World Social Forum Opening Hears Tibet
Mumbai, 17 January: The Fourth World Social Forum opened at NESCO grounds yesterday. The delegation from Dharamsala comprising of more than fifty Tibetans were earlier joined by hundreds of others from the southern Tibetan settlements and Tibetan market in Mumbai. The opening day of this global gathering of non-governmental organisations was an encouraging start for the Tibetans who heard the noted writer-activist Arundhati Roy, (Booker Prize winner) speak of Tibet and its sufferings.
More than 350 Tibetans and their supporters have gathered at the Fourth World Social Forum in the western Indian port city of Mumbai. With an estimated 100,000 participants from more than 110 countries, 2000 seminars, this WSF is considered the largest so far. The past three meetings took place between 2001 and 2003 in Brazil.
The Tibetan participation began this morning with the Buddhist rituals and construction of a Sand Mandala (Buddha of Compassion) by the nuns from Dolma Ling and Gaden Choeling Nunneries. This was followed by the opening of “A Long Look Homeward- a Photo Exhibition on Tibet” arranged by Tibet Museum of the Department of Information and International Relations.
The Tibetans took staged a walk on foot to the venue of the forum with their national flag, banners, to mark their participation in this mass gathering of NGOs, civil society organisations and political parties.
Tibetan Youth Congress, Students for a Free Tibet-Dharamsala and Longsho (Tibetan Jewish Exchange), an organisation based in Dharamsala, took part in the opening ceremony of the parallel youth forum to the WSF. The Tibetans performed a cultural item at this gathering of youths from around the world.
As the WSF opening ceremony concluded last evening, the Tibetans organised a candle light vigil, which was joined by hundreds of participants. On 15 January, the Tibetan Delegation to WSF also organised a rally-vigil at Mumbai’s famous Azad Maidaan (ground).
More than 60 monks and nuns from Gaden and Drepung Monastic universities, 20 Tibetan children from Central School for Tibetans, Mungod in Karnataka State, have also joined the Tibetan delegation.
The banners carrying the synchronised appeal formed by the clubbing the slogans of WSF and the Tibetan delegation have made it ubiquitous at the venue of the forum.