World Social Movements:
From Local Actions to
Global Discussions
This week’s readings took us through diverse
paradigms of social resistance and how these social movements transformed into
distinct platforms for the local, national and international discussions of
social issues, which involves social justice, equity and equality and environmental
justice.
The World Social Forum (WSF) is an international forum
that was established to challenge the current paradigm of development, globalization,
and economic development, which seeks to develop an alternative paradigm of
development, social justice, economic development and social change. The WSF is
considered by many as an “opened space” that is diverse and representatives of
organizations and social movements that seek to explore an alternative world;
that is, a world which captures the aspirations of human security from big
governments and corporate elites transform them to local people and grassroots
movements. It is a forum stakeholders from all around the world meet annually
to discuss issues that reflect their respective localities and peoples and how
they can work together to forge a space for another world. One of the goals of
the WSF is to challenge the existing paradigm of neoliberalism and
globalization. Members who attend the WSF have to agree on decisions that are
made and the forum communicates such decision via various instruments listing
the organizations and institutions that made them and does not make any final
decision on how they should be implemented.
On the other hand, La Via Campesina is an international social
movement that was established in 1993, which assist coordinate organizations of
rural and peasant farmers in developing countries in an effort to seek social
justice, food sovereignty, and the advocacy of family-based, local farms as
well as seeks to promote sustainable agricultural production through the
process. Martinez-Torres and Rosset provided a historical and evolutionary perspective
of the La Via Campesina an organization that first coined the term “food
sovereignty” that is drawing perspective that all communities and people have
the legitimate right to produce food on their territory and thus define their
own food systems, methods of production as oppose to the dominant paradigm of
food production by multinational organizations and institutions whose interest
is for profiteering against the poor. La Via Campesina has gained national and
international recognition for its position and interest in assisting
marginalized family-farm communities regain their status by creating awareness
and networks with other social groups.
I personally think another world is possible. I believe
that a world in which the multinational or transnational corporations have no
control over what we eat is possible. However, in order to have this world we
must deconstruct our current ways of life and consumption patterns and trends
most especially for those of us in westernize countries. We should take local
actions that collectively can make global changes. I believe that a world that
contains more alternatives is possible and this is a world that we should all
strive for by supporting local systems social movements.
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