dialogue between us

The gates of The Moi International Sports Center of Karasani, northwest of Nairobi, were opened yesterday. It’s the major site of the activities organized by the WSF. The difficulties in coordinating an event of such dimensions with the limited resources of an African city were made visible from the very first day. On this day, 50.000 participants and delegates arrived, and once they were there, wrapped in their signs and colourful t-shirts, just spread along the red land of Africa, towards the different meetings.

On one room a debate was held entitled “To be a leftist today. Dialogue between militants” Lilian Celiberti from Uruguay, and member of “Articulación Feminista Marcosur”, told us that what she would enlighten from her experience in the many meetings she has attended was that she has learned how to dialogue. At first, this is surprising, because, as it comes from a very active person and with a great deal of experience in this kind of meetings, it seems obvious that she knows how todialogue. Later we realize that there are certain concepts that fill our mouths constantly, but that we’ve emptied of all meaning. To dialogue is not to give a wonderful speech, it’s not to talk about something you know to the tiniest detail, it’s not an interchange of information, it’s not a simple addition of ideas and experiences. To dialogue it’s to commit yourself in hearing what the other person has to say. That other possible world will be build with dialogue and debate, sharing and learning from the other in front of us. Because, after all, when the dialogue has finished, one has to leave it being a different person. Accepting that from the confrontation of ideas appears a common ground in which new proposals can be planted. To make this common ground possible there’s a first step that has to be made: one has to know each other. To think in another world is also to know other worlds. It’s impossible to build a new world if one only knows his own. We think that this is the best achievement of the World Social Forum.