The controversial World Social Forum came to a close in Montreal on Sunday, with organizers saying that the 2016 edition “has been a successful one.”
At first marred by controversy because of its support of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement and also criticized for a cartoon that some considered anti-Semitic, causing the federal government to pull its support from the event, the Forum’s coordinators Carminda Mac Lorin and Raphaël Canet said the event was well-attended.
They estimate 35,000 people participated in this year’s event. Mac Lorin said the forum “was trying to bring together all the forces of civil society, including big and small organizations” in order to discuss topics like the the environment, human rights, education, health and culture.
It was the first time the event was held in a country outside of the “global south,” or in a Western country. The organizers said that brought its own host of problems, especially when it came to getting participants from other countries to Canada.
“It brought up the fact that we live in a world that has restrictive migration policies,” said Mac Lorin. The event assisted 2,000 participants through the visa process, and 200 of those never received their visas to enter the country. “It is absurd in a world where merchandise can move — and not people —freely. These people that are struggling for human rights, for education, for better conditions for workers, for children, for women.”
However, she added that “it is a positive that we are now talking about (this).”
