In 2010, the act of desperation of the young Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi sparked off a revolution that marked a new era for social movements in the region and across the world. Three years later Tunisia will mark another important milestone for social movements as the Arab World hosts the World Social Forum for the first time in Tunis in March 2013.
Reflecting the complex political landscape of the country hosting it, the Forum will be the venue of some challenging discussions. Social movements in the region will be grappling with the immense task that the transition from dictatorship to democracy entails. Others participating in the Forum will be discussing transitions of other sorts: agricultural, economic, even an overall ‘paradigm shift.’
CIDSE will also contribute to the Forum’s discussions on the transition to a fairer world. At our strategy session on the successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals (the Post-2015 framework) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we look forward to lively debates on the opportunities and risks these two processes pose to this transition. We will hear how organisations in Nigeria and Philippines use the opportunities and tackle the risks these processes involve. We will also hear how the African Catholic Church, through its recent Policy Forum of SECAM (the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar) and a statement from this Forum to Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Liberian President and Co-chair of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Framework, has seized these opportunities.
We look forward to the exchange of diverse analysis and experience at this and other events at the Forum. We also welcome the opportunity to strengthen alliances and forge new ones to accompany us on the long journey to the ‘other World’ that the Forum stands for.
The CIDSE team at the WSF will be posting daily updates on what happens in Tunis. Please take a look at our dedicated WSF page, to get an idea of the events we are organising.