Asaf Rashid

This is an early update on the Sixth World Social Forum (WSF) in Caracas, Venezuela. The WSF is the largest gathering of social and environmental Justice organizations in the world, with groups arriving from all over the globe, with main messages ranging from “another world is possible” to “another world is necessary”.

The event started with an enormous march through Caracas on the afternoon of January 24th, which was filled with banners, images and songs representing a multitude of cultures and nationalities, all with some struggle to expose or some possibility to draw attention to. My estimate is that at the peak, the march reached a size of well over 100,000. Our destination was a massive outdoor public address space, which probably could have fit over half a million people. Here, we heard a blend of live Latino music and speeches intended to give context to the entire event, focusing on the resistance to imperialism and the necessity of creating another world of social relations.

But before this massive event, there were a few interesting incidents and observations that spoke loudly about what kind of place Venezuela has become–and is becoming–since the Hugo Chavez government and the Bolivarian Revolution (a process of continuing to increase the power of the people to manage their own communities) came into being in 1999. This context has perhaps made Venezuela the ideal location for the WSF. One of the incidents occurred on the evening of January 23rd, when the group of four Maritimers (myself included) passed by a street vendor who was selling copies of the Venezuelan Constitution – the Bolivarian Constitution. The government is trying to have the Constitution distributed throughout the country so that the people will understand their rights, what their relationship is to the government, and how they can change things if they are not content with the governing body. Considering the government´s stated desire to have the Constitution distributed, it was not so odd to find this man selling copies, even to visitors. What was interesting was that there was a member of the Venezuelan Military standing just in front of us when this transaction was taking place. After we walked away with our souvenirs he went up to the man and asked to see one of the copies he was selling. He flipped through it, then handed it back to the man, so he could continue his selling. Basically, the soldier wanted to make sure the man was selling an updated copy of the Constitution. We were all impressed by this incident because it showed a consciousness of responsibility towards the public. I thought it was also very polite of the soldier not to interrupt the transaction while it was taking place and didn´t find him to be the least bit threatening.

Another incident occurred later on in the same evening. We were at an outdoor venue set up for the WSF. There was a concert taking place with several thousands of people around. Everywhere we looked, we saw symbols of support for the Chavez government and the the transition towards more of a grassroots democracy. What was interesting about this space, full of Chavez supporters, was that there was an enormous military presence there to protect the crowd lest the supporters of the opposition to Chavez try any mischief. The people truly felt that the military were not there for any other reason than to protect them. This is because people continued to dance as soldiers walked by them. People didn´t have any negative response to the military presence.

A third notable incident was at a concert a day earlier. The band was singing a song about Che Guevara and many people were singing along and raising their fists in the air in a sign of solidarity when the singer made some comments in support of the Bolivarian Revolution. So many people, by their responses, showed an awareness of, and excitement over, these slogans that myself and the group we were with couldn´t help but be impressed by the level of consciousness of the the people of the potential they hold. This seems to heavily contrast the situation in Canada.

Throughout the next few days, myself and the other three with me will be attending the speeches, discussions and debates to be held at the WSF. But none of us are coming here with blind faith in the Bolivarian Revolution or the WSF. Each of us intend to critically evaluate both of these institutions/formations and discover what amongst all we find will translate into possibilities for our own part of the world, as well as identify how to work with groups nationally and internationally.