WSF convenes in the cradle of Arab Spring

By Clare Byrne, DPA /Tunis The world’s biggest gathering of leftist activists kicks off today in Tunisia, where Arab Spring revolutionaries will join forces with anti-capitalist groups to demand freedom and social justice for all. This is the first year since its creation in 2000 in Brazil that the World Social Forum (WSF) is being held in an Arab country. Some 30,000 trade union members and activists from across the world are expected to participate in five days of workshops and conferences on alternatives to the global capitalist order. Dignity —  the central theme of the pro-democracy uprisings that began in Tunisia in December 2010 —  is the key theme of the 11th edition of the forum. By holding the meeting in the birthplace of the Arab Spring, the anti-capitalist community aims to send a message of solidarity with populations that paid a price for freedom only to find themselves plunged into economic chaos. Two years after ousting dictators, Tunisia and Egypt also continue to be plagued by political unrest and tensions between religious conservatives and the secular establishment. The forum will try to “better understand the political situation of countries that have experienced revolutions,” the organisers said in a statement, listing “democracy, social justice, employment, the fight against corruption and embezzlement” among top challenges. The hegemony of financial markets, European austerity programmes, climate change, development and migration will be among the other discussion points at the gathering, under the motto “Another world is possible.” A spokesman for the German branch of anti-free-trade organisation Attac said it would push for the cancellation of Tunisia’s debt. It was unfair to demand that ordinary Tunisians repay the debts accumulated by the corrupt regime of ousted dictator Ben Ali, Hugo Braun said, demanding that the country’s “oligarch caste” foot the bill. The gathering kicks off with a women’s assembly and march in central Tunis that will warn against threats to women’s rights in the region. “We want our presence in the new Tunisia of dignity to be the voice of revolution and not a voice of suppressed freedom,” the organisers of the assembly said, warning against “all forms of fundamentalism which wants to take over and control our bodies.” The forum will also attempt to bolster the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the chief opposition force during decades of dictatorship. Its members have come under attack recently for their activism from Islamist militia.