Delhi: India Social Forum to "build a better world"

The five-day encounter opened yesterday, gathering secular and Catholic organizations committed to tackling the most urgent challenges facing Indian society like nuclearization and the rise of fundamentalist forces.

Delhi (AsiaNews) – The India Social Forum opened in Delhi yesterday, gathering Catholic and secular organizations that "seek to promote a different vision of globalization that would abolish the caste system, militarization and sectarian violence."

This year's five-day meeting will focus on the theme 'Building Another World: Visions For The Future'.

One of the speakers, Jesuit Cedric Prakash, told AsiaNews: "This Indian meeting is a milestone for those who believe in the possibility of a better world." He continued: "The meeting is particularly important for us, given that it focuses on specifically Indian issues, like nuclearization, mega projects that destroy the ecosystem and local communities and especially the growing clout of fundamentalist forces in the country."

Fr Prakash said: "Bringing together those people marginalized by Indian society, like Adivasis and Dalits is a challenge to those powers that have systematically tried to keep the masses in impoverishment and powerlessness to exploit them."

At the meeting, the Jesuit will speak about the 2002 Gujarat massacre, when 2,000 Muslims were killed by Hindu nationalists in sectarian violence. He will also trace the current status of investigations.

The text of his speech says: "Despite the widespread prominence of this terrible episode, severe economic and social boycott continues not only against the victims but against minorities in general. Gujarat remains a sort of test case for those who believe in secular values like democracy and freedom. It serves to shake the conscience of civil society and the state."

• India
• religious
• freedom
• social
• forum
• challenges
• globalization
• democracy
• marginalization
• caste
• violence