My childhood was deeply marked by a remarkable woman, Martha Ferreira, whom I consider to be my grandmother, even though we weren’t connected my blood-links. She was from Inhambane, Mozambique. Her way of life shaped and meant by and to that land, I truly believe she was left with a huge emptiness the day she had to abandon Africa to come and live in Portugal, an emptiness that was never filled again until 2004 when se finally died at the beautiful age of 98.

The only place I’ve been in Africa is Egypt and that is a very different Africa from the one she described to me. I have many stories visualized in my head from her narratives, about people, places and situations. I learnt to understand her perspectives and emotions regarding that ancestral place, their character and motivation. However, most of us see Africa only as a place stained by bloodshed, hunger and poverty.

I decided to write this small opinion-article (sort of thing) after the convergence of many stimuli arriving from different directions.

It started with some e-mails exchange with a dear friend of mine, Ariane Kunze, a German lawyer, now in Kenya doing some voluntary work with the community there. By chance the World Social Forum (WSF) this year – from the 20th to 25th January 2007 – took place in Nairobi, where it was held for the first time in Africa since its first edition in 2001. At this last gathering there were 66,000 registered attendees, and 1,400 participating organizations from 110 countries, making it the most globally representative WSF so far. But things weren’t running as expected…

The WSF is an annual meeting held by members of the anti-globalization movement to coordinate world campaigns, share and refine organizing strategies, and inform each other about movements from around the world and their issues. It tends to meet in January when its “great capitalist rival”, the World Economic Forum is meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

However, the meeting in Nairobi was excluding the people it was meant to protect and help, the poor and oppressed, so things were a bit grim at the beginning to start with. Fees were too high for the Kenyans to attend; food at the venue was 3 times higher than outside; security and armed soldiers everywhere; not to mention the sponsors. So Adam Ma’anit who was present was very righteous in wondering “Anti-war yet surrounded by soldiers? Anti-corporate yet brought to you by Celtel and Kenya Airways? Anti-capitalist yet food and water too expensive for most Kenyans and southerners to afford? WSF or WEF?”

But come on, it was the WSF, so one day everyone woke up to a spontaneous and powerful protest, people from Kibera (the biggest slum in all Africa that was back to back with the place were the WSF was taking place) came up, invaded the area and demanded the right to express themselves. Outcome; entry fees were lowered than abolished, street vendors were allowed at the venue and a Pakistani group sold “chapatis against Bush” and “anti-capitalist curry” at affordable rates, sweet!

Also according to Ariane: “Concerning the WSF my feelings are split. On the one hand this big event was not very well organized. Very often I did not find the workshop or seminar I wanted to attend. Also the contents of the speeches were sometimes very poor – very populist, just empty slogans. On the other hand, this event was a very good opportunity for different organizations to get to know each other and to extend their networks. What I also liked was that for the first time the forum did not just talk about the poor but also went to them. Many activities took place in the slums with slumdwellers.”

“In the last few days, the forum was invigorated with a new vitality.”This is the World Social Forum, not the World Economic Forum,” was the chant. We made the most of the time we had left. It is just unfortunate that it had to be this way. After seven years of being the de facto AGM of the global justice movement, perhaps the World Social Forum organizers need to do some soul-searching and reconnect with its founding ideals. Moi’s stadium (who ironically banned the teaching of Marxism under his 20-year reign) is where activists put the “social” back in to the World Social Forum. Let’s keep it that way.” Adam Ma’anit stated.
More articles about the WSF can be found at:
http://interact.newint.org/tags/world-social-forum

Another factor that leads me to write this article is the movies… what the hell is wrong with Hollywood these days? Relieving consciences or just a gold mine they found? And why is always the mzungu (meaning white people in Swahili) saving the day? Why is not an native African resolving their own problems? Maybe, because it doesn’t sell as good…

There are many examples some with gold status attached to their covers: “The Constant Gardener” (Fernando Meirelles, 2005); “Lord of War” (Andrew Niccol, 2005); “Shooting Dogs” (Michael Caton-Jones, 2005); The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald, 2006); Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006); and Blood Diamonds (Edward Zwick, 2006).

We have witnessed that the interest for Africa goes through phases: slavery, the colonial period, and now the democratization processes. I believe that the movies we have been watching are just another example of how Africa continues to be deceived and hoodwink with good intentions. The Occident makes a “mea culpa” without openly assuming any effective responsibility for what is happening. It calms down consciousnesses – about the past and present – instead of awake them…