The fourth edition of the World Social Forum (WSF) will take
place in Mumbai, India, from January 16-21, 2004.
The WSF is an initiative taken by organizations,
movements,networks, alliances and campaigns from civil society, and
that looks for alternatives to the economic globalization and its
negative effects. The spirit of the Forum is stated in its Charter
of Principles.
The organizers of the WSF2004 have defined the focus of the
forum as: imperialistic globalisation, patriarchy, militarism and
peace, communalism and caste-ism and racism. See more at
www.wsfindia.org Greenpeace has participated in the WSF since its
first edition. In 2001 we were represented by GP Brazil staff only
and the main issues were GMOs and institutional presence. In 2002
we had a team of 20 people, covering the issues of Climate Change,
GMOs, Toxics and activism. We launched the "Road to Johannesburg at
the WSF 2002.
Do not miss the following Greenpeace events at the World Social
Forum.
1. January 16-21 - Greenpeace campaigns and Corporate
Accountability.(Stall no. A- 20-23) 2.PANEL DISCUSSION/DEBATE
Challenging Corporate Power in a Globalized Economy 18 January,
2004. 1-4 p.m. Hall 2, NESCO Grounds, Goregaon (E), Mumbai
Organisers: Corporate Accountability Caucus consisting of:
Amnesty International, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery
Karmachari Sangh,Earthrights International, Environmental Health
Fund, ESCR Net, FIDH, Friends of the Earth International,
groundWork, Greenpeace, International Campaign for Justice in
Bhopal
Over the past decade, corporations have been writing new rules
on trade,investments, social services and intellectual property
that will provide them with complete hegemony over the Earth and
its inhabitants. If the global capitalist system is successful in
these efforts, companies will have control over the basic genetic
building blocks of life, as well as fundamental "common" resources
like water, food and essential drugs. In resistance to this new
incarnation of colonialism, public interest and community
organisations are organising across the globe to challenge some of
the major global corporationsdriving this destructive trend, as
well as developing new proposals for corporate governance that make
corporations subservient and accountable to the larger society.
This panel will highlight a few of these global corporate campaigns
as well as explore new proposals for taking back the Earth from
corporate control.
Panel Case Studies:
I. The Bhopal Legacy: Union Carbide/Dow Chemical (20 mins)
Speaker: Rashida Bee, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery
Karmachari Sangh
After its merger with Union Carbide three years ago, Dow
inherited the asbestos legacy of Carbide, as well as the karma for
the ongoing Bhopal gas disaster, in which more than 120,000 people
still suffer health effects and thousands still drink contaminated
water poisoned by the toxic wastes abandoned in and around the
factory site. Mrs. Bi is a survivor of the Bhopal gas tragedy and
leader of a vibrant trade union of gas-affected women that has
waged a successful battle for the livelihood rights of gas victims
over the last 15 years. Despite her conservative upbringing in an
orthodox muslim family, Mrs. Bi made a rapid transformation to a
worldly wise woman in the challenging years after the 1984 gas
disaster that killed six of her family members and left her
destitute. Her personal struggle for livelihood quickly changed
into a struggle for justice on all counts for the survivors of the
Bhopal disaster.
II. Blood Oil: UNOCAL in Burma (20 mins) Speaker: Ka Hsaw Wa,
EarthRights International
Ka Hsaw Wa is an ethnic Karen, who was forced to flee his native
Rangoon after being tortured by the Burmese military for his role
in the 1988 student uprising. He spent the next decade or so
ocumenting human rights abuses and environmental degradation on the
Burma-Thailand border area. His research revealed that some of the
forced labor, forced relocations, rapes and executions in southern
Burma were linked to the Yadana natural gas pipeline being built by
multinational oil companies Total and Unocal. Ka Hsaw Wa is
co-founder of the EarthRights International, a group that
represents Burmese villagers who are plaintiffs in a landmark
lawsuit against Unocal, a California oil company. Ka Hsaw Wa is a
winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, the Reebok Human Rights
Award and the Conde Nast Environmental Award.
III. New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD): Will it
Deliver Corporate Accountability? (20 mins) Speaker: Bobby Peek,
groundWork, South Africa
NEPAD, a corporate-led process to take Africa on a path of
sustainable growth and devlopment,is likely to consolidate
corporate rule in Africa. The programme views foreign direct
investment as the panacea to Africa's problems,thus prioritising
investors needs above all else. This has serious ramifications for
Africa?s poor and for those dependent on the abundant natural
resources in the continent.
Bobby Peek is an environmental activist, community campaigner
and director of groundWork in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. His
passion for social and environmental justice is fuelled from his
experience of growing up in the apartheid-created township of
Wentworth, in south Durban which is situated amongst highly
polluting oil refineries, chemical industries, toxic waste dumps, a
pulp mill, which are owned by MNCs and an international airport. In
Wentworth, Bobby has lost several of his family and friends to
cancer related illnesses. Bobby's work in SouthDurban received
recognition in 1998, when he was awarded the prestigious Goldman
Environmental Prize for Africa."
SESSION II: Fighting Corporate Crime: The Way Forward
IV. UN Norms for Corporate Accountability: Under Threat (20
mins) Speaker: Irene Khan, Amnesty International, Bangladesh
Earlier this year, the United Nations finalised Norms to hold
transnational corporations accountable, and address the potential
human rights implications arising from the conduct of transnational
corporations. The UN norms are predictably under serious attack by
industry forces.
Irene Khan joined Amnesty International as Secretary General in
August 2001. As the first woman, first Asian and first Muslim to
head the world's largest human rights organisation, she has led
Amnesty International through challenging developments in the wake
of 11 September 2001, confronting the backlash against human
rights, broadening the work of the organisation in areas of
economic, social and cultural rights, and initiating a process of
internal reform and renewal to enable the organisation to respond
flexibly and rapidly to world events.
V. Global Proposals to Rein in Corporate Power (20 mins)
Speaker: Gerd Leipold, Greenpeace International, the
Netherlands
In response to the New World Order represented by the World
Trade Organization, IMF, World Bank and global corporations, public
interest organisations are developing a new set of proposals
designed to limit corporate control over the "global commons" as
well as hold them liable for their human rights, public health and
environmental abuses across borders. But these proposals require
the strength of public backing globally in order to survive the
might of corporations intent on remaining unregulated.
Gerd Leipold is Executive Director of Greenpeace
International.
VI. Crime in the Corporate Context: A response to the
presentations (20 mins) Speaker:Usha Ramanathan, Legal researcher
and academic, New Delhi, India
Corporations that kill and maim go unpunished; corporate CEOs
that authorise actions that lead to such crimes continue to be
respected in society; the peculiarities of our legal infrastructure
gives corporations privileges far beyond what individuals enjoy
even while insulating them from liabilities including criminal --
that arise out of their actions. If corporate offenders are
criminals, how can society hope to hold them criminally liable?
Usha Ramanathan, a legal researcher keenly involved in the
formation of the International Criminal Court, discusses the
challenges to reforming international law to hold corporations
accountable to the public, their workers, consumers and
shareholders.
SESSION III: Reform v. Rejection: Tackling Corporate Criminal A
Panel Discussion (60 mins) Moderator: Gary Cohen, Environmental
Health Fund, Boston,USA
Gary Cohen is principal co-founder of Health Care Without Harm,
a US-wide network of progressive medical professionals dedicated to
reforming the environmental practices of the health care industry.
Cohen is also a former executive director of the National Toxics
Campaign, an NGO that provides technical and organising support to
communities facing chemical threats. He is a long-time supporter of
the Bhopal campaign, and has been instrumental in keeping the issue
alive in the United States.
January 18, 2004. 5-8 p.m. 3. Testimonies: "Corporate Crime:
Testimonies from Affected Communities." Hall A3. WSF Case studies
presented will include: Dow Chemical and the Bhopal Gas Disaster;
Unocal in Burma; Coca Cola and groundwater (Kerala); Dow Chemical,
Agent Orange in Vietnam; Dow Chemical and dioxin contamination in
Midland, Michigan.
January 19, 2004 - 1pm to 4 pm -4. Mcplanet.com: Ecology,
Globalisation and the Rights of the Poor - (Coorganised event with
Friends of the Earth International, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation,
Greenpeace International, Attac-Germany and Wuppertal Institute for
Climate, Environment, Energy)
5. January 19, 2004 Youth Forum Workshop - 1-4 pm Don Bosco
Grounds, YOUTH FORUM Choose Positive Energy -An interactive
workshop on the role of renewables for a Sustainable future