[DEBATE] : Appeal for Solidarity Donations to Enable Indigenous Persons to Attend the World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil

[Jai Sen]

Appeal for Solidarity Donations

to Enable Indigenous Persons to Attend the World Social Forum

in Belém, Brazil, from January 27 – February 1 2009


We at CACIM (India Institute for Critical Action : Centre in  
Movement; www.cacim.net, based in New Delhi, India) are organising  
four events at the World Social Forum taking place in Belém, in  
Brazil, from January 27 – February 1 2009. You can find details of  
all four events at http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php? 
page=CACIMatBelem.

While one of the main reasons for organising the WSF in Belém is to  
highlight the ecological vulnerability of the Amazon region, and  
while this is certainly of the greatest importance many people across  
the world have understood this Forum as being centred around  
indigenous peoples and their struggles.

This is only made more relevant given the extraordinary and powerful  
changes that are taking place in Latin America today, in many cases  
centrally involving the indigenous peoples of the region.

We from CACIM are therefore taking the initiative of organising two  
major events in Belém where we centrally want to address the question  
of the implications for the Belém Forum  - and for the WSF and the  
‘global justice movement’ as a world process - of having amidst it  
indigenous peoples as an organised force, now that the World Social  
Forum is finally recognising indigenous peoples and inviting them in,  
and giving them centre stage in Belém.

Our two events are :

January 29 2009 : Co-organised by CACIM, India, and NFFPFW - National  
Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers, India

The Politics, Potentials, and Meanings of the Belém Forum : The  
Significance for the WSF of the Participation of the Indigenous  
Peoples of the World


January 30 2009 : Co-organised by AFM - Articulación Feminista Marco  
Sur; CACIM, India; Democracy and Social Movement Institute,  
Sungkonhoe University, South Korea; and ARENA - Asian Regional  
Exchange for New Alternatives

Facing the Future : The World Social Forum, the Global Justice  
Movement, and Beyond

(Please check out the link given above for a discussion note on each  
of these two events.)

OUR APPEAL TO YOU


We from CACIM have been taking extensive steps in terms of contacting  
and inviting indigenous peoples’ organisations of the region and  
across the world, and we are glad to be able to say that we are  
receiving quite a strong and interested response.  Two of the four  
confirmed speakers at the first event are outstanding indigenous  
spokespersons (Andrea Smith - Cherokee; co-founder of Incite! Women  
of Color Against Violence; Assistant Professor in Native American  
Studies and Women Studies at the University of Michigan in the US;  
and Marcus Terena - Founding President of UNI - Uniao das Naçoes  
Indígenas (‘Union of Indigenous Nations’) in Brazil, and President,  
ITC Inter-tribal Committee), and we are presently also in  
correspondence with other such people.  Our co-organiser for this  
meeting is also, as above, the NFFPFW - National Forum of Forest  
People and Forest Workers, from India.

But at the same time, we find that we are also getting an increasing  
number of responses where the organisations in question have asked  
whether we can help cover the expenses of their delegates to come to  
the Belém Forum.  Unfortunately, although we have tried very hard to  
raise funds enough to cover the travel and local expenses of ten such  
persons (five from India and five from the Americas) we have not been  
successful in doing do, and we ourselves just do not have the funds  
to manage this.

Equally, while the WSF has itself organised a Solidarity Fund to  
cover just such people, and we have referred some people to this  
Fund, the deadline for this was January 5 – and we are still  
receiving such requests.

We are therefore now placing this Appeal in public, to seek your  
support as individuals and as organisations to help cover the costs  
of indigenous persons to attend the Belém Forum.

Please consider the possibility of making a donation that can help.   
We offer you two ways :

One, and since we are not seeking funds ourselves, we will put you in  
direct touch with the organisations who have approached us with such  
requests so that you / your organisation can make available the funds  
directly to them; and –

Two, and only in case you would prefer to do things this way, then we  
can arrange to have received the funds you are making available and  
then made available to those seeking funds (but then there may be  
small handling charges to add in).

In general,  our estimate of the support that is needed per person  
for the six days of the Forum, including travel, plus an extra day  
for arriving and leaving (ie a week) is as follows :

For people coming from within Brazil : 1,900-2,200 Reals (Euros  
650-750 or US$ 870-1000)


For people coming from Latin America but outside Brazil (the cost  
differs from country to country; these figures are based on an  
average ticket cost and with the local expenses remaining the same) :  
3,100- 3,500 Reals (Euros 1,050-1,200 or US$ 1,400–1,500).


If you feel you cannot make available enough to cover one person, you  
could also think of contributing a proportion – say 50% - and make  
your offer conditional on the person’s organisation raising the balance.

Please do give our request a serious thought, and get back to us.   
Thanks.

PS : There is not much time left.  Please think and act soon !

PLEASE SEND A COPY OF YOUR REPLY TO : Vasudev Rajamani, @  
vasudev at cacim.net.

Jai Sen
For CACIM
jai.sen at cacim.net
January 7, 2009

______________________________

Jai Sen
jai.sen at cacim.net
CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
www.cacim.net
Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325 - PLEASE NOTE NEW SECOND NUMBER !

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