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Background
Some individuals who had participated in the World Social
Forum events in January 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya and the
Peoples’ SAARC gathering held in Kathmandu, Nepal in March
2007 met in Colombo in April 2007 to discuss working
together in Sri Lanka in the spirit of these regional and
international initiatives. Recognising the disappointments
of past initiatives towards a peoples’ movement, and the
inability of Sri Lankan activists and civil society
organisations to create an inclusive and sustainable social
movement that could ally the efforts and struggles of our
peoples with those worldwide, and to build solidarity and
draw strength from those struggles in our own campaigns and
movements, it was agreed to work together in a democratic
manner to stimulate the emergence of a peoples movement.
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Process
Two consultations were held at the Sri Lanka Foundation
Institute in Colombo on 26 April and 21 May with invited
participants. These gatherings mandated the coming together
of peoples’ organisations in a hub that networks efforts and
struggles for social justice, just governance, sustainable
development and peace and human rights. The second
Consultation resolved that a Charter of Principles be
drafted to unify and guide this initiative. Also, that a
simple and flexible organisational structure be evolved to
allow for decentralisation of activities with democratic
representation of all segments, sectors and levels by
creating secured spaces for participation of interested
groups and persons in agreement with the Charter of
Principles towards building coalitions and networks and
strengthening their struggles. An interim working committee
was nominated to take forward these decisions. Further,
three sub-committees were created with the following
responsibilities: (i) to draft a Charter of Principles; (ii)
to draft the structures of movement and (iii) to define and
propose the activities.
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Progress
Since the second Consultation in May, monthly meetings of
the interim working group and the sub-committees stimulated:
naming of the initiative as Peoples Space (Janavakasha in
Sinhala and Jana Avakasam in Tamil) rich discussions on
concept, norms and values of Peoples Space drafting the text
on the Charter of Principles
drafting structure document location of resource centre and
secretariat at 19/1, Siri Dhamma Mawatha, Punchi Borella,
Colombo 10 with facilities such as office furniture,
telephone, PC and internet connection mobilising funds to
resource the secretariat including appointment of a fulltime
coordinator national and regional linkages and networking
Third Consultation
The third consultation was organised on November 16 2007 at
the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training
Institute in Colombo to report-back to participants of
previous consultations on the progress that had been made;
to receive their comments, criticisms and suggestions; to
introduce Peoples Space to newcomers; and to renew and
expand the interim working committee. The draft Charter of
Principles, an earlier version of this background report and
the agenda were prepared in all three languages and
distributed to over 120 participants from almost all
districts in Sri Lanka. The concept and values of Peoples
Space were first explained to participants. This was
followed by an introduction to the Charter of Principles and
later on a draft structure document. Discussions took place
in the morning plenary session as well as in workshops after
lunch. Participants were sensitive to the naming of the new
initiative with a view to ensuring respect for and
inclusiveness of linguistic minorities who are discriminated
against by the State and mainstream society. The sentiment
of the gathering was that it is premature to decide on the
appropriate structural model for this young, fragile and
novel initiative. District-level forums and the organic
growth and development of Peoples Space were indicated as
preconditions before formalisation of its structure and
organs. Amendments were also proposed to the draft Charter
of Principles and to the wording of the Tamil language
version in particular. It was resolved by all to support and
begin mobilisation for World Social Forum 2008 in solidarity
with the World Social Forum. Activities proposed included
district-level social forums and other actions as well as a
national-level event on Saturday 26 January 2008. Proposed
actions include street marches, posters, photo exhibitions,
and district social forum resolutions.
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Future Action
The interim working committee proposes the following
initiatives to consolidate and build Peoples Space:
Identify contact points at the district level to facilitate
discussions on the draft Charter of Principles, draft
structure and the proposed activities.
Facilitate discussions and actions to create free,
democratic and secure spaces for activists and organisations
to build the foundations of a peoples’ movement.
Define and decide on the nature of activities that can lead
towards learning and working together, networking and
coalition building at all levels.
Define and decide on how the regional and international
networking can strengthen mutual learning and networking
with similar initiatives at all levels.
Four Planes of Intervention
Our interventions are proposed on four planes: district,
national, regional and international. At local level,
meetings will be organised to disseminate the Charter of
Principles and information on Peoples Space. These meetings
will utilise the existing Peoples Forums that function at
divisional secretariat level in some areas as well as
through district level forums organised by our supporters.
The objective will be to stimulate local networking,
informed dialogues and debates on the Charter of Principles
for common action as well as greater ownership of Peoples
Space by local organisations. It is proposed that local
level forums will determine their own action plans and
issues of concern and function independently of the
coordinating secretariat that will function as a hub to
network district, provincial and national organisations
rather than as a head-office or centre as in conventional
organisations.
At national level, Peoples Space will coordinate all-island
assemblies of peoples’
organisations and social movements and build consensus on
alternatives for Sri Lanka
based upon the needs and demands of the marginal, vulnerable
and socially excluded. All national level decisions and
initiatives will be taken through inclusive participation of
all segmental, sectors and levels constituencies of Peoples
Space. A gathering of between 500 and 1000 individuals and
groups representing all segments, sectors and levels with
South Asian regional representation to speak out against
war,poverty and misery and for a better Sri Lanka is
proposed to be held in January 2008 tocoincide with the
World Social Forum international week of mobilisation and
action culminating in a global day of action on Saturday 26
January 2008. At regional level, Peoples Space will be an
interlocutor for South Asian organisations and movements in
Sri Lanka. It proposes among other things: |
