Bridget Blackford, Perth
The social forum phenomenon that has swept the globe since the first World Social Forum in Brazil in 2001 has finally arrived in Perth. The inaugural Perth Social Forum will be held on March 18-20 in the port city of Fremantle.
Kicking off with a Reclaim the Streets march through Fremantle on Friday evening, the weekend will feature a range of keynote speakers including Margo Kingston, author of Not Happy John and Sydney Morning Herald web diarist, Australian intelligence whistleblower Andrew Wilkie and Patricia Ranald, director of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network. Another major event will be the panel "Our world is not for sale! Public services and resistance to privatisation".
A key element of the social forum process is its emphasis on direct grassroots community participation, rather than agendas set by a small group of "experts" or "leaders". Monthly open space forums have been held in Subiaco over the last six months as an experiment in direct participatory democracy, and in an effort to engage the wider community in the collective development of the PSF program. An open space forum will run continuously throughout the weekend to enable participants to spontaneously organise workshops or discussions on issues of shared concern. The PSF will thus provide activists with a rare opportunity to share knowledge and skills, learn more about other campaigns and ultimately, to form alliances to strengthen the global movement against neoliberal globalisation.
This alliance building will take place during workshops or in the "ideas marketplace" comprised of community and activist group campaign stalls in Fremantle's picturesque St John's Square. More than 30 workshops have so far been offered on issues such as the "war on terror", Kurdistan, learning from past struggles, disability rights, media hacking and direct action. A training workshop will be held for those planning to protest outside the Baxter detention centre at Easter.
The PSF will also celebrate global arts, music and culture, with a range of performances, exhibitions, markets and interactive displays including a "people coming together to change the world" paper mache sculpture, a "freemarket" (similar to a trash and treasure but with no money changing hands), a free-speech podium and a message wall.
The final rally on March 20 will incorporate the traditional Palm Sunday peace march as a way of commemorating the second anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq.
[For more information visit <http://www.perthsocialforum.org>, phone 0423 356 415 or email <psf@imc.asn.au>.]
From Green Left Weekly, February 16, 2005.
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