[AU-Monitor] It's all systems go as Nairobi gears up for WSF

[AU-Monitor Analyst/Editor]

An estimated 100,000 social activists are expected to converge in Kenya's
capital, Nairobi for the World Social Forum which officially begins today
saturday, January 20. The WSF will be officially open at a public rally in
Nairobi's Uhuru Park at 2pm (Kenya time). The official opening will be
preceded by a peace march expected to draw thousands of participants. It
kicks off from Uhuru park and ends in Kibera—Africa's most populous slum.

The World Social Forum which runs for the next five days ending January 25th
will be held at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, located 14
kms from Nairobi's central business district. Numerous tents have been set
up at the complex to serve as meeting venues for an average 200 seminars and
events expected to be convened every day throughout the event.

The theme of the five-day convocation is *Peoples Struggles, People's
Alternatives*. The WSF, which was first convened in 1998, has become an
important signpost for social mobilisation and resistance against
neo-liberalism and a strong platform for advocating alternative models of
development which affirm equity and respect for people's rights.
Key themes due to be discussed at the Nairobi event include free trade
agreements, HIV and AIDS, peace and security, women's rights, social
mobilisation among others. Some of the participants expected at the WSF
include former South African president Nelson Mandela, his Zambian
counterpart Kenneth Kaunda and nobel laureates Desmond Tutu and Wangari
Maathai

-- 
Gichinga Ndirangu
Consultant Policy Analyst / Editor
AU- Monitor
aumonitor.editor at gmail.com

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