Last Reflections On The World

The Polycentric World Social Forum was planned to be held simultaneously in Karachi, Pakistan, Caracas, Venezuela and Bamako, Mali, but Karachi had to be postponed following the disastrous October earthquake in northern Pakistan, while the other two went ahead. I've just returned home from this momentous gathering and my experience at the WSF Karachi is now melding together into a big blur, from which I can extract some overall impressions. The big blurry picture is of course, interspersed with a clearer myriad of details, many of which warm the heart and inspire. With a theme slogan of "Another World is Possible," energetic, exuberant, flamboyant, and celebratory are the predominant adjectives which come to mind to describe the event. It was a very joyous meeting. There was an overall impression of gender balance, and although there's no doubt that the event attracted the most progressive women in Pakistani society, there was also wide representation from rural and tribal women. Women spoke out freely and worked together with men. Men participated in women's forums, women and men marched together, and there was gender balance in the facilitation of meetings.

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