Anti-capitalist forum opens in Kenya

More than 80,000 people gathered for an annual anti-capitalist conference in Kenya's capital on Saturday, marching on Nairobi's largest slum to protest global policies they say hurt the poor.

The World Social Forum will be a chance to showcase "Africa and her unbroken history of struggle against foreign domination, colonialism and neocolonialism," according to a statement on the event Web site.

To begin the forum, thousands of protesters marched from Kenya's sprawling Kibera slum to downtown Nairobi. About a third of Nairobi's total population, at least 700,000 people, is crammed into a single square mile in Kibera, with little access to running water and other basic services.

The slum stands in sharp contrast to Nairobi's many elegant homes and hotels. Kibera residents are mostly squatters, with no legal claim on the land even though many families have lived there for generations.

Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda flagged off the march, telling the crowd: "We must fight poverty together."

Among the participants in the march was Philip Kimani, an 18-year-old homeless man.

"I was working at a car wash and I was told to come here today, I was told I would learn something," he said, wearing a new World Social Forum T-shirt and a New York Yankees cap.

Demonstrators waved placards, many with a portrait of President Bush and the words, "World's Number One Terrorist." Other signs read, "Another world is possible, even for slum dwellers," and "Women are not property."

There also were reminders of Nairobi's serious social problems; dozens of children were seen sniffing glue on the streets and beggars were out looking for money and food.

"I think it's important to show the world that there is a very dynamic world movement that has players in Africa," said Paul Van Wyke, who works for the British charity Oxfam.

The World Social Forum was first held in Brazil in 2001 and coincides each year with the market-friendly World Economic Forum of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

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On the Net:

http://wsf2007.org