So what to make of it all? Was it worth coming? Will it change anything? Have things become clearer? Was there anything new? Well, yes, I think so. I have seen today's International Herald Tribune and there is talk of the Davos World Economic Summit, taking place in Switzerland.
Who is invited? World leaders and representatives of multinational companies. Apparently Bono is likely to stick in his head as well. The multinationals have a combined annual revenue of 12$trillion, the equivalent value of the entire US economy. The world social forum in Nairobi presents a counterpoint to the world economic summit. We are human beings that live in a society, we don't live in an economy, our economy is part of our society and not the other way around. This is what free market neo-liberal economics has to get to grips with. As humans we are more than simply factors of production. The forum in Nairobi brought in excess of 45,00 from all corners of the world. It was a celebration of diversity, of ideas and of activism. Global citizenship, this is what it was; an attempt by people from all over the world to share their perspectives on the major global challenges facing our societies; poverty, inequality, global governance, human rights, the multinationals, peace and war, debt, food sovereignty, labour, the status of women, the environment. It was a forum for exchange of ideas, of debate and discussion, democracy in action. While it was not a tightly structured event in the sense of a parliament it was however a representation to the world community of the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people the world over.
The Herald Tribune highlights this morning that while the likes of the Bush Administration is not giving any leadership on say climate change, the leaders of the corporate world are highly attuned to global public opinion and are preparing to change. Will the political class listen? Is the corporate sector really open to change and will they do it voluntarily as part of industry codes of practice?
The forum was democracy in action. It is a contribution to bridging the global democratic deficit. It is also a space for people to learn of the concerns of others and to join them in solidarity for their cause. In our case, the partners from West Africa who attended have shared with each other their perspectives on addressing the actions of multinationals. James, from a Liberian Environmental Advocacy NGO has exposed the deplorable conditions for the workers in the Firestone rubber plantations in Liberia. He has learned of the approach of the CSCR in Nigeria who have engaged shareholders in Shell to hold Shell to account for their actions and inactions. James has also met up with the Irish Debt and Development Coalition and is interested to address the debt crisis facing his ravaged country. Liberia is paying 125,000 US$ a month in interest repayments on its one billion dollar debt. This is a debt lent to a military dictator in the 1980?s who came to power by assassinating the democratically elected leader of the time. James can see new strategies and issues to be taken on if he and his colleagues are to make a difference to the critical issues that will hold his country back. He can also now see how to link his work to an international group of actors who share his vision for a new Liberia.
Trocaire will be there with him and others like him as we tackle not only the symptoms of poverty but also its underlying causes.
Going forward, I am conscious of the need for those with power to exercise it for good. So many people commented on the example of Mary Robinson. Here is someone who has achieved very high office but does not sit back on her laurels and continues to lend her voice and her energies for very public struggles for those on the margins. I am conscious of the need for the NGOs to collaborate more closely with trade unions and with wider social movements such as slum dwellers and or landless movements. The NGOs alone cannot achieve the wider mobilisation for change that these can. A useful and mutually beneficial partnership needs to be developed.
I am conscious of the need for faith-based organisations to articulate a prophetic voice. Over the week I heard from some of those in religious life "what is the connection between faith and justice?" This is something that those of faith need to reflect on. Faith that does not come to terms with a response to a world, polarised, divided with many excluded and marginalized is a questionable one, in my view.
I leave Nairobi, motivated, enthused and will plenty of ideas to pursue. I caught up with old friends and made new ones. I shared some of our plans and on-going programmes and received comment and suggestions for the future. Principally I leave Nairobi knowing that not only is another world possible but it is within our grasp if those of goodwill will come forward and make it happen.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Tuesday 23rd January 2007. 23.35 Guesthouse, Westlands, Nairobi
Back after a very long day. It has been brilliant, today Mary Robinson spoke at the CIDSE workshop. The section of the stadium was jammed to capacity, people were complaining that they couldn’t get in. Me, I was hanging on to the doorway, I had one eye on the stall that I had been manning and one eye on the events unfolding in the room. On the stand we had copies of the CIDSE statement in English, Spanish and French. We were also asking people to sign up to support the statement CIDSE was making. The copies of the statement flew off the table. Mary was the third person to speak, she was preceded by activists from Chad, Philippines and Ecuador who spoke of the impact of oil and mining activities in their countries (who incidentally were all women). Mary is backing CIDSE’s call. She reminded the audience that the worst corporate offenders for human rights abuses are the mining and extraction companies. This is not her testimony but that of the UN’s special representative on Multinationals who is conducting an analysis for the UN on what should be done in terms of some manner of global oversight for the workings of multinationals.
Business and human rights, this is the next frontier that needs to be tackled, the organisation for which she works (Ethical Globalisation Initiative) has a website, http://www.business-humanrights.org/ and she invited those interested to visit the website and find out what is going on in terms of reports lodged by activists and communities in the Global South on these multinational companies. Other sessions that I have been at over the last two days have highlighted the plethora of initiatives that exist to oversee the actions of multinationals. The defining characteristics are that these mechanisms are voluntary – there are many codes of practice put in place by business networks or by the likes of the OECD but they are all voluntary. They call for certain best practices to be observed, but if they are not, there is no sanction. Nobody goes to court, nobody gets fined, nobody goes to jail!
The CIDSE statement, click here to read, calls, in its opening lines, for governments of the international community to put in place clear policies and legal frameworks that would allow for an effective control of extractive industries and for these frameworks to be based on international human rights and environmental standards. The statement runs for two pages with detailed commentary and critique and guidance on what needs to be done.
As Mary left I got her to sign the petition, the last time I met her I was her guest at the Aras, it was 1993, I had returned from working in Kenya. Every year as President she invited all those who had returned from working overseas as development workers. While we didn’t offer her a cup of tea, I am sure she didn’t mind. Everyone was taken with her, a former head of state, not hanging around in stuffy diplomatic missions but getting down to the ground where people are discussing issues of marginalisation and exclusion. I think she was quite at home. She called on development agencies generally and CIDSE members in particular to become more focused on human rights issues and to make the connection between their work on the ground with the broader question of rights. Something that Trocaire is quite at home with!
Later in the session Boniface Dumpe, the director of the Centre for Social and Corporate Responsibility CSCR (an organisation supported by Trocarire) spoke of the plight of the people in the Niger Delta, the oil producing region of Nigeria which is the 10th largest producer of oil in the world. Boniface is an Ogoni. With some emotion in his voice he retold the events of the early 1990’s when over 80 people demonstrating against the activities of Shell were massacred by the military. I visited this community in October 2005. The sense of despair and trauma was palpable. The CSCR is trying to address the concerns of the communities through the fostering of a democratic and human rights culture, providing communities with a voice through which the people can articulate their concerns to the oil industry and Nigerian government. One of the CIDSE recommendations calls on governments in the South not to grant prospecting licences without there being free prior consent having been given by the communities. Does this sound familiar?
An issue that is coming up again and again over the various days is that of Climate Change. We in the North are only waking up to this now as we see more and more bizarre weather patterns and the very visible melting of the ice at the poles. Our carbon economy has however produced devastation in those regions where for example oil has been exploited. The people in the Niger Delta have suffered devastating environmental degradation over the last number of decades. We who have used the oil are now beginning to feel the effects and are reflecting on the need for some changes. We have failed to examine the oil economy and its negative impacts until it has impacted on us. Meanwhile climate change has been producing some devastating consequences in Southern Africa with record droughts causing massive food deficits. Mary Robinson called for the next social forum to be dedicated to facing the issue of Climate Change as a Justice issue. Do we believe we need to change? Do we believe that we can change?
Cafod, the equivalent organisation to Trocaire in England and Wales has launched a ‘Live Simply’ campaign. If we consumed less and expected less in terms of material consumption there would be less ravaging of the world’s resources. Do we expect companies that we invest in to only focus on producing the maximum profit? Might we consider a lower profit margin if we knew that this was the price for labour and environmental standards to be respected in poorer countries?
Are we up for change?
Business and human rights, this is the next frontier that needs to be tackled, the organisation for which she works (Ethical Globalisation Initiative) has a website, http://www.business-humanrights.org/ and she invited those interested to visit the website and find out what is going on in terms of reports lodged by activists and communities in the Global South on these multinational companies. Other sessions that I have been at over the last two days have highlighted the plethora of initiatives that exist to oversee the actions of multinationals. The defining characteristics are that these mechanisms are voluntary – there are many codes of practice put in place by business networks or by the likes of the OECD but they are all voluntary. They call for certain best practices to be observed, but if they are not, there is no sanction. Nobody goes to court, nobody gets fined, nobody goes to jail!
The CIDSE statement, click here to read, calls, in its opening lines, for governments of the international community to put in place clear policies and legal frameworks that would allow for an effective control of extractive industries and for these frameworks to be based on international human rights and environmental standards. The statement runs for two pages with detailed commentary and critique and guidance on what needs to be done.
As Mary left I got her to sign the petition, the last time I met her I was her guest at the Aras, it was 1993, I had returned from working in Kenya. Every year as President she invited all those who had returned from working overseas as development workers. While we didn’t offer her a cup of tea, I am sure she didn’t mind. Everyone was taken with her, a former head of state, not hanging around in stuffy diplomatic missions but getting down to the ground where people are discussing issues of marginalisation and exclusion. I think she was quite at home. She called on development agencies generally and CIDSE members in particular to become more focused on human rights issues and to make the connection between their work on the ground with the broader question of rights. Something that Trocaire is quite at home with!
Later in the session Boniface Dumpe, the director of the Centre for Social and Corporate Responsibility CSCR (an organisation supported by Trocarire) spoke of the plight of the people in the Niger Delta, the oil producing region of Nigeria which is the 10th largest producer of oil in the world. Boniface is an Ogoni. With some emotion in his voice he retold the events of the early 1990’s when over 80 people demonstrating against the activities of Shell were massacred by the military. I visited this community in October 2005. The sense of despair and trauma was palpable. The CSCR is trying to address the concerns of the communities through the fostering of a democratic and human rights culture, providing communities with a voice through which the people can articulate their concerns to the oil industry and Nigerian government. One of the CIDSE recommendations calls on governments in the South not to grant prospecting licences without there being free prior consent having been given by the communities. Does this sound familiar?
An issue that is coming up again and again over the various days is that of Climate Change. We in the North are only waking up to this now as we see more and more bizarre weather patterns and the very visible melting of the ice at the poles. Our carbon economy has however produced devastation in those regions where for example oil has been exploited. The people in the Niger Delta have suffered devastating environmental degradation over the last number of decades. We who have used the oil are now beginning to feel the effects and are reflecting on the need for some changes. We have failed to examine the oil economy and its negative impacts until it has impacted on us. Meanwhile climate change has been producing some devastating consequences in Southern Africa with record droughts causing massive food deficits. Mary Robinson called for the next social forum to be dedicated to facing the issue of Climate Change as a Justice issue. Do we believe we need to change? Do we believe that we can change?
Cafod, the equivalent organisation to Trocaire in England and Wales has launched a ‘Live Simply’ campaign. If we consumed less and expected less in terms of material consumption there would be less ravaging of the world’s resources. Do we expect companies that we invest in to only focus on producing the maximum profit? Might we consider a lower profit margin if we knew that this was the price for labour and environmental standards to be respected in poorer countries?
Are we up for change?
Monday, January 22, 2007
Sunday 21st January. 23.19hrs Guesthouse in Westlands, Nairobi.
Today was once again a long day, but very exciting.
We travelled the 12 kms to the football stadium early this morning. Each of the various workshops are situated in the upper and lower sections of the stadium. Areas have been sectioned off one from the other creating a tiered conference room type setting. Some of the workshops that we had wanted to attend didn’t take place, I am not so sure why. The atmosphere was a little quiet, some stands had yet to be fully set up, maybe people have treated it as a day of rest, given that it is Sunday, or maybe we were early!. That said, there were thousands of people moving about, trying to find the events and workshops from a programme of events that had listed at least 100 separate ones. Later in the morning I made off for a nearby slum area known as Baba Dogo. Baba Dogo was originally an industrial area but a large slum has now developed around it, it is next to the notorious Korrogocho slums part of Mathare Valley. I was visiting a long-time friend of mine, Fr Tom Sexton, an Augustinian from Courtmacsherry. I first met Tom in 1991 here in Kenya, we have kept in contact since. The slums of Nairobi are notorious; at least 3 million people live in them. I have visited them in 1993 and more recently in 2002. The conditions are horrendous; at times the ‘streets’ narrow down to the width of two persons standing side by side. There is no sanitation with sewerage running down the centre of the laneways.
I was in time for mass in Kiswahili. A good few other delegates to the Forum had travelled to Baba Dogo so as to have contact with people living right out there on the margins. The mass was quite a celebration lasting 3 hours. People feel the forum speaks to them and gives them and their plight a much-needed spotlight. The gospel could not have been more relevant today. Jesus’ manifesto (as Tom called it) was to set prisoners free, to liberate the oppressed and raise the down-trodden from their misery. A revolutionary manifesto if ever there was one. Later after mass the community hosted the delegates to something to eat and various entertainment including song, dance and drama. One of the dramas depicted life in the slums with a life of uncertainty, unemployment, social problems including domestic violence, prostitution and grinding poverty. The drama also depicted the political class in Nairobi and its alliance with the landlord class who exploit the people at every opportunity.
Later that evening as we sat in Tom’s house we were joined by a Swedish journalist who was covering the Forum. He was interested to know what ordinary people of Nairobi made of all this. Tom described how people in the area suffer. He described how the local industries benefit from the wide circle of cheap labour with scenes of people queuing and milling about at the beginning of the week outside the factories in the hope of getting work. Attempts at unionisation in one factory last year led to the group of workers being sacked. The world is into free market capitalism with its free trade and open borders to the flow of capital. However once labour tries to organise and draw down its just deserves from the free market then the shutters come down, this is not part of the deal. Tremendous prosperity for some and grinding poverty for others. There must be a better way! People locally are engaged and engaging with the forum. Various communities in the slum areas that cover large swathes of greater Nairobi have negotiated a special rate of 20 cent (euro) per person per day to attend the Forum. A delegation of 200 parishioners will march to the forum tomorrow. They plan to highlight their plight and to take part in the many events that will be taking place.
Roll on Monday!
We travelled the 12 kms to the football stadium early this morning. Each of the various workshops are situated in the upper and lower sections of the stadium. Areas have been sectioned off one from the other creating a tiered conference room type setting. Some of the workshops that we had wanted to attend didn’t take place, I am not so sure why. The atmosphere was a little quiet, some stands had yet to be fully set up, maybe people have treated it as a day of rest, given that it is Sunday, or maybe we were early!. That said, there were thousands of people moving about, trying to find the events and workshops from a programme of events that had listed at least 100 separate ones. Later in the morning I made off for a nearby slum area known as Baba Dogo. Baba Dogo was originally an industrial area but a large slum has now developed around it, it is next to the notorious Korrogocho slums part of Mathare Valley. I was visiting a long-time friend of mine, Fr Tom Sexton, an Augustinian from Courtmacsherry. I first met Tom in 1991 here in Kenya, we have kept in contact since. The slums of Nairobi are notorious; at least 3 million people live in them. I have visited them in 1993 and more recently in 2002. The conditions are horrendous; at times the ‘streets’ narrow down to the width of two persons standing side by side. There is no sanitation with sewerage running down the centre of the laneways.
I was in time for mass in Kiswahili. A good few other delegates to the Forum had travelled to Baba Dogo so as to have contact with people living right out there on the margins. The mass was quite a celebration lasting 3 hours. People feel the forum speaks to them and gives them and their plight a much-needed spotlight. The gospel could not have been more relevant today. Jesus’ manifesto (as Tom called it) was to set prisoners free, to liberate the oppressed and raise the down-trodden from their misery. A revolutionary manifesto if ever there was one. Later after mass the community hosted the delegates to something to eat and various entertainment including song, dance and drama. One of the dramas depicted life in the slums with a life of uncertainty, unemployment, social problems including domestic violence, prostitution and grinding poverty. The drama also depicted the political class in Nairobi and its alliance with the landlord class who exploit the people at every opportunity.
Later that evening as we sat in Tom’s house we were joined by a Swedish journalist who was covering the Forum. He was interested to know what ordinary people of Nairobi made of all this. Tom described how people in the area suffer. He described how the local industries benefit from the wide circle of cheap labour with scenes of people queuing and milling about at the beginning of the week outside the factories in the hope of getting work. Attempts at unionisation in one factory last year led to the group of workers being sacked. The world is into free market capitalism with its free trade and open borders to the flow of capital. However once labour tries to organise and draw down its just deserves from the free market then the shutters come down, this is not part of the deal. Tremendous prosperity for some and grinding poverty for others. There must be a better way! People locally are engaged and engaging with the forum. Various communities in the slum areas that cover large swathes of greater Nairobi have negotiated a special rate of 20 cent (euro) per person per day to attend the Forum. A delegation of 200 parishioners will march to the forum tomorrow. They plan to highlight their plight and to take part in the many events that will be taking place.
Roll on Monday!
The opening ceremony
Today, Saturday, we attended the opening ceremony of the Forum. It is expected that some 30 to 40 thousand people from all over the world will participate. The forum is running now since 2000, launched in Brazil and serving as a counterpoint to the global leaders' summits and seeking to represent the views of the most marginalized in the world. The catch-cry of the forum is "Another World is Possible".
The forum will host events,workshops and discussion forums on a host of pressing international issues such as the extractive industries and the role of the private sector, global climate change, the international debt crisis and the role of the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF amongst others.
This morning, the Catholic Church and the Council of Protestant Churches held an ecumenical rally and service in the lead up to the formal launching. The 90 participants from CIDSE attended outside the Catholic Cathedral. It was very moving. Community and parish groups from around Kenya attended along with groups from Zambia and Tanzania. On the podium were various Christian leaders from the Coptic, Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches.
Archbishop, Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, who needed no introduction was the main speaker and he received a rapturous welcome. Desmond Tutu pulls no punches, "the war on terrorism will NOT be won until the war on oppression, poverty and marginalisation is won". From there he treated us to a broad ranging and challenging speech, demanding a change in how we tackle the world's problems so that people are put first, before profit.
From the Cathedral we marched to the Anglican All Saints Cathedral which is next to the main city park (Uhuru Park, uhuru means freedom) where the formal opening ceremony took place. We were a couple of thousand and we caused quite a bit of traffic chaos on the way. The march was particularly moving and poignant for me. I worked in Kenya in 1991-1993. At that time any gathering of persons required a police permit. The country was in the early throes of moving from dictatorship to some semblance of democracy. At that time, carrying a copy of the Kenyan constitution was considered almost seditious. The Christian churches were not united in providing moral opposition to the government and working together to provide a vision for a just future. To be freely walking the streets of Nairobi making a statement was very moving. To see the Christian churches organising ecumenical services was extremely heartening, the churches played a key role through the latter 1990s in jointly organising civic education and election monitoring which helped Kenya to finally, in 2002, hold the first multi-party elections in its history where there was a change in government.
But back to the social forum. Tomorrow, Sunday, the events kick off in the International Sports Stadium. I can't wait!
The forum will host events,workshops and discussion forums on a host of pressing international issues such as the extractive industries and the role of the private sector, global climate change, the international debt crisis and the role of the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF amongst others.
This morning, the Catholic Church and the Council of Protestant Churches held an ecumenical rally and service in the lead up to the formal launching. The 90 participants from CIDSE attended outside the Catholic Cathedral. It was very moving. Community and parish groups from around Kenya attended along with groups from Zambia and Tanzania. On the podium were various Christian leaders from the Coptic, Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches.
Archbishop, Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, who needed no introduction was the main speaker and he received a rapturous welcome. Desmond Tutu pulls no punches, "the war on terrorism will NOT be won until the war on oppression, poverty and marginalisation is won". From there he treated us to a broad ranging and challenging speech, demanding a change in how we tackle the world's problems so that people are put first, before profit.
From the Cathedral we marched to the Anglican All Saints Cathedral which is next to the main city park (Uhuru Park, uhuru means freedom) where the formal opening ceremony took place. We were a couple of thousand and we caused quite a bit of traffic chaos on the way. The march was particularly moving and poignant for me. I worked in Kenya in 1991-1993. At that time any gathering of persons required a police permit. The country was in the early throes of moving from dictatorship to some semblance of democracy. At that time, carrying a copy of the Kenyan constitution was considered almost seditious. The Christian churches were not united in providing moral opposition to the government and working together to provide a vision for a just future. To be freely walking the streets of Nairobi making a statement was very moving. To see the Christian churches organising ecumenical services was extremely heartening, the churches played a key role through the latter 1990s in jointly organising civic education and election monitoring which helped Kenya to finally, in 2002, hold the first multi-party elections in its history where there was a change in government.
But back to the social forum. Tomorrow, Sunday, the events kick off in the International Sports Stadium. I can't wait!
Arrival in Kenya
What an exhilarating few days and the formal events of the WSF have yet to commence! I arrived on Wednesday night, the 17th; it's good to be back in Kenya.
On Thursday and Friday, I attended a CIDSE workshop on Extractive industries. CIDSE is the European network of Catholic Deveopment Agencies of which Trocaire is a member. In my role in Trocaire, I am working on supporting our partners in West Africa in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In all three of these countries the role that natural resources (timber, diamonds and oil) have played in contributing, ironically, to poverty is a priority issue for Trocaire. The members of CIDSE are keen now to work in a more concerted fashion to bring the reality of what is happening in many parts of the world to serious international attention.
For many years there have been concerns over the growing power and influence of multinational corporations. These companies rarely provide even basic information about their financial interactions with governments in countries where they operate; governments are similarly reticent about the revenues they earn from these industries. This lack of transparency has allowed crooked officials and businessmen in many countries to misappropriate vast sums in revenue. The result is unaccountable government, corruption, social decay, increased poverty and the reinforcement of authoritarianism, which can ultimately lead to state failure and the spread of instability.
The two day CIDSE workshop drew on the experiences of partner organisations coming from South America, West and Central Africa, and South East Asia. In all cases the partners are dealing with the actions of Multinational Companies and their mining/resource exploitation work which too often is being done without due consultation with local communities and is destroying the environment. CIDSE, in collaboration with partners is planning to launch a major policy statement on Tuesday 23rd . This will be during a workshop in the Forum which will have none other than our own Mary Robinson who is now working for an international NGO focusing on the relationship between business and human rights. I will put the text of this statement up on the Blog hopefully by Wednesday if I can get access to email.
On Thursday and Friday, I attended a CIDSE workshop on Extractive industries. CIDSE is the European network of Catholic Deveopment Agencies of which Trocaire is a member. In my role in Trocaire, I am working on supporting our partners in West Africa in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In all three of these countries the role that natural resources (timber, diamonds and oil) have played in contributing, ironically, to poverty is a priority issue for Trocaire. The members of CIDSE are keen now to work in a more concerted fashion to bring the reality of what is happening in many parts of the world to serious international attention.
For many years there have been concerns over the growing power and influence of multinational corporations. These companies rarely provide even basic information about their financial interactions with governments in countries where they operate; governments are similarly reticent about the revenues they earn from these industries. This lack of transparency has allowed crooked officials and businessmen in many countries to misappropriate vast sums in revenue. The result is unaccountable government, corruption, social decay, increased poverty and the reinforcement of authoritarianism, which can ultimately lead to state failure and the spread of instability.
The two day CIDSE workshop drew on the experiences of partner organisations coming from South America, West and Central Africa, and South East Asia. In all cases the partners are dealing with the actions of Multinational Companies and their mining/resource exploitation work which too often is being done without due consultation with local communities and is destroying the environment. CIDSE, in collaboration with partners is planning to launch a major policy statement on Tuesday 23rd . This will be during a workshop in the Forum which will have none other than our own Mary Robinson who is now working for an international NGO focusing on the relationship between business and human rights. I will put the text of this statement up on the Blog hopefully by Wednesday if I can get access to email.
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