“The region of the Maghreb / ​​Mashreq, mainly Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt, was the scene of major uprisings in recent years. This is an ongoing process, unfinished, which will require us time and struggles ...”said Rahmani, a leader of ATTAC Morocco and the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM) the same country.

In this sense, the convening of the Forum, to the end of March, in the Tunisian capital, where between 30 and 50 thousand participants are expected to meet - according to estimates by organizers - “may have a significant impact if social movements are present the most dynamic in the region, those actors revolutionary process.”

A challenge which is not a foregone conclusion, given that many of these social actors frontline “have very specific agenda of priorities and, in addition, many suffer financial constraints to move,” said Rahmani.

For this reason it is particularly important that can be achieved on the promise of the organizers of the WSF 2013, to devote a percentage of the budget to facilitate this participation. According to Rahmani, a total budget of about one and a half million euros, was planned originally, allocating 15% to the solidarity fund to promote participation :
“We realized assemblies preparation of the WSF in July and December ... And we see that NGOs predominate. But the end of 2012, there was a low participation of social movements.”

The biggest challenge reiterates Rahmani, is “how movements mobilize who actually struggled, how they are involved. Especially youth movements, the unemployed, students, peasants ... that exist in the region but do not have the resources to move. And who does not clearly identify the WSF as a means to catalyze their real fighting.”

Thinking behind the leader of ATTAC Morocco, is a recurring theme in the space of altermondialiste Forums : That of “political content”. Although programmatic axes are provided extensive and interesting, the challenge is to “give political content in the Forum.”

Thus, “some sectors have expressed the need for a forum with discussions, lectures but also concrete actions on the ground, holding shares in public places; protests outside the Central Bank of Tunisia ... engage people, create Forum areas close to the people and not in isolated areas difficult to access.”

Not to mention, insists Rahmani, “the explosive situation in the Maghreb, and many other parts of the world, is the result of a hegemonic system, based on structural adjustment and free trade agreements that have impacted catastrophic for the people.” The importance of the WSF Tunis will be linked to the ability to “reconcile and unite the struggles. In a strategic location such as North Africa, close to Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East in turmoil,”he concludes.

Translation : Liliane Fazan