[DEBATE] : WSF IC Liaison Group Letter on Cosatu-WSF dispute

[peter waterman]

I received the following from a companyera on the list referred to, who 
also follows Debate.

The letter also had attached material which I will forward separately.

Peter W


Subject:
[Wsfic_fsmci] Letter from WSF Liaison Group members
From:
WSFIC_FSMCI <fsmci at forumsocialmundial.org.br>
Date:
Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:08:25 -0300

To:
wsfic_fsmci at listas.rits.org.br


Dear Members of the IC:

The Liaison Group which is entrusted with the job of organizing the next 
IC meeting has been approached by one of the members of the 
International Council, i.e COSATU, the South African trade union, 
objecting to the venue of the venue of the next meeting ie Rabat, 
Morocco. They addressed a letter to the LG with their objections. (see 
attached).

The LG found itself in a peculiar position since it is only an 
implementing body and is not empowered to change IC decisions after the 
IC meetings. The structure of the social forum does not allow for 
representative bodies, and there is no methodology as yet for changing 
IC decisions between meetings except to discuss it on the list and 
getting concurrence of all the members of the IC.

The LG contacted the local hosts in Morocco and communicated the 
objections raised by COSATU. The Moroccan organizations responded from 
their side (attached). One of the main objections raised by COSATU 
comrades is the fact that Morocco is still illegally occupying Western 
Sahara, and it would like to express its solidarity with the Sahrawi 
people. The Moroccan host organizations have clarified that they do not 
support the monarchy or the occupation and a number of Sahrawi 
organizations are supporting the meeting and they have participated in 
the Maghreb Social Forum that was held in Morocco.

Unfortunately although COSATU was present in the last IC the 
representatives had to leave early and could not express its objections 
in the meeting. But they did discuss their objection with other members 
of the IC.

The IC’s decision to hold the next IC meeting in Morocco is a considered 
one. The reasons were as follows: a) it is very important to expand the 
social forum process to the Arab countries; b) The Maghreb Social Forum 
is doing important work of south-south expansion toward the Mashrek 
countries on behalf of Expansion Commission and they took the 
responsibility to organize, on the same days of IC, a very important 
seminar towards preparing an Arab Forum including movements from 
Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Middle East countries: c) because 
the Moroccan organizations are independent, they oppose government 
policy, and they have created a space of dialogue for just peace with 
Sahrawi people.

If there was more time available the points raised by COSATU could have 
been discussed on the list before the IC meeting beginning May 6^th . 
But there is not enough time. This does not mean the discussion cannot 
be continued during the IC meeting and before and after.

We hope that all this and the clarifications given by the Moroccan 
comrades will satisfy friends in COSATU, that they will also participate 
in the IC meeting in Rabat (May 6-9th) and place their views. Their 
presence in this meeting is crucial, not just because of the issues they 
have raised, but also because the meeting is in African continent and 
COSATU is an extremely important part of the African movements as well 
as the International Council.

COSATU has asked that guidelines should be drafted as to where meetings 
of the IC can or cannot be held. It would be useful if they or other 
organizations should indeed work on such guidelines. Discussion on such 
guidelines could be included in the agenda of the next IC and continued 
thereafter.

Please refer to the letters which have been attached here

In solidarity

Members of the Liaison Group:

Chico Whitaker, Gina Vargas, Moema Miranda, Raffaella Bolini, Hector de 
la Cueva, Ana Maria Prestes, Alexandre Bento, Wilhelmina Trout, Jose 
Miguel Mederos, Changgeun Lee, Meena Menon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Wsfic_fsmci mailing list
Wsfic_fsmci at listas.rits.org.br
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-- 



* 'Needed: A Global Labour Charter Movement', ESF Malmo Update: http://www.netzwerkit.de/projekte/waterman/gc

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