arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL: WORLD SOCIAL FORUM 2003
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=230470
http://tallahassee.indymedia.org/info/display/wsf2003/index.php
http://archive.indymedia.be/front.php3?article_id=46307&group=webcast
http://italy.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=453

WSF websites (multilanguage):
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
http://www.portoalegre2003.org
http://www.ciranda.net


WORLD SOCIAL FORUM 2003 (English)
http://www.choike.org/cgi-bin/choike/links/page.cgi?p=ver_indepth&id=738

FORO SOCIAL MUNDIAL 2003 (Espanol)
http://www.choike.org/cgi-bin/choike/links_esp/page.cgi?p=ver_indepth&id=675

For those of us who were in Asian Social Forum (ASF), Hyderabad from 2nd January to 7th January 2003, the report provides a continuity to the curious of what's up at World Social Forum Porto Alegre.

The mood at SF, Hyderabad was similar. The same anti-corporatisation stance for green reasons because the corporates have and are poisoning the ecological space.

As a part of ASF/WSF, a public hearing on the "impact of pesticides on human and environmental health" was conducted on January 5, 2003. The victims of pesticides usage narrated the devastating impact it has on their human health and environment. Poisoning from Pesticides affects 68,000 farmers and workers every day. Annually, an estimated 25 million workers suffer from pesticide poisoning through out the world. Farmers and agricultural workers are exposed to pesticides directly when they are mixing and spraying these pesticides, especially so in developing countries like in Asia.

Communities and consumers are insidiously exposed to pesticides through contamination of the soil, air and water. The chronic effects of pesticides are particularly alarming when new studies link certain pesticides to cancer, lowered fertility, and disruption of the endocrine system and to the suppression of immune systems.

The public hearing provided an opportunity to the affected communities and their movement leaders to raise the issue, the realities of the impact of pesticides on their lives and the lives of the communities as well as the violation of their rights.

Testimonies of community representatives from three Asian countries included: 1) The struggles of women plantation workers in Malaysia against the impact of pesticides such as paraquat as well as their assertion of their rights as workers. 2) The ex-International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) workers in the Philippines poisoned by pesticides used in the IRRI test fields and unfairly treated by IRRI. The fisher folk community in Kamukhaan, Philippines that been poisoned and their environment devastated by pesticides used in the neighboring banana plantation. 3)

The communities living in Kasargod, Kerala, India who have been poisoned by endosulfan that has been aerially sprayed by the Plantation Corporation of Kerala, India. And the farming and agricultural worker communities in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India who have been poisoned by pesticides during spraying. Warangal is already infamous for the large number of cotton farmer suicide deaths, with one of the main reasons being resistance developed by pests to pesticides.

"My eyes keep watering, there is constant irritation in them. I suffer from nose bleeding and dizziness. Paradol is the only medicine given to us, which is ineffective. Our Workers Union has not been of much help. We are 12 ladies. We spray pesticides throughout the year for eight hours daily," said Nagamah Ranam, a 43 years old lady who is a pesticide sprayer from the Jeram estate, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. "We get sores in the urinary organ region, we have irregular menstrual cycle and we suffer from itchiness and bleeding around vagina, being women pesticide workers, we cannot go to male doctors. We have pain in our womb and stomach. We want a woman doctor. We drink pesticide-contaminated water and breathe polluted air. Despite this we continue to work here because I have no house of my own and have no other work. We look forward to a huge campaign against pesticides," added Ranam who is married and has two children.

Cecinio Pelletro of Citizen's Alliance Unified for Sectoral Empowerment, Kamukhaan Davao del Sur, Phillippines narrated how the community there has been a victim of pesticide poisoning since 1993. Patricio Layosa Jr of KMP (National Peasant Movement of Phillippnies) informed how he was dismissed in 1996 from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for leading worker's protest actions seeking justice for workers poisoned by pesticides used in IRRI test fields.

Maniknatan, a 13 years old, student of 6th standard at AUPS, Bovikknana, Kasargod, Kerela showed how his body has developed scales and skin rashes. He has difficulty in attending his school. His parents work in the field where endosulfan is sprayed. C. Sukumaran, a teacher at Bovikknana informed that his students suffer because of these problems routinely.

Jagadeeswar, a young man from Vasantpur village, Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh narrated how he fell seriously ill from pesticide exposure during spraying last year. He fainted and was hospitalised where he was in coma for eight days. Another villager Bhikshapati from Pathipaaka village of the same district suffers from the exposure he had as an agricultural worker in others fields. He had to pawn his house for his medical expenses but there is no liability against the pesticide companies.

The judges for the hearing were: Sarojeni V Rengam, executive director, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific, Dr Irene Fernandez, director, Tenaganita, Dr Romeo Quijano, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Medicine, University of Philippines and C Jayakumar, coordinator, Thanal. The organizers included Thanal Conservation, Action and Information Network, Tenaganita (Women's Force), Malaysia, PAN Philppines, Community Action for Pesticide Elimination (CAPE), Tamilnadu Women's Forum and Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific.

Stressing the fact that alternatives are possible and local farmers are practicing sustainable agriculture have proven without a doubt that we can feed the world without poisons", said Sarojeni V. Rengam.

Addressing the situation in Warangal, Narasimha Reddy of Centre for Resource Education, Hyderabad said, "The links between deaths and pesticides are proven and visible. We declare our support to the affected global communities and join the struggle to declare poison free land and food".

Around the world, pesticide use has permeated even the remotest village. In the developing Southern countries, the availability of highly toxic pesticides, lack of information and knowledge of their hazards, aggressive marketing by industry as well as poverty, illiteracy and lack of health facilities in the rural area's ensure that pesticides are a major cause of poisoning in farming communities. While most pesticide-related deaths occur in the South, pesticides also pose serious problems in industrialised northern countries. In both rich and poor countries, poor and disadvantaged people suffer the effects of pesticide poisoning disproportionately. Children are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure. The manufacture, distribution and usage of chemical pesticides have for years had devastating impacts on people and the environment.

Every year, about 3 million people are poisoned around the world and 200,000 die from pesticide use. Beyond these reported acute cases of pesticide poisoning, even more worrying are the chronic long-term effects such as cancers. There has also been increasing evidence and concern over pesticides that mimic natural hormones (known as endocrine disruptors), possibly causing a wide variety of adverse effects - not only on specific body organs and systems but also on the endocrine systems which include reduction in male sperm count and undescended testes as well as increasing incidences of breast cancer.

The issue of globalisation of waste also figured prominently.

WSF is moving towards alternatives but it needs to be wary of behind the scene intrigues of sponsers. Let it make sure that at no point these corporates claim that these protests were sponsored by them.