The BARCELONA CONSENSUS at the People’s Forum in Niono, Mali

Niono, the host city, symbolizes very well the image of Africa. 385 km away from Bamako, the capital of Mali, Niono is a town devoted entirely to agriculture.  Some huge dams welcome you on the outskirts of the town intended for the irrigation of the region.  Niono is one of these many towns existing thanks to the Niger River.  If it is said that Egypt is a gift of the Nile, then Niono is certainly a gift of the Niger River.  Flowing from Nigeria to Guinea, crossing Niger and Mali, the Niger River is the second greatest river of Africa by length and basin.  It is a nature’s gift allowing thousands of people to survive on lands threatened by drought.  

Shortly after the independence, the Malian government decided to create a special Office responsible for this geographic region irrigated by the Niger River.  The objective was to develop agriculture on a semiarid land and reach self-sufficiency in one of the poorest countries of Africa.  The Niger River Office witnessed thus the development of rice cultivation to feed the Malian population.  The debt crisis and the structural adjustment measures based on the Washington Consensus implemented in Mali since the end of the eighties seriously jeopardized this development effort.  In the face of the financial institutions’ harsh imposed measures, the Malian State had to withdraw itself from the productive structures implemented to bring happiness to the Malian people.

One of the latest demands of the World Bank in the framework of the structural adjustment plans has been to privatise lands to the benefit of foreign investors.  So, 200,000 hectares of fertile lands in the Niger River Office area were sold to private operators and to foreign countries, making redundant the local farmers working in this area.  

In view of such situation, some of these farmers have migrated to Europe in the hope to be able to meet their daily needs and that of their families.  Others have chosen to stay and struggle for their land rights and for a decent job. Faced with the increase of land monopolizing in the Niger River Office area, with the destruction of village and cultural heritage handed down by successive generations, the Malian farmers have decided to unite to survive.

The People’s Forum in Niono in the Niger River Office area has come to support this struggle for the survival of landless farmers and thousands of families suffering the oppression of the liberal system advocated by the Washington Consensus.

Faithful to their commitment against the Washington Consensus, some African members of the Barcelona Consensus have gone to the People’s Forum in Niono to support farmers’ struggle and to present the proposals contained in the intercultural consensus adopted in Barcelona in May 2011. With an African dimension, the People’s Forum has gathered together civil society organizations and campaigners from Benin, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Kenya, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Togo, as well as campaigners from France and Belgium.  

The objective of this Forum was to show the opposition of African peoples to the G20 which was taking place at the same time in Cannes, France.  The Niono vs. Cannes match will see the victory of the peoples of the world against the oppression of the wealthiest countries and their banks which drives humanity towards an economic, social and climatic crisis never seen before in history.

In Niono, the Africa Barcelona Consensus Network has chosen to mobilize young campaigners in order to make their alternative proposals known.  Thus, three young people from Senegal and Togo have received support from the network to go to Niono in Mali and participate in various Forum activities. A workshop run outside the Forum has enabled the presentation to women, young people and farmers of the global participative approach which lead different social actors to draw up the Barcelona Consensus with intercultural and alternative proposals.

Further to explaining the connection between land monopolizing and the Washington Consensus, the Africa Barcelona Consensus Network coordinator has insisted on the need to mobilize as many people as possible on the transitional objectives put forward by the Barcelona Consensus.  An explanation was given in the case of each objective on its scope and the benefits it could bring to the community. Explanations referring to the transitional objectives put forward by the Barcelona Consensus continued outside the workshop. Afterwards, more than sixty young campaigners, women and farmers organizations signed their commitment by subscribing to the Barcelona Consensus principles.

The People’s Forum gave also the opportunity to express with simple and popular words the ideas of the Barcelona Consensus to grassroots movements.  Indeed, in order to put across the ideas of the Consensus to the majority of the assistance who did not speak French, nor English or Spanish, most of the communication and exchange took place in Bambara, the commonest language in Mali.  

This experience gives the opportunity to become aware of the need to adapt each Consensus proposal to the realities of the regions, the different countries and the villages to make it understood so as to allow people to participate in transformative actions. In Niono, the cultural wealth of Mali and its Bambara language has served the Barcelona Consensus.  The next stage for the Africa Barcelona Consensus Network will be to take the consensus message to organizations and campaigners from the Southern part of Africa at the COP 17 which will take place in December in Durban in South Africa.