For the past few days, Mumbai has been hearing of the World Social Forum meeting being held in the metropolis from January 16-21. But what is it all about?
"The WSF hopes to strengthen popular resistance to injustice, provide an alternative to the current trend of globalisation that benefits a few rich countries at the expense of the poor," Shanti Patel, chairperson of the reception committee, told mediapersons in Mumbai on Monday.
"The WSF, which believes in the possibility of another world, aims at bringing together organisations and social movements to build alliances to create a just world and to oppose imperialist globalisation that leaves the rich richer and the poor even more impoverished," he said.
Pointing out that the nearly 600,000 factories that had been shut down in India over the past five years had made approximately 130 million workers jobless, he said the WSF hoped to address the root cause behind this problem and the changing economic scenario.
"We are not against the concept of internationalisation where there is a linking of mass movements and organisations but against government policies that are driven by rich multi-national companies," said A D Golandaz, convener of the reception committee.
Referring to the domination of leftists in WSF, Gautam Mody, a member of the WSF, said, "It is not a political party but a forum which believes in initiating a political procedure. We accept all those individuals and organisations that believe in our ideology."
Imperialist globalisation, communalism, war, patriarchy, casteism and racism would be the focus of attention at this year's meet.