The NGOs, social and political activists and the high level delegates who had gathered under the World Social Forum banner in Karachi, went home last week after indulging in a frenzy of activity for six days. This “open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals and free exchange of experiences”, saw big and small organizations and activist groups dissenting against globalization and condemning imperialist governments, international financial institutes and corporate structures unequivocally.

While the polycentric event in Karachi totally fell in step with the designed charter of the WSF International Council, it also brought out some stark realities regarding Karachi’s social fabric and where its population’s commitments lie.

The over 70 per cent of the city’s population comprising the lower middle and poor category were neither in the know of what a social forum is nor could they have been bothered about world issues of militancy, imperialism and colonization of civil societies. While the WSF actually is for these very people to vent their grievances against society, Karachi in particularly remains a starkly divided society where the majority is marginalized.

And hence, the man on the street - barring those residing within the vicinity of WSF venue - had actually no clue what the forum was about, how it could affect his little complicated world or whether it was important to his scheme of things in the future. For him, the nine to nine working day consumes life to a degree where there is no time left even for interacting with the loved ones, so why bother about a social forum?

But perhaps for that very reason one should celebrate the event. That at least it was allowed space and opportunity. And even if the local attendance remained low, visitors from Badin, Sukkur and other immediate regions got a chance to mingle and hear their problems talked about by NGO activists who were primarily responsible for bringing them over. But stringent critics comment that most of the issues chanted against were not even remotely connected with the common man’s social change like the Kashmir and Palestine slogans or those of various foreign-funded NGOs including women’s issues as some of these are the NGOs and political parties’ indigenous mandates often exploited to an unnecessary degree with not even a total conviction of ever seeing an about-face.

However, those who did come, whether they were from other countries - over 30,000 people were expected to attend from all over the world, with some delegates coming from as far away as Venezuela, Canada, South Africa and Palestine - or from within Pakistan, the visiting delegates were thrilled to simply experience the atmosphere of free thought and free speech and imbibe the inter-cultural spirit. And despite the logistic support being dismal in many areas, the heat and dust ruining the air, they happily woke up all five mornings for more interaction as if they were quenching a prolonged thirst.

The WSF organizing committee nonetheless needs to seriously re-examine the event in a strictly critical manner regarding the logistics as well as the social disconnect. While it is to be presumed that such large scale events will always have their share of mishaps and shortfalls, the probability unfortunately increases 10-fold when Pakistani psyche comes into the picture. With our organizational skills running below zero, it should be presumed that most realities will hit us after the event, which is what resulted in some of the glitches which could have been avoided if only forethought had been applied.

For one, sanitary conditions were appalling and insufficient. With large masses expected to visit the venue, facilities should have been extensive with the sanitation department applied to for a continuous cleaning process. Unfortunately, despite safai being nisf imaan sanitation is the least important factor for Pakistani Muslims. But it is not so for foreigners for whom this issue assumed nightmarish proportions and who did not have clean homes to go to. In fact, one delegate commented that “there was no water at all for three days in the camp he was staying in. There were no trash cans visible anywhere either, in fact, I ended up carrying my empty tea mug to the car after carrying it for two hours and refusing to dump it on the ground like fellow ‘Forumites’ were forced to do.”

Secondly, the programme of different sessions remained ambiguous and mismanaged till the very end. The schedule was not available till the second day and that too had timing errors. And as such, many plenary sessions remained poorly attended mostly because of lack of information. In fact, some session organizers were seen humbly requesting passersby to enter into their dens. With technology having reached phenomenal heights, there could have been large screens flashing programmes in progress and oncoming schedules. With the mapping of the tents and their situation also rather haphazard, visitors were unable to reach their desired presentations.

Karachi, as one of the venues for the polycentric WSF event was confirmed last June, but the WSF Secretariat did not start work until October. And that work too was excruciatingly slow-paced as we excel in bureaucratic haggling. In fact, till three days prior to the event, one visitor to the secretariat had actually written off the entire event seeing the chaos and confusion that ruled. But, true to Pakistani mentality of always rising to the occasion at the nth hour, the affair which was gigantic in its proportions as well as implications, did come to pass and despite its few failings was successful on a broader level.

For starters, the forum woke up Pakistanis - be they a minuscule number - from their complacent slumber. The lethargy which has seeped into our system to a level where we have accepted injustices and found excuses for them instead of speaking out, was shaken a bit. And then it gave us a hint of dignity, that our existence matters and we too can be part of a social change, even if it has a long wait.

Once the disconnect of our society is explored by such a social event, the careworn citizens of this mega-city might find themselves integrating on a better level. And who knows, our collective voice might eventually prevail in the anti-imperialist moves, and if not today, than maybe many forums later, we might find our local masses also empowered enough to understand the need for dissent and also to have strength enough to attend and voice their concerns.