As we had expected, the WSF in Tunis was a great moment of solidarity with the people of Tunisia, two years after the Tunisian uprising against Ben Ali. It was also a great time to strengthen the democratic camp in the Arabian world.
It brought a burst of energy and dynamism to all the progressive people in today’s world who have found in the breath of the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia an infective dynamism, despite the difficulties, reflected in particular in the assassination of Chokri Belaid, the charismatic leader of the Tunisian Popular Front.
The women were very present with a women’s assembly both challenging and combative. transform! held a seminar on “Feminism and Revolution” that attracted all progressive movements in the region and was a resounding success (about 100 people).
All the peoples of the Maghreb and Mashriq were well represented: 500 Palestinians, 300 Egyptians, 500 Moroccans, 250 Algerians (many trade unionists were unable to cross the border), 150 Sahrawis, 100 Libyans, 80 Jordanians, 60 Iraqis. 60,000 people attended the forum with strong delegations from the European Mediterranean countries. There were many delegations also from the “new movements” that have emerged everywhere, taking as a model the Jasmine Revolution, among them, ‘Indignados’ from different European countries but also from the Occupy movement, the students’ movements of Quebec, movements of unemployed graduates in Maghreb, the group “Y’en a marre” (“Enough Is Enough”) of Senegal … All these youth movements, whatever their differences, have at the heart of their concerns democracy and the will to reclaim their own lives against a neoliberal system that prevents exactly that.
In this context, transform! has in nine seminars contributed with its analysis of the crisis and possible alternatives. transform! is a singular and original actor within the WSF. Dealing with strategic issues which are important to all the movements, it raises the question of fronts and coalitions to build the Left, calls political forces and social movements to engage in dialogue with the objective to find convergences for building a left cultural hegemony in the face of this crisis.
The question of the European Alter Summit to be held in Athens in June was also strongly present at the Forum.
The dynamics of the WSF has boosted all the European social movements present in Tunis. The wind of a new internationalism has blown over Tunis …
Picture gallery by Roberto Morea