Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Following the first “Global Day of Action”, which took place on January 26^th, and after 7 years of existence, the World Social Forum is in debate. A political and strategical debate focused on the process of the FSM, the international situation as well as the anti-globalization’s movement as a whole. What possibilities? What challenges?

Here, you’ll find some of the contributions that feed the debate. Among others and as an important stake, these issues will be raised during the next International Council (IC) which will take place in Abuja (Nigeria) from March the 31^st to April the 3^rd 2008.

To prepare this International Council (IC), the “Strategy” commission worked out an inquiry. That inquiry was build up to facilitate the debate, it asked analyses of the current international situation as well as critics about the possibilities and the challenges of the “process” World Social Forum.

The inquiry has been sent to the members of the IC to gather their contributions before the meeting in Abuja. Their contributions are available here, not all of them in English. A series of complementary contributions can be found below the IC members contributions. The Global Day of Action evaluation draft ( 26 of January 2008) is also available.

IC members contributions

 English

Eric Toussaint (President of CADTM Belgium) :
From Resistance to Alternatives

Vinod Raina :
Do Space and Action have to be Contradictory? - Towards an inclusive WSF strategy

Rogate Mshana (Consejo mundial de las iglesias) :
Views about the future of WSF

Walden Bello (Focus on the Global South) :
The Forum as “Moment” (Focus on the global south)

Jubilee South :
Submission to the strategy debate of WSF

Jason Nardi et Pierre George :
Strategic importance of fostering intercommunication using internet

Maria Luisa Mendonça (Network for Social Justice and Human Rights) :
About the strategy
debate

Pierre Beaudet (Alternativas internacionales) :
Looking at the long march ahead of us. The WSF and our challenges

 Spanish

Carles Riera y Vanessa Marx :
Estrategias: el debate necesario para el futuro del FSM

Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres :
– Dónde el Cambio es necesario

Ariel Dacal Díaz y Joel Suárez Rodes (Centro Memorial Dr. Martin. Luther King Jr, Cuba) :
A dónde va el FSM o a dónde llevaremos el FSM

Chico Whitaker (Conferencia de los obispos de Brasil) :
Reflexión sobre el Guión de la Comisión de Estrategia

François Houtart (Foro Mundial de las Alternativas) :
Contribución para el debate estratégico del Foro Social Mundial

ALAI (Agencia Latinoamericana de información) :
Telegrama para el debate de estrategia

 French

Victor Nzuzi (NAD-CADTM Congo RDC) :

Pierre Rousset (Europe solidaire sans frontières) :
Contribution au débat sur le processus du FSM
dans son étape actuelle

Francine Mestrum (Attac Vlaanderen, Belgique) :
Préparer le débat sur la stratégie du FSM

Other texts (general texts, interviews)

Below, english contributions to the debate, you may find some contributions in other languages on WSF website.

Walden Bello :
The Forum at the Crossroads

Chico Whitaker :
Crossroads do not always close roads (Reflection in continuity to Walden
Bello)

Thomas Ponniah :
The Contribution of the U.S. Social Forum: a reply to Whitaker and Bello’s
debate on the Open space

Boaventura de Souza Santos :
The WSF and the Global Left

Roberto Savio :
Where the world is heading Failures and prospects up to 2025

FASE :
Commitment with a maintainable and democratic Amazon

Jai Sen :
Is the World Social Forum approaching a point of crisis? A note towards a debate on the WSF Global Day of Action

Chico Whitaker :
Answering CACIM’s Call for an WSF Evaluation

Gustave Massiah :
World Developments and “Alter-Globalism”

Janet Conway :
Transnational Feminisms and the World Social Forum: Encounters and Transformations in Antiglobalization Spaces

Marcos Terena :
Peoples and the World Social Forum

Peter Waterman :
Labour still has to match up with the WSF

Sven Giegold :
Do we need a postaltermondialism? Report from the WSF 2008 in
Paris

Seminar in Paris, January 26^th 2008 :
Antiglobalization and Post Anti-globalization movements – Closing Appeal (sent by Bernard
Cassen)

Naomi Klein’s Conference in the Aubry seminary in Chiapas :
Mexico, about Shock Capitalism and Movements (in audio, source: Enlace Zapatista)

Enrique Ortiz Flores :
Social production of habitat: marginal option or reality-transforming
strategy?

Anti-Apartheid Wall :
Campaign Contribution to the Strategy Debate

Alex Callinicos and Chris Nineham :
At an impasse? Anti-capitalism and the social forums today
/(interview to IPS)

Aminata Dramane Traoré :
“If WSF didn’t exist, ik would need be created”
(interview to IPS)

João Pedro Stedile :
“The WSF Has to Agree On Common Actions Against Common Enemies”
(interview to IPS)

Roberto Sávio :
“Everybody leaves the Forum happier, wiser and stronger” (interview to
IPS)

Cândido Grzybowski :
Davos has lost its arrogance (interview to IPS)

Anuradha Mittal :
We Now Need Accomplishments (interview to IPS)