Work in Progress
Directed by Paromita Vohra
Multi-lingual with English subtitles, 57 mins, 2005
Produced by WSF India

-Arshia Sattar

The delightful pun in the title of this film about the World Social Forum meet in Mumbai, India, in January 2004 is but the first of many good things, one of which is the way it was made.

Armed with cameras and a camera operator, student crews made their way through this five day event, documenting the camaraderie and the dissent, the unity and the diversity, the celebrities and the common folk, and most of all, the sheer joy and hope of making another world possible. Now, a year later, the footage has come together under the sensitive and watchful eye of Paromita Vohra and the completed film speaks volumes without overwhelming the viewer with information or rhetoric.

Imagine a throbbing metropolis of 14 million souls, already bursting at the seams, getting ready to host another 130,000 people from all over the world for five days. The immensity of the project is staggering and simply the logistical success of the 2004 meet in Mumbai is an indication of how powerful the commitment to change is among the believers. State violence against anti-WTO protests (Seattle, Genoa, Stockholm) has been a part of the new gatherings and has, in a sense, galvanised the struggle. WSF began with the new millennium, in Porto Allegre in Brazil, as an effort to think through and implement alternatives to the globalisation and economic imperialism that threaten to engulf as all. After its first two gatherings there (with periodic regional formations like European Social Forum and Asian Social Forum), WSF made the critical move to carry its message and platform to another continent. Along with the physical move, the gathering opened up to a wider variety of issues that now include gender and alternative sexualities, caste and racism, the rights of indigenous peoples, and war.

Work in Progress manages to capture the momentum of the Mumbai meet as well as the history of the Forum, the issues that it seeks to address and the reasons why those issues need attention. We see the stars of the WSF firmament shine brightly – Arundhati Roy, Gilberto Gil, Samir Amin, Nawal al Saadawi – but we also hear from Dalit groups, hijras , women from Latin America and Afghanistan, Tibetan monks, the Green Party, French and Korean farmers and Japanese anti-nuclear activists as the coalition against capitalist modes of production and consumption continues to grow. Each of these groups and individuals comes to the Forum with the certainty that they will be heard and taken on board, joining the dream that a new centre of moral authority is forming and the greater our numbers, the louder our voice.

The film also crosses the literal and metaphorical street to cover Mumbai Resistance 2004, an amalgamation of radical groups that seeks to conclusively overthrow capitalism and imperialism rather than work for reform from within the system. In keeping with the larger spirit of the new movements against globalisation, MR and WSF do not exhibit hostility towards each other, each sees the other as a companero , a fellow traveller in the long and hard journey to make the world a better place for as many people as possible.

As a rule, mainstream media does not cover anti-globalisation protests unless there is some kind of violence that accompanies the event. Thus, Forum issues rarely come to the attention of the larger public. It is here that Work in Progress fills a crucial hole. For those that are already working within the framework of all that WSF espouses, the film is a neat and comprehensive vehicle for disseminating the big ideas. WSF positions are clearly articulated, necessary facts and figures run across the screen and the exuberance and positive attitude of the Forum leaps out of the frame. The film is equally useful as a simple and effective introduction to the concept of the Forum, to all that it does and hopes to do: behind the song and dance, stalls and exhibitions, presentations, forums and festivity, there is the serious business of mobilisation and coalition building.

Mention must be made of Paromita Vohra and her determination to extend the democracies that new digital media make possible. She has been working in audio and visual media with students and young people over the last few years, empowering them to document the world around them and their concerns. This film is another testament to the importance of that larger project.

For more information, contact:
parodevi@vsnl.net.in Phone: 91-22 2837 7960