Building stronger citizenship

This first edition of the forum managed to bring together about 3 000 people. The main point was to lead an efficient information campaign alongside several NGOs, associations and organisations taking actions in the 11 provinces in the D.R. Congo, as well as alongside the whole Congolese population and Diaspora. This information campaign ended with a call to the Congolese social forum, the official text of the mobilisation that the organizers had to approve to validate their participation.

All of the participants were in charge of bringing proposals meant to strengthen the constitution with a real Congolese society pact, which was discussed at the Forum. For this first edition, the participants decided to take a greater interest in good governance, social rights, food security, international cooperation, and laws dealing with mining and forestry management. It is fundamental to study these issues, so that this social forum becomes a real hope for Congolese citizens to become actors in political, economic, and social initiatives.

Reinvigorating democratic consciousness

Public discussions were organised while concerts, ballets, sketches and other popular manifestations were presented to sensitize and educate citizens. A caravan of democratic expression for “solidarity with the victims of neo-liberalism” wandered through the forum as a guiding light. The caravan started from the intersection of Liberation (previously 24 November) and Kasa-Vubu Avenues, and reached its destination, Kinshasa botanical garden, one of the places chosen to shelter this huge social meeting. The caravan was accompanied by three music bands and one mobile orchestra. It was made up of several organisations and social movements coming from all the provinces of the country. For the organizers, “it is not one more meeting with only speeches. This time we want to make concrete proposals for a new Congo and we mean a fairer Congo, more egalitarian, more human and with more dignity.”

Then, at the end of the last day of the forum, several commitments were taken for each main field. According to the Association for the Promotion of Women Entrepreneurs [2], one of FdH’s partners in the DRC [3], the forum “reached its goal and managed to patch together a committee in charge of monitoring proposals handed to the government. For once, the government got inspiration from this document and consulted social actors in its budget decisions for each social sector.” Let us hope that the government will keep its word and realise that people can assert themselves and weigh in on the future of Congolese society. That is a good example of mobilisation which puts back human beings and citizens at the centre of a fairer society with a larger place for solidarity.

Also read: Resonances Africa N° 17 - October 2007