BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/03/2007

Belorussian Social Forum, Minsk, 15-20 May 2007

On May 15-20, Belorussian alter globalist groups, together with EYFA, organize the Belorussian Social Forum, an autonomous space in Minsk where Belorussian and foreign representatives of NGOs, grassroots initiatives, organizations and networks can meet face to face to discuss local Belorussian as well as global themes. --- In 2001 the World Social Forum was held for the first time in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The WSF functioned as an open meeting place where grassroots social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism. This multitude came together to discuss how to achieve global social justice and to prevent further environmental destruction, and to network for effective action so to make "another world possible". Since 2001, world, regional and local Social Forums have taken the form of a permanent process seeking and building alternatives.

This BSF will lead to a better understanding of the social and political reality in Belarus for Belorussian as well as international activists, and will stimulate the level of national and transnational cooperation among them, breaking through the isolation that most Belorussian activists are working in. For activists from isolated Belorussian regions especially, this meeting provides an alternative to dictatorship style society building and the opportunity to develop political, social and cultural activities within a networked format working in opposition to authoritarianism and neo-liberalism.

The BSF is guided by the Charter of Principles of the World Social Forum, where is stated: "The WSF defines itself as an "open meeting place", one which is "plural, diversified, non-confessional, non-governmental and non-party". "The alternatives proposed at the World Social Forum stand in opposition to a process of globalization commanded by the large multinational corporations and by the governments and international institutions at the service of those corporations interests, with the complicity of national governments". (Points 1, 4 and 8, see: http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.php?id_menu=4&cd_language=2)

We like to underline the principles of this charter again. We critique the increasing influence of political parties, governments and big corporations at Social Forums on world, regional, and local levels. We critique the tendency in which more money means a louder voice, where decisions are made in hierarchical style and behind closed doors. In the context of an authoritarian regime we do not believe this is the right foundation for the 'other world' in the here and now. The BSF is horizontally and self-organized; everyone is asked to take part in running the workshops, participating in discussions, solving problems and decision-making.

Some of the themes that will be addressed during the meeting are

1.alternative education: "free university" project; reforms of educational system, students' movements in Belarus

2.indy-culture: technical aspects of working with the information; Alternative media perspectives in Belarus. International Indemedia network development. Blogs and bloggers' communities.

3.free soft, open source vs piracy

4.media, new communication technologies etc.

5.food not bombs in BY/internationally

6.alternative economics, autonomy, self-government

7.fundraising vs mutual aid

8.workers' movement and trade unions in Belarus and European experience

9.involvement in international co-operation and contacts. Hospitality club, other grass-roots networks

10.human rights practical training for activists

11.G8

12.nuclear energy and alternatives

13.sexual and reproductive equality; Gender issues, women and LGBT rights promotion movements in Belarus

possible additional themes (taken from previous BSF, and elsewhere):

14.Globalization and neoliberalism: impact on Belarus. Resistance and alternatives to the neoliberal model of globalization. Belarus and European Union interrelations

15.Alternative art, counterculture in Belarus

16.Ecologist movement in Belarus

17.Problem of nationalism and xenophobia in Belarus, antifascist movement

18.Local self-government and social movements in Belarusian regions: activism in the regions

19.creative activism

20.GLBT and Queer in Serbia

21.sweat shops, consumerism, ...etc

Source:

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20070328094935581