February 2005

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LANGUAGE DIVERSITY PRESENT IN THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

February 2005 — Several representatives of the European Free Alliance (EFA), the European political alliance of progressive parties, are participating these days in the World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brasil. The WSF is an annual meeting held by the left wing members of the alternative globalization movement to coordinate world campaigns, share organizing strategies, and inform each other about movements from around the world and about many different issues.

On the occasion of the event, the EFA representatives raised the debate of the necessity of a multilingual and multicultural society. Nelly Maes, president of EFA, claimed for “an international and juridical instrument protecting cultural diversity”. Ms. Maes explained that the market was not likely to protect the cultural and linguistic diversity and recalled that each year 30 languages die, in accordance with the UNESCO experts. Ms. Maes went on by stressing that “cultural products and services cannot be seen just as products and should therefore be exempted from WTO negotiations. The EU must take the lead in this debate and as an example they should recognise all the regional languages in the EU and make them an official language."

Also, the Catalan MP Pilar Dellunde from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), a party member of the EFA alliance, declared that “this year one of the main WSF themes is Protecting Diversity, plurality and identity”, and put the stress on the “alarming process of disappearance of cultural, linguistic and social diversity in the world”.

More specific information on the programme, agenda and news of the WSF can be found below.