The forum is taking place just prior to the official BRICS Summit to be held in the state
Panjim, 11, October, 2016:
Hundreds of people, representing various social movements, trade unions, academia and civil society formations from BRICS countries will assemble in Goa on the 13th and 14th of October to participate in the People’s Forum on BRICS and share analysis, struggle notes and build solidarity in the resistance against neo-liberalism and corporate globalization.
The People’s Forum will take place at Xavier Centre of Historical Research at Alto Porvorim, Goa, just prior to the official BRICS Summit to be held in the State.
Goa has been an active site of struggle against neo-liberalism, women’s empowerment and environmental justice. Groups from Goa along with other Indian organisations will jointly host the event which will include plenaries, self-organised workshops, cultural events and films.
The opening plenary will see Medha Patkar of the National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM) and several other eminent leaders of social movements welcoming the gathering followed by intense discussions on issues of Imperialism, Peace and Security, Finance, Investment and Trade, Corporate Power, Food and Agriculture, Governance of Natural Resources, Economy and Labour, Science and Technology, Public services, Civil and Human rights, Climate , Energy and Infrastructure, Social Justice and discussions on Race, caste and Ethnicity.
About The Forum, Medha Patkar says,
“Humanity is facing a civilisational crisis and we are witnessing the impacts of developmental choices we have made over centuries. Nation-states, multilateral global and regional forums like UN, ASEAN, SAARC, BRICS have tried to intervene and work ways out of this crisis. But the state centric intervention and management have in fact been responsible to large extent for the crisis in first place. So, any new alternatives have to have people at the heart of it. It’s the people’s struggle, their traditional knowledge, practices and wisdom, which will save mother earth from this crisis. In Goa the organisation of People’s Forum on BRICS holds significance, since it represents a microcosm of the issues we face in India today. The forum will provide an opportunity to discuss this and come up with the alternatives.”
The workshops will also look at people’s alternatives built by social movements in BRICS countries as a counter to neo-liberalism.
“BRICS can be a formation to counter US control in world politics and bring to the table the framework of equality, solidarity, mutual development and cooperation, in realising a new world vision of development. But for this, it is necessary to look at development from the lens of the peoples of these countries who have faced the brunt of development propagated by the superpowers which, for instance, marginalised their agricultural and industrial sector to bolster the multinational company led agricultural and industrial sector. At the Peoples BRICS, we will discuss both resistance and alternatives, says Albertina Almeida, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist from Goa.
The groups behind the Peoples Forum include a range of Goa based organisations including Bailancho Saad, Goa Bank Employees Association (GBEA), Human Rights Law Network Goa and Centre for Responsible Tourism, Green Brigade-Goa and Social Justice Action Committee. From the rest of India, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), Delhi Solidarity Group and the New Trade Union Initiative have collaborated to organise the 2 day event which will end with the submission of a Peoples Agenda on BRICS to the five BRICS Governments.
Details of various workshops to be held during the two-day long forum are available on the website peoplesbrics.org.
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