Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
During the year when it celebrates the 10th anniversary of its process, the World Social Forum will not have a single global centralized event. In 2010, the WSF will happen in a permanent way all year-round, with events and activities being held throughout the world. It will be a year in which the attentions of the WSF process will be drawn towards the global crisis, understood in all its aspects – economic, environmental, political, social, cultural, food, civilizatory.
Check out the complete list of scheduled events and activities
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/dinamic.php?pagina=eventos%202010%20EN
The WSF in 2010 aims at accumulating the analyzes, proposals and experiences of the social organizations and movements to face the multiple crises. The convergence space of this accumulation process will be the 2011 Dakar World Social Forum, the next centralized event of the process.
After the last IC meeting, held in October, in Montreal, the IC Liaison Group has released the Proposals to connect the 2010 events document [See below]. Among the presented proposals are the creation of a banner that will travel around the world accumulating messages and slogans of every event, the use of a common logo, the production of messages (written, visual, audiovisual, artistic) that express responses to the crises, among others.
In its 1st call to the organizers of the 2010 WSF events [See below], the WSF International Council states that “it is crucial for the WSF to collectively develop a process of working in 2010 that it is in synchrony with the rhythm of development of the effects of this crisis and the diverse emerging responses by movements across the globe.”
01.12.2009
First public version of WSF IC call to 2010 social forum events organisers.
Dear friends,
We understand that you will be organising a Social Forum in 2010.
We are writing to you as a follow up to decisions taken at the International Council meeting of the WSF held in Rabat,
Morocco, in May 2009. The IC meeting noted the profound impact of the emerging global crisis in the economic and
ecological spheres on peoples’ lives.
The meeting also stressed that it is crucial for the WSF to collectively develop a process of working in 2010 that is in
synchrony with the rhythm of development of the effects of this crisis and the diverse emerging responses by
movements across the globe.
It noted that a series of social forum events were being organized throughout 2010, which is an indicator of the vitality of
the WSF process worldwide, as a potentially powerful space for action towards another world radically distinct from the one
shaped by neoliberal globalization and entering now in a global crisis.
The IC proposed that these events could constitute a 2010 year round nearly continuously active “WSF 2010
calendar”, with one overall common identity, giving momentum to activities and actions related to the crisis, and
allowing a great flexibility of participation for global networks and smaller organisations alike.
It thus deliberated on ways in which the conjunction of those 2010 events could be seen as a inclusive process with a
global identity by organizations liable to participate in them, where to express both the impact of the global crisis on
people across the world and where to formulate the ways in which attempts by the global elite to pass on to the common
people the negative impact of the crisis are being resisted and ways in which new paradigms are being implemented.
This continuous possibility of participation in a succession of social forum events, by physical presence in such events or
from a distance (“expanded” mode), would indeed start a new phase of development of WSF process, as a continuous
catalyst for collective reflections and actions, decentralized and yet with an overall common identity.
In this perspective, the IC has proposed that there should be a global call with two parts:
– One call inviting movements and organisations to organize - in the respective programs of 2010 social forum events being
part of WSF process - activities for deliberating on the global crisis and also for forging common struggles in the
backdrop of the crisis;
– One call ( this present message is a first public version of it ) asking organisers of those 2010 social forums events to
provide a special moment/place/visibility for self-organized activities linked by their organizers to the global crisis,
and also to consider accommodating “expanded” participation to their event in order to give the maximum inclusiveness to
the WSF2010 process.
The IC has also proposed that those “crises related” activities in different forums be linked to each other through a common
slogan and a common logo.
A Working Group has been constituted by the IC: (see: http://openfsm.net/projects/wsfic-wg2010/project-home)
The group is working on different methodologies allowing organizers of crisis related activities to express solidarity
between them, coordinate them, and link them. It shall place a detailed plan before the next IC meeting in Montreal in
October (6-8) 2009.
One possible methodology is giving global visibility to those activities in a common global worldwide virtual space, in
parallel to, or in consequence to their registration in an event appearing in the WSF2010 calendar. Some linkage agreed
between those activities could be made visible, (more information on this will be sent very soon).
Another possible methodology is to promote “expansion” of the events and thus allow organisations that cannot have a
relevant number of delegates present in an event to hold expanded activities in their local town relating them to an
existing 2010 event and to the crisis. This would expand the wsf2010 process significantly and demonstrate it inclusiveness
beyond time availability and travel cost barriers (more information on expansion of social forum events is available at:
http://openfsm.net/projects/sfexintercom/project-home)
Now getting to concrete matter!
As per the WSF Charter, the IC (or any other entity) has no mandate to dictate the methodology or content of a particular
forum. However, given the urgency of the situation and the necessity to work together to offer to organisations
throughout the world a relevant common space where to face the present global crisis, we would encourage you as
organizer of an event to give a specific visibility to self organized activities in your forum that link with this global call
in 2010. and to consider “expanding” your forum , i.e. allowing registration of “expanded” activities away from the
centric event place.
We would also request you to share with us how you would like to do so.
For example, the USSF to be held in mid 2010 has deliberated on the possibility of setting aside a special day, inside the
Forum, dedicated to the global crisis.
You are warmly invited to share your ideas regarding how the linkages between crisis related activities held in different
events can be built.
We also request you to confirm, if possible at this stage, the dates and venue of your forum and who are the contact
people who can participate in the international WSF2010 coordinating working group. Please include all contact
details, so we can start sharing ideas and decisions regarding the global call.
Such information would be invaluable to us in publicizing a global continuous calendar of events for 2010.
In Solidarity
WSF IC 2010 Working Group.
forumsocialmundial.org.br
The WSF International Council Liaison Group announced proposals to link together events of 2010
30.11.2009
The World Social Forum Liaison Group announced on November 29 a letter with proposals to link together all the 2010 events from what has been discussed at the last IC meeting, held in October in Montreal, Canada. The letter is aimed especially to organizers of events and actions in 2010. Read below the complete text. Also check out the calendar of activities already scheduled for 2010.
TO: The organizers of WSF events in 2010, Members of Working Group on 2010 and WSF IC members
PROPOSALS ON HOW TO CONNECT THE 2010 WSF EVENTS
INFORMATION AND REQUESTS TO THE EVENT ORGANIZERS
During the WSF International Council meeting in Montreal, the Working Group on 2010 met twice, and proposed a plan of action which was accepted by IC.
Following this decision, the Liaison Group discussed how to implement the plan of action. Information can be found below.
In the spirit of creating a link and continuity between 2010 activities leading up to Dakar 2011, the LG is available to assist and cooperate in which ever way we can.
1. The Working Group on 2010 will include members of Liaison Group in order to cooperate and to create a link with the IC Commissions. We ask the organizers of each of the 2010 events to identify at least 2 persons to take part in the Working Group.
2. In a few days a short explanation of 2010 process and the list of the events will be ready. They will be sent by mail, and they will be put up on the first page of the website.
3. A common logo for 2010 will be presented by the WSF Office in due course.
4. The slogan/title of each the 2010 events will be collected. Organizers are requested to send it as soon as possible to fsmsite forumsocialmundial.org.br, in Sao Paulo office.
5. All these slogan/titles, together with “Another world is possible” will be displayed in a banner which will be prepared in Porto Alegre during the event in January.
6. The banner will go from one event to the following, according to the calendar of events.
7. A delegation of at least two persons of the previous event will bring the banner to the following forum, together with a message.
8. The messages should be accumulated from the motto "Our responses to the crises”. They are not compulsory and can be of various types, such as written statements, pictures, videos, artistic expressions etc. Each event can decide whether to do it and how it will be done. The final methodology must integrate what happened in 2010 to become visible in Dakar.
9. 2010 events’ organizers will create a space to receive the delegation, to provide visibility to the delegation, the banner and to the message. They will organize their own delegation to go to the following event.
10. Most of the debates in 2010 events worldwide will contain “our responses to the crises”. But in addition to the self organized activities debating on alternatives to the crises, the Forums and events are invited to devote to this issue a special day or special seminars and assemblies.
11. The Liaison Group will involve IC Methodology Commission to find a way to collect, summarize and make accessible in a useful way the proposals and alternatives coming from the debates.
12. Many organizing committees of 2010 events are willing to devote special attention in interconnecting their event with others and are planning to invite social actors and activists from other Social Forum processes. The LG and the Sao Paulo office, as well as the Expansion Commission, are ready to help whenever needed in creating contacts to facilitate this interchange.
13. In addition to the material collected by the LG and the Methodology commission (item 11) the banner, the slogans, the proposals and alternatives to the crises will arrive at the WSF in Dakar in 2011.
Greater Porto Alegre 10 years Social Forum announces program for the International Seminar
30.11.2009
The tables and some panelists’ names of the International Seminar “10 years later: challenges and proposals for another world possible” are already confirmed. The seminar will be part of the program of activities of the Greater Porto Alegre 10 years Social Forum, on January 25-29, 2010. Among the confirmed names are Boaventura de Souza Santos (Portugal), David Harvey (USA), Francisco Whitaker (Brazil), João Pedro Stédile (Brazil), Diana Senghor (Senegal), Immanuel Wallerstein (USA), Samir Amin (Egypt), Christophe Aguitton (France) e Virgíina Vargas (Peru).
The seminar activities will take place always in the morning, each day, at the Usina do Gasômetro, Porto Alegre. Check out the program of the debates:
January 25, Thursday:
“World Social Forum – Examining the last 10 years”
January 26, Friday:
“World conjuncture today”
January 27, Saturday:
“Elements of a new agenda I”
January 28, Sunday:
“Elements of a new agenda II”
January 29, Monday:
“Systematizing big issues and contributing to the World Social Forum process”
Besides the Seminar, the program of the Greater Porto Alegre 10 years Social Forum includes also self-organized activities, which will take place in the afternoon, and the tenth edition of the International Youth Camp, to be held in Novo Hamburgo. Registration is open from December the 1st to the 20th on the website http://www.acampamentofsm.org.br. Registration of the self-organized activities are being organized by the organizing committee of each participant city (Porto Alegre, Canoas, Sapucaia do Sul, São Leopoldo, Novo Hamburgo, Campo Bom e Sapiranga), and the registration deadline will be announced soon.
Other events are going to be held in the region at this time. On January 22-29 it will take place in Santa Maria and Canoas, the 1st Social Forum and the 1st Solidary Economy World Fair and on January 26-28 in São Leopoldo, the World Forum on Theology and Liberation. The Greater Porto Alegre 10 years Social Forum is part of the 2010 World Social Forum process, which is going to be decentralized, with events and activities to be held year round across the world.
Kpomassé, Madrid, Prague and Greater Porto Alegre are the first cities to host Social Forums in 2010
30.11.2009
Kpomassé, Madrid, Prague, Salvador and Greater Porto Alegre are among the cities that will start the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the World Social Forum process in 2010. The calendar of events will start in Greater Porto Alegre, with the 1st Solidary Economy Forum and the 1st Solidary Economy World Fair, on January 22-24, in Santa Maria. Right after those, on the 25th, the Greater Porto Alegre 10 years Social Forum will start. In the same region, it will take place, on January 26-28 the World Forum on Theology and Liberation in São Leopoldo. Still in Brazil, Salvador will host the Bahia Thematic Social Forum on January 29-31.
In the city of Kpomassé in Benin (Africa) it will take place on 28-31 the 2nd Atlantic Local Social Forum, whose main theme will be “the impacts of the world financial and food crises on African agriculture: citizen responses and alternatives”. About 1500 participants are being expected to participant. The first edition of the event, that gathered 1200 people, took place in 2008 in the city of Allada. Among the main objectives of the ALSF are “defense of positions and strategies by different organizations to struggle against the neoliberal economic policies effects and to consolidate the articulation among local social movements and the whole African Social Forum in order to fulfill the expectations of the 2011 Dakar WSF”.
In the European continent two events will take place in January: on 28-31 it will be held the 2010 Madrid World Social Forum, at the E.P.A. Patio Maravillas. This will be the third edition of the event in the Spanish capital city. Among the themes which will be discussed are: global crisis and alternatives; the environment; energy and climate; Europe; Latin America, Asia and Africa; social economy and fair trade; education, health, social movements, feminism, migrations, trade union struggles, State and political struggles; historical memory. In Czech Republic, three cities will host the Czech Social Forum on January 20-30: Praga, Brno and Usti nad Labem. The program of activities will include seminars, workshops, demonstrations and cultural events during the evening.
All over 2010, the World Social Forum process will take place in a decentralized manner with events and activities across the globe. The main objective of the events will be to sum up, from the analyzes and experiences of global civil society social movements and organizations, proposals to face the global crisis in all its dimensions – economic, environmental, political, food, energy, cultural etc. The convergence of all this process will happen in Dakar, Senegal, during the 2011 World Social Forum.
Service:
Greater Porto Alegre 10 years Social Forum
Date: January 25-29
Local: Porto Alegre, Canoas, Sapucaia do Sul, São Leopoldo, Novo Hamburgo, Campo Bom e Sapiranga – RS – Brazil
Contact info: fsm2010 yahoo.com.br
Site: http://www.fsm10.org
International Youth Camp
Date: January 18-28
Local: Novo Hamburgo – RS – Brazil
Contact info: gtmobilizaçãofsm2010 acampamentofsm.org
Site: http://www.acampamentofsm.org.br
1st Solidary Economy Social Forum and 1st Solidary Economy World Fair
Date and local: January 22-24, in Santa Maria; January 25-29, in Canoas – RS – Brazil.
Contact info: ecosol fsmecosol.org.br
Site: http://www.fsmecosol.org.br
World Forum on Theology and Liberation
Date: January 26-28
Local: São Leopoldo – RS - Brazil
Contact info: permanentsecretariat wftl.org
II Atlantic Local Social Forum
Where: Kpomassé, Benin
When: January 28-31
Contact info: Yoro Bi Ta Raymond: forumsocialbenin yahoo.fr / fosoloa yahoo.fr
Madrid World Social Forum 2010
Where: Madrid, Spain
When: January 28-31
Contact info: comunicacion fsmmadrid.org
Website: http://www.fsmmadrid.org
Czech Social Forum
Where: Prague, Brno, Usti nad Labem - Czech Republic
When: Januray 29-30
Contact info: Marek Hrubec - marek.hrubec gmail.com
Registration now open for the 1st Solidarity Economy Social Forum
17.12.2009
On January 22-24, it will be held in Santa Maria, Brazil, the 1st Solidarity Economy Social Forum and the 1st Solidarity Economy World Fair. Registration for activities can be made on the website http://www.fsmecosol.org.br, on the link “Inscrições”.
Those events will be part of the celebrations of 10th anniversary of the World Social Forum, which had Porto Alegre as its first host city. They have as main goal to present solidarity economy as a self-organized response of workers to the current world crisis. They have also the goal of turning Santa Maria into the center of new practices for Latin America, showing that “another economy happens and another world is possible”.
Registration of solidarity economy activities can be made for the Solidarity Economy World Fair in Santa Maria and Canoas, and for the 1st International Exhibition on Biodiversity. Registration of organizations, presentation of cultural activities, self-organized activities and individual participation can also be made for the Solidarity Economy Social Forum. The registration fee will be R$10,00 per individual participant.
On the website, groups can request for alternative lodging, which will be free of charge. But it is kindly asked that participants bring their own sleeping bags, mattresses, bedlinens and whatever they will need. Rooms and the gymnasium of the Irmão José Otão School will be available for lodging. The School is located close to the “Dom Ivo Lorscheiter” Solidarity Economy Reference Center, venue where activities of the Fair and the Forum will be held.
For more information:
Projeto Esperança/Cooesperança – Diocese de Santa Maria/RS
Website: http://www.fsmecosol.org.br and
http://www.esperancacooesperançca.org.br
E-mails: ecosol fsmecosol.org.br, projespcooesp terra.co
Detroit to Host 20,000 Activists from Social Movement Organizations at U.S. Social Forum in 2010
28.09.2009
The USSF will take place in June 22-26, 2010 at Cobo Hall and Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit. Other workshops and community art and culture programs will take place across the city. The USSF will convene social movements from across the United States and globally. Organizers are reaching out to young people, afro-americans, unionists, laid off and unorganized workers, welfare recipients, veterans, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, freedom fighters, collectives, and many others.
Next year’s Social Forum in Detroit is expected to draw upwards of 15,000-20,000 activists. It will build upon the first USSF gathering in Atlanta 2007 that drew an estimated 12,000-15,000 people. Already, committees and working groups are meeting in Detroit and around the country to prepare for next year’s forum.
Key aims are to create an open space and a process for creating movement convergence and coordination, raise awareness of social justice issues, provide opportunities to share experiences, and discuss strategies that create social change and solutions to the problems facing people across our many struggles, sectors, regions, and diversity.
“Detroit is ground zero for the economic crisis facing millions of people, not only here in Michigan, but across the nation,“says Maureen Taylor, a USSF staff organizer and Chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO).”We are really pleased to host this historic event and we’re sure that what happens in Detroit will have a huge impact not only here but elsewhere“.”This is a large scale and unique opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences, shed light on social injustices, and build on community efforts to create real change", stated William Copeland, a USSF staff organizer and member of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC).
USSF Detroit 2010 will also mark the 10 year anniversary of the World Social Forum process and highlight the international connections of the USSF to a broader global process.
Information about the Detroit Local Committee USSF activities can be obtained by calling: 877-515-USSF or emailing DetroitInfo USSF2010.org.
For more information about the US Social Forum, visit the USSF 2010 website at: USSF2010.org
* Info from Detroit Local Committee USSF
2011 World Social Forum organizers held a preparatory seminar in Dakar
30.11.2009
On November 16-18, it was held in Dakar, Senegal, the first preparatory seminar for the 2011 World Social Forum. About 50 people attended it in order to debate, among other things, the methodology, the content and the strategies for the future event. The international conjuncture and the economic crisis were also discussed. The reason was because the 2011 WSF is being thought as a privileged space to where those experiences from the process which has started in 2009 and will go through 2010 will converge. This process is aimed at searching alternatives to the global crisis.
International guests, especially from Brazil, India and Europe have contributed to the debate with their experiences from having organized former Forums. Most of participants, however, came from Africa, which shows the engagement of a great number of local organizations and social movements in the process of building the 2011 WSF. The organizing commission has already started to work divided into internal thematic commissions. The mobilization is being organized together with the International Council Expansion Commission, and also the “diaspora” thematic, which will be central during the debates of the Dakar 2011 WSF.
Two days before the seminar, the African Social Forum Council (ASF) has met in order to discuss, among other things, the Pan-African mobilization process and the creation of an expanded Secretariat for the Dakar WSF, taking into consideration the regional and thematic diversity of the continent. Besides that, it was also debated the organization of several thematic and regional Forums throughout 2010 across Africa, which will take part in the WSF process calendar of activities.
For more information, please access: www.africansocialforum.org
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