Greens at World Social Forum 2013, Tunisia

The World Social Forum took place in Tunis, Tunisia, March 26th–30th, for the first time in the Arab world. The Maghreb, and in particular the Tun­isian social movements offered to organize the event, and Greens from every Fed­er­ation around the world participated, standing with Tunisian Civil Society and contributing to the organization of several Greens Events in the frame of the World Social Forum. Among others:

Le Gaz de Schiste au Maghreb et en Europe, co-organized by Malika Benarab (Green Member of the European Parliament) & GIEST (Groupe d’Intélligence Economique et Scientifique de Tunésie)

Quelle énergie pour la démocratie—quelle démocratie pour l’énergie, co-organized by the Greens in the European Parlia­ment and the Tunis Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

De la Colonisation aux Réparations, Jean-Jacob Bicep (Green Member of the Euro­pean Parliament)

The energetic transition: a way to a new model of development? (French Young Greens in partnership with ATTAC, le CRID-Rit­imo and others).

Jean-Jacob Bicep

The French Young Greens were represented by a delegation of 7 people and say on their website: “the choice of Tunis for this year edition is the right one. The future of this country is in the thoughts of everybody, in Maghreb, the Arab world and in Europe. After the revolution, a lot of open questions arise among social activists: the democratic function of the institutions and citizens participation, women rights, alternatives to capitalism, social justice”.

Jean Rossiaud, alternate member of the Global Greens Coordination from Europe, who has attended every World Social For­um since Puerto Alegre in 2001, helped organize the workshop Social Move­ments and World Political Movements, co-org­an­ized by The Forum for a new Govern­ance and IBASE (Brazilian NGO).

Olfa Jelassi, Tunisian civil society activist on youth empowerment and environment, coordinator of the climate change working group with the  Federation of Young Euro­pean Greens, said it was a big opportunity to attend the World Social Forum. “A green revolution is possible! As a climate change and environmental activist, I attended many talks, exchanges, workshops, conferences, actions, activities and revolutionary events, and all people were there! The campus was a small global social world.”

Greens also participated in the World Par­liamentary Forum dealing with “Women and gender equality in the Arab Spring”, “Peace and Democracy in the Southern Mediterranean and Sahel”, “Migrations, Free Trade Policies, Austerity and Debt”.

The World Social Forum also included a climate space to discuss the causes, im­pacts, struggles, alternatives and strategies for addressing climate change.