Zimbabwe hosting the Southern African Social Forum

09. September 2005

On 13-15 October 2005 Zimbabwe is hosting the second edition of the Southern African Social Forum – an event that will gather civic activists and social movements from all over the region in an effort to unite and address common development issues. Based on past experiences the event is likely to witness a hive of activity, and MS-Zimbabwe and its partners look forward to participating at the forum and join the fight for social justice across borders. 


The Social Forum

The World Social Forum, the Africa Social Forum, the Southern Africa Social Forum and the Zimbabwe Social Forum? What is all this ado about and for who’s good? 

The idea behind the “Social Forum” is to provide a significant platform for civic movements to speak against unjust global politics imposed by world leaders and international financial institutions. In other words, to give people at the grassroots a chance to air their views and address the present challenges of globalisation and neo-liberalism. The first World Social Forum was initiated in Brazil in 2001 and has since become an annual event, which has inspired sub-regions and individual countries to also organise their own forums at local level. 

In Zimbabwe social activists have successfully mobilised civic movements and organisations to set up the Zimbabwe Social Forum, which was launched in Harare in 2003 under the theme “A People’s Forum on Peace, Reconstruction and Prosperity in Zimbabwe” and followed by a second edition in 2004 under the theme “A People’s Forum Against Poverty, Gender Inequalities and All Forms of Oppression.” You can read more about these events on: http://zimbabwe.ms.dk/articles/zimsocforum.htm 
 
The overall objectives of the Zimbabwe Social Forum (ZSF) are to:

* Build a national solidarity network around issues of social, political 
   and economic justice and the effects of corporate globalisation 
   and help society come up with alternatives.
* Provide Zimbabwe with a platform for social movements and       
  activists to strengthen popular democracy and constitutional rule.
* Fight the causes of poverty, oppose violence and gender   
  inequality, and to combat the HIV/Aids pandemic and its effects on 
  society.
* Create a coordinated space based on autonomous thematic groups 
  that will ensure effective civic participation in the annual ZSF as 
  well as the Southern African, African and World Social Forum.

In essence the Forum is an open meeting place for people from all walks of life to reflect, debate and share experiences, and more importantly to come up with strategies and effective actions against the prevailing causes of poverty. The negative effects of neo-liberal globalisation and unjust policies are related to many aspects of life, which the forum seeks to address through different groups working in areas such as HIV/Aids, women’s, youth and children’s rights, labour, debt and trade, peace building, democracy and human rights, land, environment, food security and social services delivery. 

The Southern African Social Forum

The need to host a Southern African Social Forum (SASF) arose from the second African Social Forum (ASF) held in Addis Ababa in 2003. Participants resolved to establish sub-regional forums as a way of getting diverse views on Africa’s socio-economic and political problems from a wider African constituency. The first Southern African Social Forum took place in Lusaka in 2003 and this year Zimbabwe is hosting the second edition of the Southern African Social Forum in Harare Gardens 13-15 October 2005. 

Under the theme “Popular and Democratic Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism” this year’s Southern African Social Forum aims to advocate for a better quality of life and development for all people in Southern Africa. More specifically the forum seeks to:

• Provide the sub-region with a platform for social activists to strengthen popular democracy and mobilization.
• Challenge the status quo of abject poverty, gender inequality and discrimination, high level corruption, social insecurity, unconstitutional governance and the HIV/Aids pandemic.
• Build a sub-regional solidarity network around issues of social, political and economic justice.
• Create a loose coalition that will guarantee effective participation in the future Social Forum movements. 
Among the key issues to be addressed at the forum are: the future of agricultural based communities, labour movements, popular democracy and solidarity between people in Southern Africa.

A People’s Forum

Since its inauguration the Social Forum has grown into a strong global movement marked by a massive participation by people from the grassroots. In this respect the Social Forum manages to engage large groups of affected communities and educate them on the causes of poverty. Furthermore the spirit of uniting people and sharing experiences has pushed for new agendas and vibrant strategies to fight global injustice. Not least in Zimbabwe, the movement has witnessed a hive of activity through the pro-active participation by more than a thousand activists including representatives from rural communities as well as urban based organisations. Following this success, one shouldn’t miss the chance to meet and mingle with civil society activists from the region and join their fight for social justice at this year’s Southern African Social Forum.