Asunción, Paraguay August 11-15: Social Forum of the Americas. Tagline: Another America is Possible.
Three days of workshops and speeches bookended by a march and rally on a sprawling sports and education complex east of the city center. There were lots of anti’s on display: anti-capitalism, anti-militarization, anti-soy, anti-Plan Colombia. There were lots of pro’s as well: gender rights, food sovereignty, free software, free education, la lucha.
At a workshop on regional integration
The Bolivian cultural delegation patiently posed for photos with their polleras and ponchos. Argentine hippies sold jewelry next to Paraguayan Maká weaving rainbow bright bags. The Canadians presented in Spanish with French-inflected r’s and the Brazilians tried their hand at Portuñol. Rigoberta Menchu spoke on women in leadership. Paraguayan president Lugo spoke despite undergoing his first dose of chemo this week, condemning the 2009 coup in Honduras and praising reconciliation between Colombia and Venezuela. “War and destabilization don’t form part of our Latin America agenda,” he said.
Uruguayan president Mujica gave a few words on the need for multiple democracies for multiple pueblos. Evo Morales even spoke on everything from the protection of Mother Nature to a fair number of jabs against the United States. Overall, few seemed to get the memo that the Foro poster included an image of North as well as South America, but perhaps that was to be expected.
There was lots of community and lots of chanting. A group of women wearing cavernous animal print jumpsuits and face paint floated through the proceedings like some form of elemental shared unconscious: No hay justicia ambiental sin justicia social. Reparacão y distribuicão. Salvar la tierra es ahora o ahora. El problema no es pobreza; es la mala distribución de la llamada riqueza. Alerta! Alerta! Alerta que camina la lucha feminista por America Latina.
One day at lunch everyone danced together under an electric blue Asunción sky and it was easy to believe, at least for a second, that if all this buena onda and energy could translate to action, the world would be all right (in a left sort of way).
Flora Lindsay-Herrera is currently a Fulbright Fellow in Montevideo, Uruguay. For more about her experiences, check out her blog.
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