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L'America Latina Unita al Quarto Social Forum http://www.escambray.cu Latin America marched together as a single block of social forces at the opening of the Fourth Social Forum of Americas (SFA) to prove that "another world is possible." Over 10,000 people of different races and colors marched through the streets with postcards placards, banners, balloons, typical clothing from their countries, and many initiatives clearly expressing the plurality of our continent. The march began with a tribute by a Paraguayan group, the Bartolinas Indigenous Women, to the Pachamama (Mother Earth), to ask her for permission for the march. Happiness and songs, men and women's singing fill the march with color, an spectacle of great participation, and something seen for the first time in the history of this country. Exclamations of "Down with US military bases in Colombia!" and "No to war!" were heard during the march, while other voices called for cultural diversity and asserted that "another America is possible." The participants walked for about five kilometers from the National Sports Council to El Cabildo Cultural Center, where the opening ceremony was held with a political and cultural event. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu called to preserve the Paraguayan process and to "watch out for conspirators." There is a process of changes in Paraguay that did not exist before, she emphasized. http://www.ipsnews.net ... The Aug. 11-15 gathering will include 380 workshops, lectures, panels, conferences and cultural activities organised by the participating local and international groups and movements, as well as a rally in solidarity with Paraguay's current process of political change. … The sign welcoming participants to the Forum reads "the Americas are still mobilising against militaristic policies and the criminalisation (of social protest), patriarchal and racist violence, neoliberal solutions to the crisis, and environmental destruction." … The personalities who plan to attend the Americas Social Forum include Bolivian President Evo Morales, Argentine political scientist Atilio Borón, the executive secretary of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) Emir Sader, and two Nobel Peace Prize-winners: Guatemalan indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchú and Argentine human rights activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. … |