The World Social Forum Kicks Off with Historic March

Posted by Opal Tometi, BAJI National Organizer
February 6, 2011


The World Social Forum has officially begun! With a whirlwind of smaller events, meetings and orientations leading up to today’s (Sunday February 6, 2011) opening ceremony in Dakar, Senegal everyone seems to be energized for this week's historic gathering. 

Today, we marched through the streets of Dakar for about 3 hours, not including the time where people were able to listen to speeches. One of which was delivered by Bolivia’s celebrated President Evo Morales. There were people as far as the eye could see, and thousands of Senegalese participated throughout the day,  including those who served as volunteers helping to answer questions, and who worked as security to ensure that the day went smoothly.  It is estimated that well over 100,000 people participated in today’s march.

Along with our companer@s from Priority Africa Network, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and several other organizations we marched through the streets of Dakar chanting in solidarity and with much enthusiasm.

People waved banners and held signs representing movements from throughout the world and highlighting issues such as violence against women, police brutality, environmental justice and migrant rights, while other banners called into question the occupation of various lands, neocolonialism, economic exploitation, militarism and so much more. We saw and even befriended people from throughout the world - from Brazil to Palestine, Rwanda, Nigeria, Egypt and Japan! What seems most evident is that social movements around the globe are vibrant and people are working tirelessly toward social justice in every part of the world.

The march was just the beginning and we are hopeful that the sentiment of joy and justice, that permeated the air, will be one that carries us through the complex discussions, networking and strategizing that are sure to fill the week.

You can see some pictures from our day at the march on the our Flickr page.

Check out the program here to see the range of plenaries and workshops that will take place this week.

World Assembly of Migrants Concludes

Posted by Gerald Lenoir, BAJI Executive Director
February 4, 2011

 The World Assembly of Migrants wrapped up today but, from my point of view, left much to be desired.  It is a complete misnomer to call it a "world assembly."  First of all, the attendance was poor with only about 100 people.  The overwhelming majority of migrants who were there were either from France or the French-speaking countries of West and North Africa.  The rest of the world was left out of the process.

The "Charter of Migrants" that emerged from the process was so general as to be rendered useless.  Although the initial draft was more progressive, after much tortuous debate and the consideration of amendments, the charter does not include any references to racism, the impact of economic globalization, the rights of indigenous people, and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and health access for people with HIV/AIDS and people with disabilities.

One participant argued that references to racism should not be included because we're all part of the human race.  This was an especially blatant omission, since the conference was held on Goree Island, one of the main sites where the brutal, forced migration called the Transatlantic Slave Trade was launched.  The same speaker also swayed many of the people present that the discrimination against LGBT people should not be included because this is a matter of "personal preference."

I was disappointed in the process and the outcome.  I am not hopeful that the "Charter of Migrants" will be at all useful or usable.

On Sunday the World Social Forum will begin with a mass march.  The workshops and plenaries begin on Monday.  I will continue blogging about WSF until February 11.

World Assembly of Migrants

Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Goree Island, Senegal 


Posted by Gerald Lenoir, Executive Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration


Nunu Kidane of Priority Africa Network, Colin Rajah of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and I traveled from Oakland, California to Dakar Senegal to attend the World Assembly of Migrants (WAM) on Goree Island and the World Social Forum (WSF) at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar.

A statue of freed slaves on
Goree Island donated by the
government of Guadeloupe.

Today, we took the 20-minute ferry ride to the infamous Goree Island where enslaved Africans were imprisoned, brutalized, led shackled through the "Door of No Return" and shipped en masse to the New World.  We were there to attend the opening session of the World Assembly of Migrants.  The Assembly was initiated by a migrant rights organization in France, Sans Papier (Without Papers) to provide the opportunity for migrants from all over the world to give input into the draft of the World Charter of Migrants.  The opening session, attended by over 100 migrants, started with a panel that included the Mayor of Goree Island, a representative from WAM and a member of the leadership of the WSF leadership group.

The Mayor reminded us that the event was taking place on the spot where the first brutal forced migration of Africans took place.  The WSF representative spoke about the importance of migrant rights as a central theme of the Social Forum scheduled to take place February 6-11.

Migrants from all over the world listen
to the opening panel presentations at
the World Assembly of Migrants.

The WAM speaker spoke to the need of the rights of migrant to be recognized.  The draft charter, he said, builds upon the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Indigenous People.  As an Austrian, he talked about the "wave of xenophobia sweeping across Europe."  He indicated that process of input into the charter will make sure that it's ratified by the people and that it is a people's document.  The aim is to get the charter ratified by United Nations.

The 2-page draft charter reads, in part:

"We Migrants declare to the world that:  MIGRATION WILL BE A FREE AND WORTHY CHOICE FOR ALL AND IN EVERY CORNER OF THE PLANET..." (emphasis in the original document)

"...We are entitled to the same rights, recognized under exactly the same conditions as everyone else.

Denying this basic principle is a serious blow to humanity, a negation of Humanity. Laws, regulations and practices that do not respect this principle will disappear over time, a ghostly memory of less humanitarian times in the past.

Unequal access to development and well-being within countries and between countries can and should be avoided and are in fact a crime against Humanity. We must prevail over such disparities."

(To read the entire draft of the World charter of Migrants, go to www.cmmigrants.org. 


Tomorrow, the day will be spent pouring over the draft document.  There will opportunities for the migrants assembled to give their input.  By the end of the day, the charter will be adopted by those assembled.  On Friday, migrants, along with their allies, will consider the future of the charter.  for many, the future for migrants is depending upon migrants themselves articulating their rights and, together with their allies, fighting for them.


My colleagues and I will continue to blog from the WAM and the WSF until February 11.  For photos of today and throughout the week, go to Priority Africa Network's D2D - World Social Forum web page at http://d2dworldsocialforumdakar2011.blogspot.com/ 

Slavery As Immigration? Teleconference audio now Available

Thanks to all who joined us for our first Teleconference in the series 'Black Intersections on Migration'. Our first Teleconference was entitled, Slavery As Immigration based on the work of Rhonda McGee. 


You can listen to Rhonda McGee's presentation and teleconference discussion here:

http://www.priorityafrica.org/African_Immigrants.html


Slavery in America was a crime against humanity, a foundational wrong without equal in American history.  In “Slavery as Immigration?,”  Professor Magee continues her career-long effort to understand the deep impact of the foundational wrong of slavery on American law and social policy.   A great-granddaughter of enslaved and segregated workers in the American South, Professor Magee seeks to open up a dialogue among African-American people about the aspects of the Black American experience of slavery and segregation that tell a particularly devastating kind of immigration story.

Her goal is not to minimize the significance of the Black experience as distinctive in American history – far from it.  Instead, her goal is to call boldly for national reflection on the elements of the Black American experience that provide a founding plank for longstanding American immigration law and policy, including the importation and deportation policy of racially-identified, socially isolated and politically marginalized people for work at the bottom of the economic system.

Indeed, Professor Magee argues that the forced migration, internal displacement, and denial of citizenship strategies essential to chattel slavery were important components of America’s original immigration and citizenship policy, with legacies impacting immigration and citizenship law and policy to the present day.  Further, she argues that the failure of Black Americans to understand the historical impact of slavery (and segregation) on immigration law and policy does more than constitute a gap in our understanding of the historical importance of slavery in America -- a gap we should address for the sake of our own enrichment.  More practically, it keeps Black Americans on the periphery of critical debates about increasingly important issues within contemporary American politics – a position we ignore at our political and social peril.

Teleconference series: Black Intersections on Migration

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration and Priority Africa Network

Invite you to:

Black Intersections on Migration

National Conversations on African, African American,
Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latino Migrations to and in the U.S.

A four-part series of teleconference briefings
on timely and critical analyses of migration, race, and identity.

The United Nations has declared 2011 as the “International Year for Peoples of African Descent”.  Ten years ago, landmark recommendations were made at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban South Africa.  In a four-part series of teleconferences that looks at the span of Black presence in the U.S. over the centuries, we will examine the unique migration experiences of the African Diaspora within the context of U.S. history and the current debate over immigration.   The series brings provocative frameworks and analyses into the discussion about race and immigration that are seldom considered.
 
Teleconference I
Slavery as Immigration?
Thursday, January 27, Noon Pacific, 1PM Mountain, 2PM Central & 3PM Eastern

Speaker: Rhonda Magee, Professor, University of Francisco School of Law

Slavery in America was a crime against humanity, a foundational wrong without equal in American history.  In “Slavery as Immigration?,”  Professor Magee continues her career-long effort to understand the deep impact of the foundational wrong of slavery on American law and social policy.   A great-granddaughter of enslaved and segregated workers in the American South, Professor Magee seeks to open up a dialogue among African-American people about the aspects of the Black American experience of slavery and segregation that tell a particularly devastating kind of immigration story.

Her goal is not to minimize the significance of the Black experience as distinctive in American history – far from it.  Instead, her goal is to call boldly for national reflection on the elements of the Black American experience that provide a founding plank for longstanding American immigration law and policy, including the importation and deportation policy of racially-identified, socially isolated and politically marginalized people for work at the bottom of the economic system.

Indeed, Professor Magee argues that the forced migration, internal displacement, and denial of citizenship strategies essential to chattel slavery were important components of America’s original immigration and citizenship policy, with legacies impacting immigration and citizenship law and policy to the present day.  Further, she argues that the failure of Black Americans to understand the historical impact of slavery (and segregation) on immigration law and policy does more than constitute a gap in our understanding of the historical importance of slavery in America -- a gap we should address for the sake of our own enrichment.  More practically, it keeps Black Americans on the periphery of critical debates about increasingly important issues within contemporary American politics – a position we ignore at our political and social peril.

Toll-free Dial-in (US/Canada): 1-866-931-7845
International Dial-in:  1-310-374-4949
Conference Code:  904167

Please RSVP by calling (510) 663-2254 or sending an email to teleconference@blackalliance.org

Teleconference II – Thursday, February 24: African American Migrations—The Exodus from the U.S. South

Speaker: Isabel Wilkerson, author, “Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” (Invited).

Teleconference III – Thursday, March 31: New African Immigrants—Grappling with Concepts of Race and Identity

Speaker: Jackie Copeland Carson, PhD, President Copeland-Carson and Associates and author of “Creating Africa in America: Translocal Identity in an Emerging World City”.
 
Teleconference IV – Thursday, April 28: The Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latino Migrations to the U.S.

Speaker: Janvieve Williams Comrie, Executive Director, Latin American and Caribbean Community Center

All briefings are at Noon Pacific, 1PM Mountain, 2PM Central & 3PM Eastern