Why Canada shouldn't host WSF 2013

May 23, 2011

RE: THE LOCATION OF THE NEXT WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

To the members of the International council,

We are writing to you today to ensure that the members of the International Council of the World Social Forum are aware of the women’s movement perception of the candidacy of Montreal as a potential host for the WSF in 2013.

Invited by the Québec social forum to consider the possibility of hosting the WSF in 2013, the National Coordinating Body of the World March of Women in Québec held a meeting on May 5 with its members to discuss the idea. Members were presented with the political objectives of the WSF, the goals of the Québec committee, the process that the WSF requires as well as the financial and logistical considerations of such an undertaking.

During the discussion that followed, it became clear to all that the conditions are unfortunately not ripe, at least in the eyes of the women’s movement, for Montreal to host the World Social Forum in 2013. Firstly, Canada’s minority Conservative government has been making visas difficult to obtain for many activists from the South. Now with a majority, we believe that visas will be even more difficult to obtain. As a result, the WSF would be dominated by people from the North. Our sisters from the World March of Women from many countries would in all likelihood be excluded. We remain more comfortable with the idea that the WSF ought to be held in the South where visas pose less of a problem.

Secondly, one of the objectives for hosting the WSF is to solidify social movements work in the host country. From our perspective, the event would not contribute to strengthen the movements but simply sap our energies away from the already extensive alliance work that is underway and that needs to be done to counter on an on-going basis the significant shifts in the political climate in Canada. To the already active neoliberal agenda, we must now struggle against a conservative, antifeminist, antidemocratic, religious fundamentalist government who is attacking women’s equality rights. Our organisations are under attack. The last thing we need is for all of the available resources to go to a one-time event while our organisations who will ensure the long-term goals of the women’s movement struggle to survive in a changing and hostile economic context.

Thirdly, we believe that the political goals would be better served by possibly organising a North American Social Forum. The lack of coordination of social movements in a North American context undermines our potential to create a different, better kind of world for women and for peoples, here and around the world. The recent struggle by workers in Wisconsin shows that we need to establish stronger ties in North America. The hosting of the WSF seems premature. Furthermore, were we to pursue this avenue, it would have to have a different horizon than the 2013 date presently discussed for the WSF and would have to entail a grassroots consultation.

Also, the women’s movement in Québec has just initiated a grass roots process to undergo a deep and broad revision of its orientations, strategies and actions that, combined with the struggles against conservatism and neoliberal policies, will keep us extremely busy. We’re holding the “estates general of feminist action” that will unfold between now and the fall of 2013.

For all these reasons, we ask that the International Council of the World Social Forum consider other cities to host the next meeting. Of course, our commitment to the struggles embraced by our sisters and brothers of the WSF remains steadfast. And it is exactly because we wish to be able to pursue our common struggles that the hosting of the WSF in Montreal at this time is premature.

In solidarity,

Alexa Conradi

For the follow-up committee
Coordination du Québec de la Marche mondiale des femmes

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