WSF 2004 comes to an end

The curtains on Wednesday came down on the World Social Forum 2004 meet after a well-attended concluding ceremony in Mumbai's Azad Maidan. Participants converged on the venue after a colourful rally that began at the August Kranti Maidan near Grant Road.

The WSF hosts the biggest congregation of anti-MNC activists. Over the past five days, participants from all over the world, deliberated over the a host of issues, including globalisation, capitalism, imperialism, racism and the environment, at about 1,200 seminars and conferences in the sprawling NESCO grounds in suburban Goregaon.

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Protests were held against the unilateral imposition of a global order by the United States and its military intervention in Iraq; there were discussions on gender, alternative sexuality, child labour, dalits and human rights.

About 100,000 people, including 60,000 foreigners from 130 countries, attended the meet. Prominent persons who took part included Nobel Prize winners Shirin Ebadi and Joseph Stiglitz, writer Arundhati Roy, Former Irish president Mary Robinson, Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jehangir and George Monbiot.

At the concluding ceremony, former president K R Narayanan said people must fight globalisation if it is not in the interest of the people.

A message from former South African president Nelson Mandela was read out. He said: At this meet, we must formulate strategies to overcome discrimination of all kinds."