{"id":292096,"date":"2011-02-23T06:31:48","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T05:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/world-social-forum-a-place-of-hope-for-the-poor\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:41:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:41:24","slug":"world-social-forum-a-place-of-hope-for-the-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/world-social-forum-a-place-of-hope-for-the-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"World Social Forum \u2013 a place of hope for the poor?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWhen leaving Vienna I saw the pictures of Tahrir Square in Cairo. <\/strong>Arriving in Dakar a newspaper carried on its front page an appeal by an Imam to pray that the President Abdoulaye Wade would stand down. Let\u2019s hope this just stays as prayer, I thought. The opening Mass for the World Social Forum was celebrated the next day in the Church of the Ugandan Martyrs. The homily from Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr had a strong spiritual and social tone. Without mincing his words he denounced corruption, even though a governmental Minster and other public figures were present.<\/p>\n

In this intense political atmosphere the 11th<\/sup> Social Forum opened in Dakar (6 -11th<\/sup> February)<\/a>. However, the opening march of 70,000 was conducted in a very orderly manner and was led to the University of Cheik Anta Diop. For the whole week there reigned a climate of support and fraternity, which didn\u2019t falter even in the challenges caused by the organising of over 400 conferences and meetings daily.<\/p>\n

One of these conferences was organised by transform!europe<\/em><\/a> (a cultural network from the European left) and the Focolare. The title: \u201cCrisis of civilisation: interpretations and alternatives from a Christian, interreligious and Marxist point of view\u201d, showed that religion is no longer just tolerated but also wanted. Initiatives which \u2018brought together\u2019 were in evidence, that is those which showed collaboration between partners, albeit in a geographic sense or in the sense of how the world is seen. On the stage, speakers from the Focolare came from Italy, Austria, France, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal <\/strong>\u2013 Catholics and Muslims. From transform!europe<\/em> Marga Ferre (Spain) and Walter Baier (Austria)<\/strong> were the promoters of the idea to prepare the event together. In her final thoughts Marga Ferrer shared: \u201cI have learnt [through the Focolare projects] that solidarity starts with practical help, beginning with those most in need. Therefore no communism, no Marxism without this sense of empathy! The option for the poor is simple love for neighbour; I would say seeing the world through the eyes of those most in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she continued: \u201cWe need an ethic and a new morality to develop dialogue about the meaning of life. No one can impose authority and carry out their idea and no-one can tell you what direction to take. We must increase dialogue, unite our strengths to change the ethic. And then, we need a political place and a change of economic legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She concluded: \u201cWe need real love, to make us able to work in politics, not just in a professional manner: that is knowing how to manoeuvre and work politics […] We need dedication. Without love no change to structure will succeed. Call it what we will: fraternity, love, solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the forum in Dakar, there was a growth in knowing and understanding between the Non Governmental Organisations present with the desire to continue to work and carry commitment together. The organisers would like \u201cDakar to spread\u201d<\/em> through Africa and the whole world.<\/p>\n

Is this a thread of hope for the poor?<\/p>\n

From Franz Kronreif<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Dakar the Focolare Movement together with \u2018transform!europe\u2019, take part in a conference called \u201cCrisis of civilisation: interpretations and alternatives from a Christian, interreligious and Marxist point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}