Global Women flex power at World Social Forum

The World Social Forum played host to throngs of social activists, professionals and observers in Venezuela at the sixth annual gathering of advocates for social justice.

At the forum, delegates discussed the Bolivarian Revolution, the death penalty in the U.S., gender and transgender equality, youth, education, human rights, racism, grassroots self-organizing, land rights and domestic workers rights, to name just a few of the issues presented in hundreds of workshops over a seven-day period.

The forum drew over 67,000 participants to Caracas, Venezuela, a city and country in the midst of a major revolution led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Chavez made national headlines recently when pundit Pat Robertson declared that he should be assassinated.

Yet, those attending the forum from Europe, the U.S., Asia, Africa and Latin America clearly saw a revolution at work that values the poor and one that is resisting privatization and assimilation into the mindset and practices of the multinational corporations that seek to take over the country’s oil and natural resources.

What also came across loud and clear were the voices of women from every corner of the world who shared stories about their struggles for human rights, land rights and the right to have clean water, food and education for their children, among other essential life-sustaining issues.

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