En route to the World Social Forum in Tunis
From the streets of Kasserine to those of Montreal, by way of Tahrir Square, Puerta del Sol, Zuccotti Park, Syntagma Square..., this is the other world that the 99% are in the process of building. In Monastir (Tunisia), from July 12 to 18, a delegation from Alternatives will be participating in a preparatory assembly for the World Social Forum 2013, which will take place in Tunisia in March 2013.
At the end of 2010 and early 2011, the people of Tunisia, quickly joined by their fellow Egyptians, unleashed a global wave of protests, insurrections, revolutions, indignation and occupations, a mobilization unlike any seen in the span of a generation.
From the Maghreb to the Middle East, it convulsed (and continues to convulse) the political landscape. In Europe, it has directly inspired the struggle against the austerity plans. In the United States, it has called into question the almighty power of financial institutions and banks and the debt burdens of households and students. In Chile, as in Quebec and Mexico, it has taken the form of mass mobilizations for access to education. In Senegal, it has sustainably grounded the demand for a real democracy, one that would turn its back on corruption, mismanagement and nepotism.
Everywhere the connection is being made between the aspiration for real and direct democracy and the infringements of fundamental rights that signify capitalism to be on the verge of exhaustion. All are joining together in the certitude that another world is possible, based upon our struggles and upon alternatives that we are ever sufficiently numerous to explore on a daily basis.
The economic, financial, social, ecological and climatic crises are not matters of fate. Debt and austerity do not constitute the unsurpassable horizon of our future. We will not pay a debt that is not ours: as odious as it is public, it has been imposed on us by financial institutions, by banks, by financial advisors concerned about their shareholders and their personal enrichment, while left to destroy the planet and our lives. We are not condemned to submit to the increasing violations of our freedom of movement, to accept the transformation of European and North American countries into fortresses built on racism and inequalities. Faced as we are with all the enterprises of occupation, colonization and war, it is up to us to defend people's rights and their freedom to choose their destiny, their borders and their future.
From the streets of Kasserine to those of Montreal, passing through Tahrir Square, Puerta del Sol, Zuccotti Park, Syntagma Square…, this is the other world that we, the 99%, are now constructing.
At the assembly in Monastir, a series of meetings and exchanges with Tunisian organizations involved in the 2011 revolution has been planned, including the welcoming of an international flotilla of solidarity with migrants, which will connect European shores to Monastir via Lampedusa; meetings between young agents of the Maghreb/Mashreq revolution and Indignados, militants of Occupy, Y’en A Marre Senegalese, etc; an assembly of social movements in the Maghreb/Mashreq region; a day of work around issues of social protection and common goods; a meeting of the Council of the African Social Forum; a meeting of the WSF International Council, and more.
Also at Monastir, Alternatives will report on the mobilization in Quebec and Canada, including in particular the progress of our own People's Social Forum that is being planned for 2014!
Translated from French by Paul Germanotta