ISF ends with call for building alternative world

New Delhi, Nov 13 (UNI) Optimistic delegates of the India Social Forum (ISF) renewed their call for building an alternative world to the market-driven globe as the five-day social jamboree came to a close amid fiery speeches and folk songs.

The slogan of the World Social Forum, 'Another World is Possible', was altered at the country's largest confluence of social activists to suit South Asia, one of the world's poorest and conflict-ridden regions.

''We take away from ISF one thing, which is optimism,'' said Magsaysay-winning activist Aruna Roy. ''Not only is another world is possible, we will make it possible in South Asia,'' said the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghathan leader who pioneered the Right to Information movement in India.

The cause of the tribals who are placing displacement in the face of growing industrialisation received a boost from South African activist Lebohang Phekoin, who runs a campaign for the rights of indigenous people in Africa.

''The plight of tribals anywhere in the world is the same.

They are oppressed and made to run away from their homes,'' said Phekoin.

Folk artists from Manipur, Bangladesh and Nepal took the stage to enthrall a large crowd at the concluding ceremony before a Kenyan troupe told the story of resistance of Africa, which is hosting the next WSF in Nairobi January next year.

''Democracy for the people will be made to exist,'' said Roy drawing huge applause from the audience outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

About 50,000 people from across the country had converged at the ISF which had brainstorming sessions of diverse movements, groups and NGOs.

Issues of equal distribution of resources like forest and land, casteism, globalisation, neo-colonialism, role of women in people's struggles, the need to fight AIDS and children's rights formed a major part of the discussions.

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