Activity of the Boston Delegation at the WSF 2006 - Caracas (January 27, 2006)
HOW THE OPRESSED CAN CREATE MECHANISMS OF GRASSROOTS INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

In the Boston Area, progressives have seen with hope the five World Social Forums (WSF) that have already taken place. However, making the connection between similar struggles around the world and the local struggles has not been so clear. It is our hypothesis that this situation is reproduced around the world. The WSF 2006 –as have all previous WSFs—is a tremendous opportunity to develop necessary connections to reinforce our local work with international cooperation.

Capitalist countries and entities are forging ahead with structures that allow them to better coordinate the exploitation of labor and the world’s natural resources. While these associations are based on a mixture of coordinated competition and capitalist cooperation, the oppressed lag behind in similar projects to defend themselves and to move forward towards social change.

The WSF is a place of encounter of different peoples’ struggles. As such we are sure that the connections made have been important already. Nonetheless, it is hard to see practical results at the grassroots level once participants return to their homes.

We propose to make effort to develop coordinating mechanism of international cooperation among like-minded objectives or even across different themes that are interconnected. We can start by proposing specific tasks to be carried locally and evaluated at the next Social Forum. In between forums, using the many means of communication at our disposal (principally the Internet) we can remain in contact and practice cooperation when possible and necessary.

Using the spaces and experiences already provided by the WSF, we should build up to provide systematic means of actions for social change from local communities to the whole world.