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!