this organization lasts and continues to grow. ..a positive sign, maybe because americans have so little to do with it... fs The World Social Forum 2004 in Mumbai ____________________________________________________________ By Laurent Jesover Translation. Jane Holister. Coorditrad, volunteer translator (*) The 2004 Social Forum is scheduled for the 16th to the 20th January in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. The locality chosen in which the various events will take place is in itself exceptional. It can hold 75,000 people, which augurs well for the success of this fourth WSF. To the north of this 50 km.-long city, about an hour's drive from the Gate of India, the tourist area in central Bombay, there stretches a former industrial wasteland converted into a conference centre. A wooded avenue 700m. long and 10m. wide runs through it. To the right of this avenue 400 stands belonging to organizations from around the world will be set up; on the left will be the hundreds of seminar rooms and workshops. Further along the avenue there is an open area, a square for public events and evening conferences that can bring together between 25,000 and 30,000 people. The square is surrounded by six halls with a capacity for holding thousands of people each (one seats 10,000, four seat 5,000, and another seats 3,000). This is where the conferences and panels will take place in the morning, the speeches at midday, one conference and four seminars (of the 200 seminars to be held in various locations) in the afternoon, as well as a variety of evening assemblies. There may also be the retransmission of the evening public events in a location nearby which would offer the possibility of simultaneous interpretation. The sixth hall is entirely dedicated to cultural events: theatre, dance, music, etc. These types of events will be a significant part of the WSF, made possible by the presence of an on-site theatre and of ten stages to be found around the site, some of which have a capacity for holding several thousand people. On top of this, cultural events are to take place during the daytime and every night after the public event. It is hot in Mumbai in January. No need to read the weather report - you can count on sunshine and blue sky every day, as it always has been since . . . since . . . well, for a long, long time. However the trees will provide shade and dozens of stands will be there for food and drink. All you could want! There will be many Brazilians (a delegation of around 1,000 people is possible) offering cachaça and caperina, bringing back convivial memories. The programme itself is structurally very open and interesting. Since our strength lies in our diversity and this diversity leads to so many possible alternatives, concrete ideas, and actions, the programme gives a free hand to 'self-organized' events. This self-organization is defined according to two criteria: the first is the possibility of making suggestions; the second is that of organizing with other events around a central theme and within the same space. We have already had experience of these methods where workshops are concerned, and again for seminars, but this will also be the case this time for the conferences, the panels and the 'testimony' speeches. The programme preparation group for the Indian organization committee and the Asian assembly, along with the international secretariat for the WSF, will be organizing one conference and two panels (out of four) in the morning, two speeches (out of four) in the afternoon, will leave the afternoon conference free, but will organize the public event of the evening. This allows for the creation of programmes for a day dedicated to themes of debate, reflection, and action judged to be of critical importance: wars, exclusion, work, sexual persuasion, discrimination, poverty, the dominant economic system, the environment and the biosphere etc., thus developing throughout the day, with actors who are directly involved, dynamics that will allow for the emergence of not only new themes and challenges, but also of varying points of view and perspectives. The guests of the various WSF organization committees at the events to take place will be numerous. They will include researchers, experts and those acting directly within the fields covered, with an equal balance between men and women. Among the most renowned of the dozens of guests invited, Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky, and Nelson Mandela have already accepted our invitation, The youth camp, with its capacity of 25,000 people, will have its own dynamic of debates and discussion. As at the previous WSF's, the camp will not only be a place to sleep but an area of debate, of coordination and of conviviality. Self-run, it will allow for those who relate more to these surroundings and wish to fully participate within them the possibility of laying the foundation then and there for a new world, one of political and cultural diversity. We will celebrate the end of our stay with a march starting out in the centre of town and ending up on the beach where various fishermen's organizations are likely to be waiting for us. India is not far, and the WSF seems to be coming up very quickly as we prepare the mid-November European Social Forum in Paris. Paris-Mumbai is an eight-hour flight, averaging at a price of 600 euros for a return trip - hardly peanuts! But it is not an impossible venture, particularly in light of the fact that India's recent colonial past and its linguistic realities (over 15 languages, each linguistic minority representing around 15 million people) have imposed English as the sole language of communication between the diverse elements of the population. An English sometimes a little broken, sometimes with its own particularities, not always easy to understand, but a base that allows for normal relations with the people encountered, in the street or elsewhere. In addition to the cost of the plane ticket, there is an obligatory 50-euro visa to be considered. As for sleeping arrangements, hotels are to be found nearby. Rooms can be booked from today onwards through the WSF site - calculate around 20 US dollars / 18 euros per night per person. A campsite is also to be installed for around ten thousand people, for sleeping purposes only, that will cost less than 5 euros for the duration of the forum. Transport will be provided by special bus connections from town to allow access to the conference site from hotels; free shuttle services will connect the two nearest train stations to the WSF entry. The town is also overflowing with taxis and rickshaws (little yellow three-wheeled Vespas with a wide back seat) that cost very little and make it easy to get around. As for the rest, my basis for the calculation of prices is that of a cup of coffee (the relaxed morning coffee at a bar or a quiet terrace . . .) or tea, which is 3 rupees, or 7 centimes of a euro. From there we can work out the price of food, the reputation of which for taste and variety is already legendary. In case of thirst a bottle of water costs 28 centimes a litre, beer around the same. To sum up, you will die neither of hunger nor of thirst. The WSF is self-financed. It has refused funds from certain foundations - for political reasons, it cannot allow itself to use public funding from any town, state or country. Its budget relies entirely, therefore, on help from organizations, NGO's, on us, on the individual inscriptions and possible personal donations. At the last Asian preparation assembly (Chennai, September 2003) it was decided to change the pricing listed on the website: it will now cost 200 euros for the inscription of an organization and its first delegate, and 50 euros for those to follow, as for those who sign up individually. An appeal will soon be published in various newspapers around Europe for those who cannot physically attend to contribute financially, in this way involving themselves in the success of the event. Success is also guaranteed by the presence of eleven official languages: four Asian languages - Bahasa, Korean, Japanese and Thai; four Indian languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and ****; three European languages - English, Spanish and French. To this we will add an international first (beyond that of the number of participants), as some communities - French and Indian for example, and probably Japanese, are planning a system for translation that will not only allow participants to follow debates on the spot in their own language, but will enable them to record them in all the languages present and to play them directly on Internet, again in all the languages (in France contact the group AP033). We would like to see this 'nomad' system become a world standard as a result of our international conferences, forums and debates. Volunteers from all five continents will ensure simultaneous translation. This in itself is more than symbolic - it demonstrates a real political interest, for the issue is not simply one of offering a free service but rather of organizing the full participation of interpreters and translators committed to the construction of dialogues and exchanges that go beyond this single event. Various groups are now organizing themselves in India, in Japan, in Korea, in Thailand, in Indonesia, in Malaysia, and of course in countries of Europe, Africa and the Americas. As the Indian Organization Committee says: Another world is possible! Let's build it! Laurent Jesover Contact: [log in to unmask] For more information: WSF India Office Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan, 3rd Floor Leningrad Chowk 85 Sayani Road Prabhadevi Mumbai 400 025