I spent the last two days in Malmö, Sweden at the European Social Forum (ESF) - a bi-annual event for lefties and social progressives to gather together. On Saturday, over 15,000 people gathered for a three-hour march throughout the city. The march followed a clearly defined course, which was well-documented in the conference guide. Going forward, however, the path to another world is far less clear.

A Thirst For Intergenerational Responsibility
Throughout the 5-day series of seminars, workshops, films, music, and more, ESF sought to bear witness to the stories of the people adversely affected by our current actions and to provide examples of a better path to follow.

Saturday, I attended a screening of the documentary film, Thirst, which focused on the issues with water privatization - from Bolivia to India to Stockton, California. One of the people interviewed in the film made the following remark, “Somebody has to pay - whether it is the people who consume today or future generations.”  It’s a keen observation. Intergenerational responsibility is not just an issue with water rights, it’s also germane to the broader question of how to manage all our natural resources.

The Question of How?
Perhaps most of all, ESF highlighted the challenges of offering coherent solutions to address the world’s ills. Case in point: on Sunday, I went to see a documentary about ethanol production in Brazil, called Etanol – Vad har du i tanken? (translation: Ethanol - Drawbacks from the Production of Brazilian Biofuel). Yes, my ESF experience might be described as the watching Every Single Film approach.

After the screening, the directors were asked about what they saw as solutions. They hesitated to answer. When they did, they said they had focused on documenting the problems, and didn’t feel they had a solution to it. Fair enough. Yet, it also seems that all of us need to move beyond pointing out why something is flawed and to offer some ideas about what might be better. I understand the hesitation. The challenge, it seems, is to do it in a way that a.) is cognizant of our relative ignorance (i.e.: though I am an informed citizen, I’m far from an expert on the many issues that concern me) and b.) still validates that ordinary people should and could be part of finding solutions.

Here’s to trying to be a thoughtful voice in defining what the other world might be and how to get there.

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