Consumers Union of Japan will participate together with many other Japanese NGOs, including People’s Plan, Attack and No to WTO/FTA, in the World Social Forum event on January 26, 2008 in Arakawa, Tokyo.
Our Call for Action – “Why Does It Have to Be in Arakawa?”
At multiple venues in the Arakawa district, we will be hosting a forum centered on a series of workshops pertinent to the topic of “neo-liberalism” and its alternatives. In every January since 2001, the “World Social Forum” in which social movements from literally around the world come together to demand globalization of hope and solidarity, and reject the globalization based on war and exploitation, have been held. The WSF meetings have been held in regions of the “South” in the sense of position in the relationship of political and economic power, to counteract the worldview based on neo-liberal globalization spearheaded by the economically and militarily powerful countries. This also means that regions of the South can be a base of operation for powerful people’s movements that demand a new kind of world order that is free of war and oppression.
The significance of holding the WSF Arakawa 1/26 Global Action that will be held in the Arakawa district is also along this line – to remember the memories of war, deepen international understanding, strive for a society that is free of discrimination and oppression, and to cooperate with activists firmly rooted in the community to face the various challenges stemming from globalization in spite of the fact that we are located in Tokyo, one of the centers of the global economy. Our ambition is that whether they have been aware of the WSF until now, people from all walks of life would come to experience the significance of the WSF and of the Global Action Day on 1/26, and make them a springboard for activism as well as an organizing principle of their lives.
For more information in English, please see Kurashi News from Japan. where you can find a list of all the workshops.