[Imc-africa] Fwd: [Action2-l] WSF Nairobi

[Glenda Loebell]

Hello Everyone

As a volunteer from the north I/we was/were at the WSF
and worked from the Monday before, with the local
Kenyan volunteers who formed the team for the "so
called registration"

There were over 110 young and not so young people who
applied all asked to submit CSV’s. So applicant’s
expectations were high and the mood expectant.  Many
people were turned away without understanding the
selection process.  Everything was done verbally and
therefore fragile grounds for dispute. (So much for
“so called” workers rights principals even if a
volunteer worker for 2 weeks at a social forum) 
Volunteers are the backbone of all social movements
and therefore need to be engaged/treated with respect.
Social activist are people with conviction and will to
make a difference. Many activists in their communities
because this is the only constructive method of
surviving in a vast unemployment environment.

On day 1 +2  everyone waited around from 9a.m. till
5-6p.m. not knowing for what but definitely for who
Jose- the boss in charge of all registration
logistics. (this reference was made often)

All questions were deferred to him and no team leaders
or Jose's Kenyan right hand woman Anastasia could give
clarity to process/method, materials etc (on many
occasions she had to admit she did not know, but to
ashamed to ask for support for the fear of exposing
herself. What a shame this had to happen when we were
all there to share, be a apart of this whole sense of
another world is possible.

All Kenyans volunteers were offered 500 Kes per day,
plus cell phones with airtime by celtel-250 Kes once
off, t-shirts, bags and caps. Which came in drips and
drabs.

MATERIALS
Basic working materials such as posters paper, flip
chart paper, koki pens, pins staple machines, paper
clips, signs, banking facilities, programmes, bags,
badges etc was all raised before registration but lack
of information/or an authoritarian   style of top down
hampered the process which was by no means empowering.
 
Many a Kenyan when approached was disgruntled but
afraid to offend.
Many people saw this as an experience of a lifetime to
quote on CV etc.
Many of the youth have had min. computer training with
hopes of using this in a competitive and sharing
environment.


e.g.
Water for the volunteers was kept up stairs in a
locked room and only team leaders could hand it out to
people sitting in the sun for up to 4 hours at a time
and only when they could find her with the key.  What
control-how disempowering. 
Many of the volunteers even team leaders had no idea
what their tasks were and how to carry them out.
Salute to those Kenyans that did do the work under
these conditions but a pity they did not see this as
an opportunity to speak out. 

All typists registering delegates were to collect
copies of documents but with no place to store them.
(containers-refuse cardboard boxes had to be collect
from around town by volunteers) 
They were asked at info desks to write down the names
of registering delegates but had no staple machines,
paper, pens or better still application/registration
forms-it just never came and the team was just never
informed. (notebooks were bought out of private
pockets)

Many of the WSF banners and poster were only put up
after the forum was almost over.

Badges, bags and so called programme were being sold
on the black market by volunteers for as little as 50
Kes all tokens of disempowerment and non ownership and
in contradiction to the slogan of another world is
possible.

Part payment was made only after the official start
whereby many of the volunteers had already made return
trips to the city at their own costs. Using their own
airtime and in many cases exceeding the promised
amount.  We know of at least 6 youth groups keen for
the exposure and experience who put so much airtime
into organising as well as getting up at 4-430 in the
morning to arrange meetings, organise groups and get
into town with the local transport, which if any of
you used would understand just getting into them was a
nightmare at peak time.
How resourceful many people are with less. Its 
another form of exploitation when others were living 
and eating at places like the Hilton,
interconteninental, are driven around in official cars
with drivers etc. 

Kenyan youth volunteers were told that they had to
assist in the clean up before they were allocated the
balance of payment despite a youth CBO been given the
contract to conduct clean ups during and after the
forum activities, at least ½  the price of any other
tenders. This is not negative as these youth, for the
first time had a tender awarded to them and in doing
so received the recognition and experience as future
small informal business operators.
We did try to find a way to empower the volunteers by
telling them they had a right to ask questions, get
information and demand clear agreements, which are
kept. 

Many of us from the north felt it was correct for our
brother volunteers to have experiences themselves and
ask us to be a part of the solidity. People need to
find the courage and will to mobilise. We leave but
they remain and often with the consequences.

ENTRANCE FEE
We when asked to assist with FAQ and trouble shooting
raised the issue of prices charged for Kenyans on day
one. So it was not a new question. Perhaps the high
projection of attendence-100,000 was touted and the
reality different.

KICC CRAFT MARKET ON THE SATURDAY OF REGISTRATION
A large area at the KICC entrance alongside of the
registration area at the KICC was allocated for the
Saturday for a large craft market-this was organised
without the consent of the WSF organisers and on the
day when most WSF delegates were expected the Kenyan
volunteers were first approached and asked to act as a
barrier and to tell registering delegates not to
purchase from these vendors as the whole craft market
was not a part of the WSF-however on enquiring many of
the crafts stall owners were from the very areas were
many of us were visiting and
managing/partnering/funding projects and had been
preparing for months making objects and even borrowing
for this event.  Without sufficient facts this was
also organised from within the KICC someone with close
ties and links to the management within.

RACISM
We often witness downright racism towards Kenyan
people who were pushed aside for white people or
people who looked not Africa.

In restaurants there would be no more food but when we
turned up there was, the hotels-door men and security
twice as stringent than with us, bars refusing service
before the cash is on the table but not with us, at
registration tables-delegates speaking disrespectful
to our Kenyan typists, at celtel's table-treating
people from other African countries completely
different to people coming from the north, at the
airport- supervisors deferring queries when people
were flying with other African airlines except
SAA-e.g. Tanzania, Uganda etc.

A new form of returned colonisation
elements/behaviour.

CELTEL
Celtel was so present at the WSF in terms of
marketing-the red t-shirts at KICC and at the Moi
stadium, on posters all along the airport etc.
Celtel was over charging and when approach denied
this. Celtel refused to change registration for
Kenyans and other Africans and earned at least 300 Kes
with disparities. celtel taking dollars and EU at
slightly higher currency value and giving back change
rounded off because they did not arrive with
sufficient cash box reserves,

Glen/group

--- fabian <fab at in-no.org> wrote:

> Hello there,
>   I found this report from a south african activist
> very much too the  
> point and potentially helpful for our discussion and
> reflection of the  
> nairobi wsf...
> 
> Fabian
> 
> > WHAT HAPPENED IN NAIROBI
> > Trevor Ngwane
> >
> > The WSF was smaller than usual.  It was dominated
> by NGOs (the stalls)  
> > and
> > the churches (the opening march).  Some Christian
> fundamentalists even
> > protested demanding that a statue depicting a
> pregnant young woman be
> > removed from the cross it hung upon (the statue
> was in support of
> > reproductive rights for women).  The latter
> incident prompted some  
> > comrades
> > to include in the statement of the social
> movements that organizations  
> > not
> > in line with the WSF politics should not be
> allowed to attend.
> >
> > The WSF was visibly commercialized with the
> cellphone company Celtel  
> > doing
> > the registration and linking this to comrades
> buying a Celtel simcard.
> > Celtel adverts were all over the show.  The worst
> part is that it is  
> > more
> > expensive in Kenya to use Celtel than the other
> cellphone company
> > Safaricom.
> > The restaurants inside the WSF precinct were
> pretty expensive and there
> > were
> > many vendors selling water that at times cost at
> least double the usual
> > Kenyan price.
> >
> > Kenneth Kaunda addressed the beginning of the
> march and a few hours
> > later he
> > gave a 40-minute speech at the opening rally.  His
> line was  
> > anti-poverty
> > and
> > reconciliation (between rich and poor, Jew and
> Palestinian, etc.)  I  
> > heard
> > from a comrade that she saw the Organising
> Committee of the WSF in  
> > Kenya
> > having dinner with a minister at the Hilton hotel.
>  But the worst part  
> > for
> > many comrades was that many local Kenyans could
> not attend the WSF  
> > because
> > they had either not been informed and/or could not
> afford the 500  
> > shillings
> > charged at the gate (100 shillings = R12.50, I
> think).  As a  
> > consequence
> > some workshop sessions were devoid of any Kenyans,
> indeed some did not  
> > have
> > any Africans, or were dominated by "Northerners",
> mostly academics  
> > who, to
> > be fair to them, mostly support or claim to speak
> for the movements.
> >
> > The frustration with the picture painted above,
> especially entering  
> > the WSF
> > gates but leaving locals locked outside, was
> expressed at a meeting  
> > whose
> > aim was to prepare for the Assembly of the Social
> Movements to be held  
> > on
> > the last day of the WSF.  This meeting elected 4
> comrades to raise  
> > these
> > concerns with the Organising Committee.  During
> the meeting it emerged  
> > that
> > the co-ordinator of the Kenya Social Forum and at
> least one member of  
> > the
> > Organising Committee were also unhappy about this
> situation.  They  
> > told the
> > meeting that they had repeatedly raised the issue
> of entry fees but had
> > been
> > overruled or outvoted by other committee members. 
> In the meeting a  
> > Kenyan
> > comrade gave a riveting speech about how they felt
> left out as they  
> > had no
> > money to pay and as a result they had decided to
> have their own  
> > meeting, a
> > "people's parliament" in a venue nearer to the
> struggling masses of  
> > Kenya.
> >
> > I was part of the delegation chosen to meet with
> the Organising  
> > Committee
> > but we failed to make contact with them on the
> same evening.  But the
> > following morning I met with 2 of the committee
> members including its
> > chairperson Professor Oyugi.  I conveyed the
> meeting's concerns but  
> > both
> > were rushed and promised to look into the matter
> although Comrade  
> > Oduor,
> > the
> > other committee member, was quickly on the
> defensive.  By the following
> > morning the frustration was high and we decided to
> storm the gates to  
> > allow
> > the Kenyans in for free.  About 200 Kenyans got in
> free this way but  
> > later
> > in the day it emerged that the gates were again
> locked for those who  
> > did
> > not
> > have 500 shillings.  We also heard that the fee
> had been reduced to 50
> > shillings.  The South African comrades saw a
> parallel with the South
> > African
> > government's indigency policy and together with
> other comrades from  
> > other
> > countries and movements rejected this.
> >
> > We eventually secured a meeting with the
> Organising Committee where 3  
> > of us
> > met Prof Oyugi and Comrade Taoufik (secretary of
> the African Social  
> > Forum).
> > I was with Comrade Daniella, a Canadian from the
> Women's March and  
> > Comrade
> > Emily from Benin.  Unfortunately the other
> delegate (from the People's
> > Parliament) could not make it as they could not
> get through without the
> > official name tag which you only get if you are
> registered.  The  
> > meeting
> > was
> > really bad with Oyugi raving and accusing us of
> lack of democracy and
> > basically saying we were coming from the North and
> South Africa (a  
> > kind of
> > northern state in Africa) to undermine Kenyan
> processes.  To be fair  
> > to him
> > he confessed that he was flustered and angry
> because during the day he  
> > had
> > been confronted by demonstrators who were raising
> the same issues with  
> > him.
> > Earlier he had half-jokingly accused me of sending
> "my boys" to deal  
> > with
> > him.  We left in disgust (and demoralization) with
> no clear answer  
> > from the
> > Organising Committee.
> >
> > The next day we again planned to storm the gates
> but found police and  
> > army
> > reinforcements at the gates.  Those officers
> carried very big guns.
> > Comrades decided to block the main road until the
> people were allowed  
> 
=== message truncated ===



 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com.  Try it now.