São Paulo – Four mayors of Palestinian cities will attend the 3rd World Forum of Peripheral Local Authorities (Falp), due from June 11th to 13th in Canoas, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Sufian Bassah, from Aizaria, Musa Hadid, from Ramallah, Ramez Jarayseh, from Nazareth, and Iyad Jallad, from Tulkarem, will be at the event, which will be hosted by Brazil for the first time.
The forum will be attended by representatives from 200 cities in 40 countries in the Middle East, South America, North America, Europe and Africa. Titled Rights and Democracy for Cohesive and Sustainable Metropolises, the conference will include six thematic areas: Identities and Multipolarity, Governance and Participation, Globalization and Metropolization, Water and Sustainability, Common good and living well, and Equality and Gender Policy.
“Palestinian cities haven taken part in the World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre last year. As a result, we established a relationship with those cities. That gave rise to cooperation, and (at the event) we will make our ties even stronger,” said Jairo Jorge (affiliated with the party PT), the mayor of Canoas, in an interview to ANBA.
The event will take place at Centro Universitário La Salle (Unilasalle) and will also feature public managers, researchers and other delegates from the participating cities.
The first edition of the event took place in Nanterre, France, in 2006. The second edition was held in Getafe, Spain, in 2010. Jorge said, however, that the idea for the forum came up in 2003 in Alvorada, in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre, during the Forum of Local Authorities For Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy (Fal). According to the mayor, there are plans of making the event more formal and holding it on a triennial basis.
“We will propose to establish the World Council of Cities and an executive secretariat for the forum. We will also set forth an agenda of ideas for more solidary, sustainable and democratic cities within the scope of the UN,” said the mayor with regard to the goals of the forum. According to him, the new council should comprise from 40 to 50 cities in several countries, which will hold annual meetings to “implement that which was discussed at the congress.”
“We will also create a global bulletin of metropolitan regions, and we will propose a global study, along with universities, to conduct a diagnosis of those regions,” he said. Jorge also said a proposal will be presented for cities’ representatives to enter an exchange program to get to know each other better.
The attendance of invited delegates is still in the process of being confirmed. Mayors from municipalities in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Portugal, France, United Kingdom, Mali, Senegal, Mexico and Canada have confirmed their attendance. The Tunisian architect and researcher Inchirah Hababou will also attend.
From Brazil, 15 mayors from cities in the states of São Paulo, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul have confirmed attendance.
The event’s discussion panels will feature approximately 800 people, according to Jorge. Although the primary focus of the forum is on mayors, secretaries, public managers, researchers and academicians, the general public may also take part in the debates. Registration is available at http://www.pt.falp2013.com.br/inscricao .
Falp will also include free cultural events, including dancing, theatre, music, photography and film. Additional information is available at www.pt.falp2013.com.br.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
