wfn.org | World Social Forum the Place for the Churches' Struggles, Says

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

World Social Forum the Place for the Churches' Struggles,
Says Indian Lutheran Church Leader 
LWF Delegation to Focus on Water, Globalization, Illegitimate Debt and
Caste-based Discrimination

MUMBAI, India/GENEVA, 19 January 2004 (LWI)  - "We came here because we call
ourselves a communion in the midst of struggles. And the struggles are here,"
Rev. Chandran Paul Martin, executive secretary of the United Evangelical
Lutheran Church in India (UELCI) said of the Indian Lutheran churches'
participation in the World Social Forum (WSF) 2004 that officially opened in
Mumbai on January 16.

Martin is leading a nine-member UELCI delegation to the current WSF. It is
the fourth in a series of open international forums that began in Porto
Alegre, Brazil in 2001 with the aim to provide a democratic people-centered
alternative to the Davos (Switzerland) World Economic Forum. The January
16-21 event under the theme "Another World is Possible" marks the first time
that the global forum of civil society movements and activists, mainly
advocating for economic justice worldwide, has taken place outside Brazil.
More than 75,000 people drawn from different parts of the world are
attending. 

The UELCI team is also part of a 50-person-strong Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) delegation participating in the WSF. The entire group is focusing on
concerns about illegitimate debt; water; peace and conflict; Dalits and
caste-based discrimination; Indigenous issues; and human rights in the
context of globalization. The team also includes LWF Council members: Ms
Abigail Zang (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), Ms Sonia Skupch
(Evangelical Church of the River Plate, Argentina), and UELCI's Martin. The
UELCI, a body of ten churches including nine LWF member churches has a
specific focus on water as it plans to start a one-year post-WSF process
focusing on a growing problem of water privatization in India. 

Other LWF member church representatives include Rev. Jairo Suarez,
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia, and Mr Luis Stephanou, Evangelical
Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil.

Rev. Dr Piri Rasolondraibe, director of the LWF Department for Mission and
Development (DMD) is leading a six-person Geneva secretariat staff team drawn
from DMD, the Department for World Service (DWS), the Offices for
International Affairs and Human Rights (OIAHR) and for Communication Services
(OCS). In addition there are staff persons from the DWS country programs in
Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, India and Nepal.

"This is the first time in the WSF history that the Lutheran communion has
had such a strong presence," Mr Peter Prove, LWF Assistant to the General
Secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights told participants in an
ecumenical workshop organized by the National Council of Churches in India
(NCCI) to inaugurate the churches' and their related partners' participation
in the WSF. NCCI General Secretary Rev. Dr Ipe Joseph presided over the
workshop at the St Thomas Mar Thoma Church in Mumbai. 

Dr Rogate Mshana, leading the World Council of Churches (WCC) team also
acknowledged the churches' and their related partners' involvement in the
current WSF. He noted that he was the only WCC participant at the 2001 Porto
Alegre forum, and was encouraged to see the LWF and other faith-based
organizations joining the process the following year. 

The WSF 2004 is focusing on the impact of neo-liberal globalization and its
processes which, according to Prove, affect people throughout the world
particularly in the developing countries, resulting in an increasing gap
between rich and poor. Apart from a major public meeting every day at the WSF
venue in the Mumbai suburb of Goregaon, there are 12 conferences, panels,
roundtables and testimonials as well as 300 seminars and workshops.

The LWF and WCC-organized events included a testimony on Discrimination in
Bhutan, and a seminar on the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance Trade campaign, on
Saturday, January 17. There are three seminars on Monday, January 19:
Illegitimate Debt and Ecological Debt; Inter-Faith Action for Peace in
Africa; Building an Alternative World - Affirming the Dignity of Children;
and one workshop, Let's Join Hands to Let Human Rights Work. Another seminar
will take place on Tuesday, January 20: Spirituality of Life and Human
Dignity - Religious Resources to Overcome Violence.

Prove encouraged representatives of the LWF delegation to also participate in
a broad range of the WSF's other events that are focusing on the various
issues with which the churches are dealing. These include agriculture and
genetic technologies, corporate social responsibility, education, HIV/AIDS,
sustainable development, and water.  (726 words)

For interviews with members of the LWF delegation in Mumbai, please contact
Pauline Mumia TEL.: +41 22 076 396 2863.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7 million of the 65.4 million
Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas
of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless
specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or
opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

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