São Paulo – The World Social Forum 2015, which takes place in Tunisia next week, will be attended by more than 140 Brazilians. This is the estimated number of people that are part of the country’s main delegation, which represents 97 organizations, according to one of the executive directors of the Brazilian Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (Abong), Damien Hazard. Abong is one of the leading Brazilian associations for participation in the event.
Also attending the event will be federal government officials such as the minister of state and head of the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic, Ideli Salvati, and Brazilians that will travel on their own or representing regional movements. The national delegation is diverse and includes, according to Hazard, people from students, environmentalists, people with disabilities, unions, black, quilombos, native Brazilians and solidarity economy movements, among others.
The forum’s theme in 2015 is Dignity and Human Rights, and will be divided into six spaces for discussion. Brazil will be leading important debates in the meeting, such as the fight against racism, development of democracy and popular participation, sustainable development, access to water and accessibility policies.
In different spaces, such as seminars, the idea is for the Brazilians to share the experiences of the country in these areas. “We are taking the Brazilian experience to the recently created Tunisian black movement”, exemplify Hazard. The issue of racism will be presented in a seminar. In Brazil, according to him, there is an acknowledgement of racism, which doesn’t happen in Tunisia yet.
Minister Ideli Salvati will take part in debates about the promotion and defense of Human Rights, according to information from her press office. One of her actions will be the presentation of the “Caravan of Education on Human Rights”, a project supported by the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic that gathers the civil society and local, state and federal governments to turn permanent the political debate about human rights.
After the meeting, which occurs from March 24th to the 28th, a humanitarian mission from the forum will travel to the Gaza Strip, to bring supplies and to offer solidarity to the Palestinian people. The idea came from Brazil, according to Hazard, and the delegation is to be headed by former senator Eduardo Suplicy (PT). One of the marches of the World Social Forum, on March 28th, will have as its main theme the land but it will also bring up the Palestinian issue.
The World Social Forum had its first edition in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001, and since then the country has occupied an important role in its organization. The meeting is an open space for the discussion of ideas and thinking, formulation of proposals and exchange of experiences between social movements and networks and non-governmental organizations that oppose neoliberalism, imperialism and world dominance by capital.
The 2015 Forum will take place in Tunisia despite the terrorist attacks of this Wednesday (18th) at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis, which resulted in the murdering of 22 people. The meeting is set to happen in El Manar University, also in the Tunisian capital, and the organization has said that all the activities will be held. According to a statement by Abderrahmane Hedhili, coordinator of the forum’s organizing committee, with the attacks terrorists groups intend to destabilize the democratic transition in Tunisia and in the region.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
