Tag Archives: WSF2024

A new start for the World Social Forum

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by Tord Bjork, 23.02.2024*

A new start for the World Social Forum

On the surface, things look very good. Trees are covering more and more areas. In pictures from above, the Himalayan valleys are green, two-thirds forest. But 90 per cent are conifers. Below them there is hardly any vegetation, biodiversity is being lost, the soil is becoming more and more sterile, dry, unusable and unable to store water. The Himalayas are rapidly becoming what is known as a green desert. There is also less and less snow. This is accelerating the melting of the glaciers.

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World Social Forum in Nepal 2024 (fact box)

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The WSF in Nepal on 15-19 February was the 16th time the meeting was held. 18000 registered participants took part in 400 activities from over 1100 organisations. The organisers estimate that people from 98 countries participated and that 50,000 people passed through the Forum during the meeting days. The march on the opening day was attended by 12,000 to 15,000 people. Participants came primarily from Nepal and neighbouring countries in South Asia, mainly India but also Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka … Continue reading →

International compromise agreed in Tunis December 2022 (fact box)

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International compromise agreed in Tunis December 2022 one, and if there is interest several assemblies, bringing together different popular movements could be established as permanent features of the global WSF family. They can make statements in their own name during the WSF and on their own mandate between meetings. The first of these is the WSF World Assembly of Struggles and Resistance of WSF, which had a small beginning before and during the WSF in Kathmandu. Several other thematic World … Continue reading →

The International Committee (fact box) and a conflict

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The elected board the International Committee  The WSF is governed by the International Committee which consists of many of the original Brazilian initiators and organisations that are elected if they are active internationally. Conflict between Open Space and a forum that takes decisions. One conflict that has hampered the WSF is between groups who want the forum to be able to make decisions and those who have favored a strict interpretation of what is meant by open space. At a … Continue reading →

Guidelines adopted in Porto Alegre (fact box)

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Declaration adopted in Porto Alegre The WSF is guided by a declaration adopted in Porto Alegre that seeks alternatives to imperialism, capitalism, patriarchalism and a better relationship between man and nature. The declaration favours what is called an open space where no decisions are made in the name of all participants. Popular movements and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can participate, but parties and armed groups such as the Zapatista EZLN in Mexico cannot, even though the Zapatistas were the unifying force … Continue reading →

World Social Forum (fact box)

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World Social Forum The WSF started in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil in 2001 with an estimated 15000 participants as a parallel forum to the World Economic Forum in Davos. The first time the meeting was held outside Brazil was the fourth time in Mumbai, India in 2004, this time with 150,000 participants. Since then, the meeting has been held in Venezuela, Mali, Pakistan, Kenya, Senegal, Tunisia twice and several times again in Brazil. The first and so far only … Continue reading →