The Irish Social Forum

antrim | public consultation / irish social forum | opinion/analysis Wednesday July 16, 2003 11:27 by Steven McCloskey - One Owrld Centre

Development Education in Action

Below is an article about the social forum movement published in Index, the magazine of Comlamh.

The Irish Social Forum
Development Education in Action


Popular Protest
The public protests against the war in Iraq and neo-liberal global economics raise interesting issues for development educators. A rose-tinted view of recent events might suggest that development education has succeeded in contributing to public debate and action on international issues. After all, the protesters are putting development education into practice by engaging in shared learning techniques and reflective action toward social transformation. So, have we finally worked the oracle after all these years or are other factors responsible for the largest popular movement to emerge on a global scale since the 1960s?

It is more likely that the massive anti-war movement has ridden on the back of the trade justice and anti-globalisation protests which have swept the globe since Seattle in 1999. These protests in turn have been a reaction to several factors - the conservatism of political systems, the injustices of neo-liberalism, the opportunities presented by global telecommunications, enhanced mobilization by non-governmental actors etc. But has our role as educators changed in the light of recent events? Development education often seeks to effect change from the top down by lobbying government departments, statutory bodies and international structures. We do this despite the fact that these structures and bodies regularly fail us.

Inequality in Ireland
Clear evidence of the current government’s failings can be found in the 2003 Human Development Report which states that Ireland has the highest level of poverty (15.3% of the population) and inequality in the West outside of the United States despite having the fourth largest per capita income in the world. We don’t fare much better in the international arena with the government reneging on a promise to increase the overseas aid budget by actually reducing it. Ireland has also linked the repatriation of asylum-seekers to the disbursement of foreign aid and breached Irish neutrality during the Iraq war by facilitating the refueling of American aircraft at Shannon. It is hardly surprising therefore that large swathes of the public feel let down by their political representatives and have taken to the streets in protest.

The dominance of American hegemony and economic liberalism on the world stage combined with a hawkish intent in Washington to enforce its ideology with a reckless militarism has united millions of activists throughout the world in opposition. This opposition is more pro-internationalist than anti-globalisation and has started to formulate ideas for an alternative world vision that prioritises social equality and justice over market forces.

Social Forum
The World Social Forum (WSF) is an annual gathering of activists from around with the aim of sharing ideas on alternative paths to development where ‘the economy would serve people, and not the other way round’. The WSF was first held in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2001 and its success inspired the organisation of a European Social Forum in Florence last year which was attended by an estimated 50,000 activists. Over the past six months, individuals from a range of backgrounds in Irish civil society have taken part in a consultation process toward establishing a Social Forum in Ireland. This process has rapidly attracted the interest and participation of people throughout the island to the point that an Irish Social Forum was launched on 6 July in Dublin. Speaking at the press launch of the Forum, Colm O’Cuanachain, Secretary General of Amnesty International’s Irish Section said that:
The Social Forum, from Porto Alegre to Florence, from Mumbai to Dublin, is the most positive global movement emerging in our time. Its about people pursuing their human rights through their own power with an unstoppable passion. We need an active civil society in Ireland if human rights are to become a reality for all and the Social Forum movement provides the vehicle to stimulate and focus this activism.

World Economic Forum
The World Social Forum has emerged as a counter weight for NGOs, human rights groups, and other civil society organizations to the World Economic Forum (WEF) – an assortment of some 400 industrialists, transnational corporations, academics and politicians ‘widely credited with being the organizing force behind capitalist globalisation’. Many of the world’s leading TNCs affiliate to the WEF at membership fees of around $25,000 with a further $6,250 required to participate in the annual Forum. Only corporations with a turnover in excess of $1 billion need apply for membership and the rollcall of existing members includes familiar companies from all facets of global business and enterprise – McDonalds, Shell, Nike, Philip Morris, Nestle and Coca-Cola among them. The WEF is credited with playing a crucial role in establishing the World Trade Organisation, that underwriter of unfair trade rules, and is essentially a think-tank designed to extend the political, social and economic influence of the private sector over public services and decision-making processes.

Given Ireland’s highly globalised economy, largely dependent on overseas investment, it comes as no surprise to find the government agreeing to host the upcoming European Summit of the WEF on 20 and 21 October. Indeed, the prospect of this meeting in Dublin has been one of the main factors underpinning the formation of the Irish Social Forum with a view to organizing a counter summit based on co-operation between civil society groups both locally and globally. The counter summit will include workshops and debates on global justice and economic issues, and large-scale public events modeled on the anti-war protests of 15 February in Belfast and Dublin. The counter-summit is therefore intended as a learning process for participants as well as a protest against the worst excesses of neo-liberalism.

Within the space of a few months Social Forums have been established regionally throughout Ireland – North East, North West, South East and South West – and increasing numbers of individuals and organizations are throwing their full support behind the plans for October and beyond. The Irish Social Forum has established working groups focusing on the practical organizational aspects of the counter-summit and invites participation from across civil society in their activities. However, the ISF is also intent on sustaining its work over the long-term and providing an open space for debate on issues such as cutbacks in health services, the privatization of public transport and growing racism toward ethnic minorities – issues with a local and global resonance.

Development education
How far is the development education sector engaging with the new forces for progressive change in Ireland and elsewhere which should be its natural constituency?
When we discuss strategic partnerships outside our sector it is usually in the domain of government and statutory bodies rather than grassroots organizations. We haven’t begun to formulate our thinking in relation to the emerging popular movements that have so stunningly engaged popular imagination and participation around the world. It seems extraordinary that a pedagogical process which emerged from the Third World with a view to eradicating poverty and marginalisation has not yet considered how it can contribute to grassroots development movements.

Development education has a radical agenda – education toward action and social transformation – but has remained an insular sector that is arguably still a marginal factor in the education of young people, much less wider society. Yet we have entered a period of real opportunity for development NGOs to forge new partnerships in civil society and broaden the social base for action that can eradicate poverty at home and overseas. The development sector should participate in the Irish Social Forum and identify how we can bring about change from bottom up, as well as the top down. The mantra of the World Social Forum is Another World is Possible! Lets work in partnership with the Social Forum to make that world a reality.

Details of how to get involved in the Irish Social Forum and the events in October are available from the ISF web site: www.irishsocialforum.org Information is also available from www.indymedia.ie

Stephen McCloskey
9 July 2003

Stephen McCloskey is the Director of the One World Centre in Belfast and a member of the North East Social Forum.