(10 Nov. 2006) : A five-day seminar of secular and Catholic organizations committed
to tackling the most urgent challenges facing Indian society like nuclearization and
the rise of fundamentalist forces, opened Thursday in India’s capital city – New Delhi.
The India Social Forum meting under the theme ‘Building Another World: Visions For
The Future’, seeks to promote a different vision of globalization that would abolish
the caste system, militarization and sectarian violence.
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.”