Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

`Rainbow summit' to set stage for World Social Forum

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Dec. 8. A four-day multi-layered conference involving diverse movements and organisations fighting globalisation is being held in the State capital from December 26 to 29.

The conference, titled `Kerala Sangamom', is being organised as a prelude to the Asian Social Forum being held at Hyderabad from January 2 to 5, 2003, and the third World Social Forum (WSF) being held in Brazil in February, 2003. The conference would, for the first time in the State's history, bring together the different, and even mutually opposed, movements fighting globalisation.

About 80 to 100 workshops, four conferences focusing on production, services, governance and culture, and five seminars would be held simultaneously in the city on different aspects of globalisation. Trade unions and farmers', farm workers' and service organisations, Non Governmental Organisations, people's movements, trade bodies besides various other groups and movements would be represented at the workshops and seminars, which would be a collective effort to critically review the impact of globalisation on different sectors of the Kerala economy, institutions and society.

The objective of the `rainbow summit' is to bring together the different strands of resistance to globalisation and work out united strategies to fight its ill-effects. An organising committee reflecting the diversity of views on globalisation has begun preparations for the conference where between 200 and 300 papers would be presented and people from different walks of life would share their experiences.

The conference would, in general, examine the impact of globalisation on life and society, the kind of change the process of globalisation has brought about in the perceptions of the masses, the socio-political forces who support it and oppose it, the attitude of State-level and local level Governments and political parties towards globalisation, the success or otherwise of efforts to enlighten the people about the ill-effects of globalisation, successful efforts to resist globalisation and their sustainability and how a coalition of forces opposed to globalisation could be forged.

The sharing of experiences would take place mainly in the workshops and the seminars would be exploratory in nature. An Open Forum, a festival of arts and exhibition of posters and photographs on resistance to globalisation in different parts of the State are being organised as part of the meet. There would also be an exposition of traditional knowledge systems, food, beverage and consumption articles manufactured using indigenous technologies and alternative production techniques. The organisers are providing only the facilities at the venue and the entire responsibility of organising individual events is being left to various interested organisations and groups. Well-known campaigners against globalisation at the national level would participate in the seminars and conferences.

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