Ecumenical presence at the World Social Forum 2005
Porto Alegre, 26-30 January 2005
WCC/ecumenical coalition seminars
08:30-11:30 Friday 28 January 2005
The concept of the seminar is to explore the role of religion which has been at the core of many conflicts, national and international. While sometimes it has justified or even fuelled conflicts, there has also been a wide range of believers all over the world who have developed different actions for peace. From ecumenical and inter-religious perspectives, there have been initiatives to come together to discuss the relationships between religion, power and violence.
The goal of the panel is to go a step further in this process and to share with a larger audience the results and concerns raised in different initiatives. Through the sharing of experiences and reflections from different religious perspectives on the role of religion in conflict, it is meant to highlight ways of overcoming violence, and consequently enable people to realize the richness of religious diversity fostering a culture of peace.
The methodology of the seminar will consist in brief presentations from speakers from different religious traditions and geographical and political contexts who will address the question of the role of religion.
The event's expected outcome is a greater awareness of role, responsibility and contribution of religions in current international conflicts and in the pursuing of justice and overcoming violence.
Panelists :
Rifat Kassis (Palestine) – the situation in Palestine, and Christian and Muslim initiatives in this context
Siddhartha (India) – the situation in India, relations between Hindu and Muslims, and the efforts of the Fireflies Ashram
Ordep Serra (Brazil) – the situation of the Candomblé religion in Brazil
Wangari Maathai (Kenya) – not yet confirmed
Speaker from a European perspective
The seminar will be moderated by Elizabeth Jensen of Caritas Internationalis and Sharon Bradshaw from the Caribbean Conference of Churches
Contact person:
Guillermo Kerber,
International Affairs, Peace and Human Security team, WCC
email
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Women play a key role in resistance and alternatives. Women's spirituality of resistance and alternatives is a spirituality of life, a spirituality of dignity for all human beings and the integrity of other life. This panel will share motivating examples and explore common challenges for women grounding their engagement in a spirituality of life and dignity. Challenging introductions - one from Brazil, and the other from a global and inter-faith perspective - will provoke interaction with participants. The event will end with a panel discussion summarizing the results and challenges. The moderator will accompany the exchange with references to her experience of involvement in local and global struggles. Panelists: |
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08:30-11:30 hrs Sunday 30 January 2005
At this year's WSF the WCC, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) will launch a TV-documentary on illegitimate debt, and host a seminar on the same issue at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The documentary launch will be followed by a discussion on how we can develop further actions on illegitimate debt: What are the challenges facing campaigners on illegitimate debt? What actions are needed? And is a global campaign on illegitimate debt possible and desirable?
Speakers :
Beverly Keene, a prominent member and activist in Jubilee South (Argentina)
Charles Mutasa, a policy and research officer in AFRODAD (Zimbabwe),
Bishop Angel Furlan, a dedicated campaigner on illegitimate debt in the LWF (Argentina)
Tony Tujan, an experienced campaigner in IBON that recently started to work on a campaign on dictator debt (Philippines).
A representative from NCA/Changemaker will highlight the experiences of campaigning on illegitimate debt towards a northern public and a creditor government (Norway). The seminar will be chaired by Peter Prove of the LWF.
Contact person:
Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt
Advisor Policy Department Norwegian Church Aid
E-mail
15:30-18:30 hrs Saturday 29 January 2005
The dominant ideology of neo-liberalism (espoused by powerful global economic institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation) has promoted a dangerously narrow and distorted view of debt and development that ultimately sacrifices environmental and social welfare to the expanding economic interests of the global North. It has therefore added to the pre-existing ecological and social debts that the North owes to the South. Acción Ecológica in Ecuador defines ecological debt as: “…the debt accumulated by Northern, industrial countries towards Third World countries on account of resource plundering, environmental damages and the occupation of environmental space…” By redefining who are debtors and creditors, the concept of ecological debt not only serves as a counterweight to external financial debt; it sets priorities straight and offers a framework for transforming power relations between South and North.
As in previous episodes of colonial conquest, corporate interests in the resource-rich rainforests, mountains and oceans of the South are being protected and enforced by the increasingly blatant use of military and para-military might. And yet, around the world, movements of women and indigenous peoples in the South have not only resisted the ecological, military and economic onslaught from Northern and their own governments and corporations, they have actually lived out alternative models of ecologically-, socially- and economically-sustainable communities. The perspectives and struggles of rural women and indigenous peoples, who have been among the first to recognise and understand the intimate life connections between the ecological, social and economic spheres, offer powerful insights for the growing movement demanding recognition of, reparations for and a stop to the accumulation of ecological debt.
The objectives of the panel on ecological debt are two-fold:
1. To raise awareness on as well as increase recognition of ecological debt, its historical accumulation, linkages with militarisation, gender dimensions and impacts on indigenous peoples; and
2. To explore and strengthen links between movements and networks working on ecological and external debt, peace, gender, and indigenous peoples concerns
The panel presentations (approximately 20 minutes per presentation) will address the following topics:
1. Revisiting imperialism - The historical accumulation of the ecological debt owed by the North to the South
2. Ecological debt - Transforming neoliberal economics and unequal power relations
3. The links between ecological debt and militarization – Focus on Latin America
4. Ecological debt, women’s resistance and alternatives - A feminist perspective on debt and the environment
5. Ecological debt, indigenous peoples and their struggles for life
Panelists :
Nnimmo Bassey (Nigeria)
Georgine Kengne Djeutane (Cameroon)
Giuseppe de Marzo (Italy)
Oscar Olivera (Bolivia)
Jose Augusto Padua (Brazil)
Ivonne Yanez (Ecuador)
Contact person:
Athena K. Peralta
Consultant,
WCC Justice, Peace and Creation Team
Email