globalization gathering

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Mumbai, India

About 70 Indonesian delegates arrived in Mumbai, India, on
Thursday to join tens of thousands of activists from around the
world at the World Social Forum 2004, which aims to create a
fairer form of globalization.

The WSF 2004, which officially opens on Friday, is the fourth
of its kind and the first to be held in Asia. The conference
finishes on Jan. 21. The previous three were held in Porto
Allegre, Brazil.

Seventy-five thousand delegates from around the world are
expected to join this year's WSF.

The Indian capital of Mumbai was chosen for the forum as it
encapsulates both the bright and darker sides of economic growth.
The port city is not only an industrial hub for India, but also a
city where the gap between rich and poor is visible, where
homeless citizens sleep under tiny plastic tents on the side of
developed highways.

The WSF is hosted in a large compound on Mumbai's outskirts,
where banners and graffiti reveal the activists' optimism that
globalization with a human face is indeed possible.

The Indonesian delegates, comprising farmer, labor,
environmental and feminist activists, artists, students and
academics from throughout Indonesia, will join the meeting to
discuss how to create a global welfare and global justice.

Among the non-governmental organizations who sent delegates to
the forum are the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi),
the Institute for Social Transformations (Insists) from
Yogyakarta, the Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), the Women's
Solidarity movement (SP), Culture Works Media (MKB), the Urban
Poor Consortium (UPC) and the Federation of the Indonesian
Peasant Unions (FSPI).

"Now, we have the newly-founded Indonesian Social Forum (ISF),
a local offshoot from the World Social Forum. We have several
organization members, but I expect through this event, more
organizations will join us and we will hold a meeting in which we
will discuss alternative forms of globalization," Bonnie
Setiawan, the chairman of ISF, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The Indonesian delegates would map out Indonesia's social
problems during this event and were likely to issue a joint
statement at it's close, Bonnie said.

"But our main objectives are to have gain new insight about
alternative forms of globalization and to broaden our network."

A number of pundits such as Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin
Ebadi, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Booker Prize winner
Arundhati Roy and Algerian leader Ahmad Ben Bella, are scheduled
to give their speeches at large conferences during the forum.

WSF 2004 will also feature hundreds of smaller events,
including debate forums, panel workshops, cultural festivals, art
performances and exhibitions.

Dita Indah Sari from the National Federation of Indonesian
Labor Unions (FNPBI) is scheduled to be a key speaker in four
panel workshops during the WSF.

Some of the Indonesian delegates will take part in an
exhibition, detailing the activities of Indonesian non-
governmental organizations.