Charter
of principles and values of the African Social Forum
After evaluating the results obtained
and hopes aroused by the two editions of the African
Social Forum (ASF), (organised in Bamako in January
2002 and Addis Ababa in January 2003), the initiators
of the ASF considered it necessary to define a Charter
of principles and values which establishes the political
and moral bases of this collective space, and provide
guidance for the continuation of this initiative.
The Principles contained in this
Charter, which shall be observed by all those desiring
to participate in the Forum and organise activities
within it, are in conformity with the ideals that
guided the realisation of the two editions of the
African Social Forum and defined the new political
and moral orientations.
1. The African Social Forum is an
open meeting space aimed at deepening reflections,
democratic debate, formulating proposals, experiences
and articulation of efficient actions, entities and
African social movements which are opposed to neo-liberalism,
injustice and the domination of the world by market
forces.
2. The Bamako Forum was a high point
in the existence of the African social movement during
which we agreed and proclaimed that « another
Africa is possible. » This creed which is also
our hobbyhorse shall guide us in the search for and
construction of alternatives to the domination and
plundering of the continent.
3. The African Social Forum shall
speak as a continental body. Thus all the meetings
that contribute to this process shall also have a
regional dimension.
4. The alternatives proposed by the
African Social Forum shall be focussed on the human
person and opposed to the merchandising of Africa
and the selling off of its riches within the framework
of neo-liberal globalisation. The latter is particularly
beneficial to the major multinational firms, rich
nations and international institutions at the latter’s
service. The Forum thus objects to the programmes
and initiatives launched on behalf of the continent
which, in fact, establish the domination of the financial,
political and cultural hegemonic forces.
5. The Forum shall, more specifically,
campaign in favour of an interdependent African integration
based, on the one hand, on the respect of the rights
of men and women , minority rights, democracy, the
principles of a sustainable development, and on the
other, on democratic institutions at the service of
interests of the continent, social justice, equality
and people’s sovereignty.
6. The African Social Forum shall
bring together and connect civil society entities
and movements from all African countries, but shall
not claim to be representative of the African civil
society or exclude from its debates political leaders,
mandated by the peoples, who accept to make commitments
resulting from this Charter.
7. Meetings of the African Social
Forum do not have voting powers. No one shall therefore
be authorised to speak on behalf of the Forum, no
matter in what form, by presenting viewpoints claiming
to be those of the ASF. As members of the Forum, participants
shall not take decisions by vote or acclamation, nor
approve declarations or proposals for action which
bind the Forum.
8. Entities partaking in the Forum
proceedings should however be able to deliberate freely
during these meetings, alone or with other participants,
about declarations and actions which they decide to
develop . The world social forum shall undertake to
widely circulate these decisions, through the means
at its disposal, without imposing directions, hierarchies,
censures and restrictions, but as proceedings of entities
or groups of entities which would have assumed them.
9. The African Social Forum is a
pluralist and diversified, non confessional, non governmental
and non partisan space, which links, in a decentralised
way and in networks, entities and movements engaged
in concrete actions, from the local to the international
level, for the construction of another Africa and
another world. It shall therefore not establish itself
as a governing body for participants during its meetings,
nor shall it claim to be the only mode of articulation
and action for entities and movements that participate
in it.
10. As a meeting space, the Forum
is open to pluralism and the diverse commitments and
actions of participating entities and movements, such
as gender, racial, ethnic and cultural diversity .
11. The African Social Forum believes
in the power of democracy as the preferred channel
for conflict renegotiation and resolution within societies
and between States. Participants to the Forum shall
undertake to strengthen participation and citizen
control.
12. The African Social Forum shall
reject any form of totalitarian and reductionist vision
of history and the use of violence by States or any
other social or political force. It shall put forward
the respect of Human Rights, equitable, interdependent
and peaceful relations among peoples, sexes and races,
and condemn all forms of domination as well as the
subjugation of one human being by another.
13. Meetings of the African Social
Forum shall always constitute open spaces for all
those desiring to participate in them, with the exception
of organisations known to have made an attempt on
peoples’ lives as a method of political action.
14. As a space for debate, the African
Social Forum is a movement of ideas which stimulates
reflection and the maximum transparent circulation
of the results of this reflection , on mechanisms
and tools of economic domination, means and actions
to resist this domination, and on the alternatives
that can be proposed to resolve the problems of exclusion
and inequality which the current globalisation process
has strengthened and aggravated both at continental
level and in each African country.
15. As a space for the exchange of
experiences, the African Social Forum shall stimulate
the knowledge and mutual recognition of participating
entities and movements, by specifically enhancing
the value of what African societies themselves build
in order to streamline economic activity and political
action on human needs and the respect of the environment.
16. As a space of articulation, the
African Social Forum shall seek to strengthen and
create new national and international linkages between
entities and civil society movements. The capacity
to resist the economic and cultural impoverishment
and dehumanisation process, within the continent and
the globe, is emerging.
17. The African Social Forum is a
process that stimulates entities and movements which
contribute in defining their actions in the perspective
of the creation of an African and global citizen,
introducing, in the continental and global agenda,
transforming practices which they experiment in order
to build another society, another Africa and another
world..
18. The African Social Forum is a
process connected to other world processes aimed at
building another world on the basis of the principles
and values that we are adopting today. It is an integral
part of the movement created by the World Social Forum.
It shall seek to strengthen the solidarity between
the movements and the entities working in Africa and
those in other parts of the world.
Addis Ababa, January , 2003.
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