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57-703: The Mediterranean Social Forum (FSmed) is the first interregional Social Forum , created between movements from Europe , Maghreb and Mediterranean Middle East . FSmed was established in 2001. This organization-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Social Forum The World Social Forum can be considered a visible manifestation of global civil society , bringing together non governmental organizations , advocacy campaigns, and formal and informal social movements seeking international solidarity . The World Social Forum prefers to define itself as "an open space – plural, diverse, non-governmental and non-partisan – that stimulates

114-466: A choice. What is your choice? What is your vision of the world?" Another one of the founders of the WSF, Cándido Grzybowski has said of the annual meetings, "The numerous recent crises are expressions of the contradictions and limitations of the form of global capitalism that has been imposed on humanity and the earth. The assertion that "another world is possible" is now an absolute necessity." Since 2001,

171-466: A constitutional one, a republic if only they are protected. And what is their principle, whose protector they always 'love'? Not that of labour", rather it is "interest-bearing possession ... labouring capital, therefore ... labour certainly, yet little or none at all of one's own, but labour of capital and of the—subject labourers." French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon opposed government privilege that protects capitalist, banking and land interests, and

228-470: A product of the State, within which the only thing that is being pushed forward is profit, good or badly acquired. And so to fight against capitalism is a pointless task, since be it State capitalism or Enterprise capitalism, as long as Government exists, exploiting capital will exist. The fight, but of consciousness, is against the State. Within anarchism there emerged a critique of wage slavery , which refers to

285-456: A profit (such as high-pressure advertisement); thereby creating rather than satisfying economic demand. Socialists argue that capitalism consists of irrational activity, such as the purchasing of commodities only to sell at a later time when their price appreciates, rather than for consumption, even if the commodity cannot be sold at a profit to individuals in need; they argue that making money , or accumulation of capital, does not correspond to

342-429: A situation perceived as quasi- voluntary slavery , where a person's livelihood depends on wages , especially when the dependence is total and immediate. It is a negatively connoted term used to draw an analogy between slavery and wage labor by focusing on similarities between owning and renting a person. The term wage slavery has been used to criticize economic exploitation and social stratification , with

399-591: Is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism . In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system , such as socialism or communism . Anti-capitalism was widespread among workers in the United States in the 1900s and 1910s , and Colorado was especially known as a center of anti-capitalist labor movements in that era. Socialism advocates public or direct worker ownership and administration of

456-402: Is a spook" which "lives by the grace of law" and it "becomes 'mine' only by the effect of the law". In other words, private property exists purely "through the protection of the State, through the State's grace." Recognising its need for state protection, Stirner argued that "[i]t need not make any difference to the 'good citizens' who protects them and their principles, whether an absolute King or

513-605: Is an annual international event dedicated to countering capitalist globalization through networking of attending organizations. According to historian Gary Gerstle , the ideological space for anti-capitalism in the United States shrank significantly with the end of the Cold War and the globalization of capitalism, forcing the left to "redefine their radicalism in alternative terms" by heavily focusing on multiculturalism and partisan culture war issues, which "turned out to be those that

570-449: Is largely organized via Northern donors and their NGOs. Mngxitama also describes how popular organizations in the global South are systematically marginalized or included in a deeply subordinated manner. Many grassroots movements in the global South boycott the forum and the NGOs that gate-keep participation in the forum and some actively oppose it as just one more space of domination. There

627-519: Is that you are hired slaves instead of block slaves." Goldman believed that the economic system of capitalism was incompatible with human liberty. "The only demand that property recognizes," she wrote in Anarchism and Other Essays , "is its own gluttonous appetite for greater wealth, because wealth means power; the power to subdue, to crush, to exploit, the power to enslave, to outrage, to degrade." She also argued that capitalism dehumanized workers, "turning

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684-515: The Middle Ages , was founded on an act of robbery as massive as the earlier feudal conquest of the land. It has been sustained to the present by continual state intervention to protect its system of privilege without which its survival is unimaginable." Carson coined the pejorative term "vulgar libertarianism", a phrase that describes the use of a free market rhetoric in defense of corporate capitalism and economic inequality . According to Carson,

741-584: The Movimento dos Sem-Terra and the World Social Forum are not well known. The WSF has, especially in recent years, been strongly criticised for replacing popular movements with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A delegation from the South Africa -based Abahlali baseMjondolo criticised the event's 2009 iteration as "dominated by" non-governmental organizations. The group also argued in 2007 that

798-479: The United Nations has had a presence at the WSF through UNESCO , showing the institutional credibility achieved by the forum, seen by UNESCO as a "prime opportunity for dialogue and a laboratory of ideas for the renewal of public policies" through "critical reflection on the future of societies we want to create and for elaborating proposals in search of solidarity, justice, peace and human rights". The third WSF

855-479: The means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals, with an egalitarian method of compensation. Socialists argue that the accumulation of capital generates waste through externalities that require costly corrective regulatory measures. They also point out that this process generates wasteful industries and practices that exist only to generate sufficient demand for products to be sold at

912-417: The state has also transferred wealth to the wealthy by subsidizing organizational centralization, in the form of transportation and communication subsidies. He believes that Tucker overlooked this issue due to Tucker's focus on individual market transactions, whereas Carson also focuses on organizational issues. Carson holds that "capitalism, arising as a new class society directly from the old class society of

969-460: The 1930s, the Frankfurt School, led by thinkers such as Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer created the philosophical movement of critical theory . Later, Critical theorist Jürgen Habermas noted that the universality of modern worldviews posed a threat to marginalized perspectives outside of western rationality. While Critical Theory emphasized the social issues stemming from capitalism with

1026-569: The Forum, "We must state it clearly. We must say to President Bush that we do not agree with the way he controls the world. We must tell him that he has to govern with his mind, not with might." The fifth World Social Forum 2005 was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil between 26 January and 31 January. There were 155,000 registered participants at the Forum, with most coming from Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Uruguay, and France. A number of participants in

1083-598: The Global Anti-War Movement , an idea that originated from the Asian Social Forum in November 2003, and broadly coalesced in response to the invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003. The Assembly had few activists from the United States, but overwhelmingly tried to articulate that they opposed the policy, and not the country itself. The former director-general of UNESCO , Federico Mayor Zaragoza , said at

1140-660: The United States Social Forum during June 22–26. Regional forums have taken place in the Southwest, Northwest, Northeast, Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States. The first Canadian Social Forum took place in June 2010. Most, though not all, social forums adhere to the WSF Charter of Principles drawn up by the World Social Forum. The goal of these forums is to decentralize and allow far more people to engage in

1197-714: The World Economic Forum. The World Social Forum first met in 2001, but it had its roots in Latin American activism, namely the encuentro, a meeting which emphasizes dialogue and exchange of ideas among activists. Some of the founders of the WSF, were part of the First International Encuentro for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism in 1996, and decided to expand the idea and make it a global forum for activists of all stripes opposing hegemonic globalization and neoliberalism . It has also been suggested that

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1254-711: The World Social Forum took place in Tunis from 23 to 28 March 2015. It led to the creation of the Internet Social Forum . The fifteen edition of the World Social Forum took place in Montreal from 9 to 14 August 2016. It was a multilingual event which featured organizations from around the world. The sixteenth edition of the World Social Forum took place in Salvador, Bahia , Brazil , from March 13 to 17, 2018. Having representatives of 120 countries. The 2021 World Social Forum

1311-590: The World Social Forum was another decentralized affair, with about 35 national, regional and local forums taking place across the world. In Porto Alegre , the flagship space for the WSF, events and speakers were held from January 25–29, entitled "FSM 10 Years: Greater Porto Alegre". The big event held in Porto Alegre was the International Seminar "10 Years Later: Challenges and proposals for another possible world", which featured over 70 intellectuals from around

1368-422: The accumulation or acquisition of property (and any form of coercion that led to it) which he believed hampers competition and keeps wealth in the hands of the few. The Spanish individualist anarchist Miguel Giménez Igualada saw: capitalism [as] an effect of government; the disappearance of government means capitalism falls from its pedestal vertiginously...That which we call capitalism is not something else but

1425-471: The advent of the Industrial Revolution , thinkers such as Proudhon and Marx elaborated the comparison between wage labor and slavery in the context of a critique of societal property not intended for active personal use, Luddites emphasized the dehumanization brought about by machines, while later American anarchist Emma Goldman famously denounced wage slavery by saying: "The only difference

1482-436: The allocation of inputs) until the role of the capitalist becomes redundant. With no need for capital accumulation and a class of owners, private property in the means of production is perceived as being an outdated form of economic organization that should be replaced by a free association of individuals based on public or common ownership of these socialized assets. Socialists view private property relations as limiting

1539-586: The beginnings of the World Social Forum originated in the Battle for Seattle November 1999, where anti-globalization activists protested a meeting of the World Trade Organization 's latest trade negotiations. One of the originators of the World Social Forum, Oded Grajew , of the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility, said in an interview with InMotion Magazine in 2004, "Then I had

1596-492: The bigger and wealthier NGOs having far more space to talk and lead the events. Raúl Zibechi argues that there is a "crisis" of the World Social Forum in that it has been "weakened" as it has been "taken over" by "those who were most capable of 'leading' assemblies, professionals from universities and NGOs." South African politician Andile Mngxitama sees the World Social Forum as mostly dominated by Northern NGOs, donors and activists, and argues that Southern representation

1653-540: The connections that made the global day of action on February 15, 2003 so successful. The global day of action was an international protest attended by an estimated 12 million people in 700 cities across 60 countries protesting the Bush Administration 's plans to invade and occupy Iraq. At the time, the New York Times called international public opinion a superpower to counter the United States. The fourth WSF

1710-552: The decentralized debate, reflection, proposal building, experiences exchange and alliances among movements and organizations engaged in concrete action towards a more solidary, democratic and fair world; a permanent space and process to build alternatives to neoliberalism ." The World Social Forum is held by members of the alter-globalization movement (also referred to as the global justice movement ) who come together to coordinate global campaigns, share and refine organizing strategies, and inform each other about movements from around

1767-617: The event, to raise the issue of stateless peoples, and the plights that they face. The Escarré International Centre for Ethnic Minorities and Nations helped to organize the tent for the Collective Rights of Stateless Peoples, who are marginalized in an international system that recognizes only states as political units. Various stateless ethnic groups represented were the Basques , Kurds , Palestinians , Roma , Tibetans , Mapuche , Saharawi and Australian Aborigines . The tenth edition of

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1824-675: The former seen primarily as unequal bargaining power between labor and capital (particularly when workers are paid comparatively low wages, e.g. in sweatshops ), and the latter as a lack of workers' self-management , fulfilling job choices and leisure in an economy. Libertarian socialists believe if freedom is valued, then society must work towards a system in which individuals have the power to decide economic issues along with political issues. Libertarian socialists seek to replace unjustified authority with direct democracy , voluntary federation, and popular autonomy in all aspects of life, including physical communities and economic enterprises. With

1881-756: The forum released the Porto Alegre Manifesto . Since Article 6 of the World Social Forum's Charter of Principles bars the event from attempting to represent all participants through formal statements, the Porto Alegre Manifesto was released on behalf of 19 activists. This 'Group of 19' includes Aminata Traoré , Adolfo Pérez Esquivel , Eduardo Galeano , José Saramago , François Houtart , Boaventura de Sousa Santos , Armand Mattelart , Roberto Savio , Riccardo Petrella , Ignacio Ramonet , Bernard Cassen , Samir Amin , Atilio Borón , Samuel Ruiz García , Tariq Ali , Frei Betto , Emir Sader , Walden Bello , and Immanuel Wallerstein . The sixth World Social Forum

1938-693: The global political movement called the New Left explored what liberation entailed through social activism on behalf of these identities. Therefore, socialist identifying movements critical of capitalism extended their reach beyond purely economic considerations and became involved in anti-war and civil rights movements. Later this postmodern activism centered around identities regarding ethnicity, gender, orientation, and race would influence more direct anti-capitalist movements. New critiques of capitalism also developed in accordance with modern concerns. Anti-globalization and alter-globalization oppose what they view as

1995-493: The idea. Why not create the World Social Forum, as we have the World Economic Forum, speaking about the people in the world? Why not have the World Social Forum—the social is more important than the economic—to have a space to show that we can have an alternative? We have choice. This is not the only way you can see the world, globalization. We have another way to see it. And, at the same time, force people to look, to make

2052-602: The individual products of their labor. As such, they see a distinction between the concepts of "private property" and " personal possession ". Whereas "private property" grants an individual exclusive control over a thing whether it is in use or not, and regardless of its productive capacity, "possession" grants no rights to things that are not in use. In addition to individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker 's "big four" monopolies (land, money, tariffs, and patents), Kevin Carson argues that

2109-415: The intention towards liberating humanity, it did not directly offer an alternative economic model. Instead its analysis shifted attention to the reinforcement of existing power dynamics through statecraft and a complicit citizenry. In turn, Critical Theory inspired postmodern philosophers such as Michel Foucault to conceptualize how we form identities through social interaction. During the 1960s and 1970s

2166-704: The most globally representative WSF so far. It was criticized as being 'an NGO fair' and movements of the poor in Kenya and South Africa mounted vigorous protests against some of the NGOs that attended and, in their view, dominated the forum in the name of the African poor. The ninth World Social Forum took place in the Brazilian city of Belém , located in the Amazon rainforest, between January 27 and February 1, 2009. About 1,900 indigenous people, representing 190 ethnic groups attended

2223-443: The open forum atmosphere of the World Social Forum without needing very much money for travel expenses. All of the various social forums in this mold include international attendees and are in no way specifically focused on the problems of a single region of country. On January 26, 2001 a number of activists with Brazil's Movimento dos Sem-Terra (MST) reacted in protest to the growing role of Monsanto in global agribusiness , which

2280-691: The organisational background has taken place since a decade ago when critical voices were raised. As of 2020 , preparatory meetings for the 2021 World Social Forum were run by a younger generation of female and male organisers while the founders (Oded Grajew and Chico Whiteker) usually did not intervene. Communicating languages were mainly Spanish and Portuguese (because of many Latin American organisers), and also English and French. New individuals, social groups and movements were invited to co-organise events in 2021; new ecological movements run by young generations, for example. Anti-capitalism Anti-capitalism

2337-920: The organizing of many regional social forums , including the Americas Social Forum , European Social Forum , the Asian Social Forum , the Mediterranean Social Forum and the Southern Africa Social Forum . There are also many local and national social forums, such as the Norwegian Social Forum , Iraqi Social Forum, Italian Social Forum , India Social Forum, Liverpool Social Forum and the Boston Social Forum . The first-ever United States Social Forum took place in Atlanta in June 2007. In 2010 Detroit , Michigan , hosted

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2394-450: The participating NGOs would sometimes compete with popular movements for access to the forum and for influence there. The 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya was criticized as an "NGO fair" by Firoze Manji , as he believed that the large number of international NGOs crowded out less formal groups of activists. He also asserted that not all the attendees were properly represented, with

2451-440: The potential of productive forces in the economy. Early socialists ( Utopian socialists and Ricardian socialists ) criticized capitalism for concentrating power and wealth within a small segment of society, and for not utilising available technology and resources to their maximum potential in the interests of the public. For the influential German individualist anarchist philosopher Max Stirner , " private property

2508-548: The producer into a mere particle of a machine, with less will and decision than his master of steel and iron." Noam Chomsky contends that there is little moral difference between chattel slavery and renting one's self to an owner or "wage slavery". He feels that it is an attack on personal integrity that undermines individual freedom. He holds that workers should own and control their workplace. Many libertarian socialists argue that large-scale voluntary associations should manage industrial manufacture, while workers retain rights to

2565-499: The satisfaction of demand. Private ownership imposes constraints on planning, leading to inaccessible economic decisions that result in immoral production, unemployment and a tremendous waste of material resources during crisis of overproduction . According to socialists, private property in the means of production becomes obsolete when it concentrates into centralized, socialized institutions based on private appropriation of revenue (but based on cooperative work and internal planning in

2622-647: The sweeping neoliberal and pro-corporate capitalism that spread internationally in the wake of the Soviet Union's fall. They are particularly critical of international financial institutions and regulations such as the IMF , WTO , and free trade agreements . In response, they promote the autonomy of sovereign people and the importance of environmental concerns as priorities over international market participation. Notable examples of contemporary anti-globalist movements include Mexico's EZLN . The World Social Forum , began in 2002,

2679-503: The term is derived from the phrase "vulgar political economy", which Karl Marx described as an economic order that "deliberately becomes increasingly apologetic and makes strenuous attempts to talk out of existence the ideas which contain the contradictions [existing in economic life]." Karl Marx saw capitalism as a historical stage, once progressive but which would eventually stagnate due to internal contradictions and would eventually be followed by socialism. Marx claimed that capitalism

2736-624: The world and their particular issues. The World Social Forum is explicit about not being a representative of all of those who attend and thus does not publish any formal statements on behalf of participants. It tends to meet in January at the same time as its "great capitalist rival", the World Economic Forum 's Annual Meeting in Davos , Switzerland . This date is consciously picked to promote alternative answers to world economic problems in opposition to

2793-611: The world. One of the notable regional forums was the US Social Forum held in Detroit, Michigan and attended by about 18,000 people. The 2011 World Social Forum was hosted in Dakar, Senegal and ran from 06 to 11 February. The 2012 World Social Forum was hosted in Porto Alegre, Brazil and ran from 24 to 30 January. The thirteen edition of the World Social Forum took place in Tunis from 26 to 30 March 2013. The fourteenth edition of

2850-686: Was "polycentric", held in January 2006 in Caracas , Venezuela and Bamako , Mali , and in March 2006, in Karachi , Pakistan . The Forum in Pakistan was delayed to March because of the Kashmir earthquake that had recently occurred in the area. The seventh World Social Forum was held in Nairobi , Kenya in January 2007. There were 66,000 registered attendees, and 1,400 participating organizations from 110 countries, making it

2907-507: Was again held in Porto Alegre, in January 2003. There were many parallel workshops, including, for example the Life After Capitalism workshop, which proposed focused discussion on anti-capitalism and participative possibilities for different aspects of social, political, economic, communication structures. Among the speakers was American linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky . Some credit this meeting of World Social Forum for

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2964-615: Was also criticism of the way that CelTel had exclusive rights at the Kenyan event, the virtual monopoly of a local hotel offering food at rates that the average Kenyan could not afford, and the physical and financial exclusion of local business. A delegation from Abahlali baseMjondolo criticised the World Social Forum, following their attendance in 2009, for being too focused on Latin America, and for failing to provide delegations with adequate translational services. A demographic transformation of

3021-495: Was considered by the group to be unethically using their seed patents to harm the rights of rural peoples, tore up an experimental plot of transgenic crops in Não-me-Toque, 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Porto Alegre, where the World Social Forum was taking place at the time. Three days later, Jose Bove, a French citizen, was arrested by Brazilian authorities as the World Social Forum ended on January 29, 2001. Connections between

3078-450: Was held in Mumbai , India, from 16 January to 21 January 2004. It was the first meeting of the World Social Forum held outside Brazil and its success has encouraged the WSF to expand in scope across the global South . Some credit it with inspiring the Asian Social Forum held in November of that year. The attendance was expected to be 75,000 and it shot over by thousands. The cultural diversity

3135-536: Was hosted virtually from 23 to 31 January 2021. Representatives from 144 countries attended the forum, with 1,371 organizations participating. The digital events attracted over 78,000 visits. The 2022 World Social Forum was held in a hybrid format, with in-person events in Mexico City , and virtual events . Preliminary data from the World Social Forum reported attendance from 500 organizations, 2,080 participants, and over 31,230 online visitors. The WSF has prompted

3192-537: Was nothing more than a necessary stepping stone for the progression of man, which would then face a political revolution before embracing the classless society . Inspired by Marxist thought, the Frankfurt School in Germany was established in 1923, with the purpose of analyzing the superstructure. Marx defined the superstructure as the social stratification and mores reflecting the economic base of capitalism. Through

3249-478: Was one notable aspect of the forum. A notable decision that was taken was the stand on free software . One of the key speakers at the WSF 2004 was Joseph Stiglitz . In contrast to earlier meetings, which had focused more on Euro-centric political intellectualism, the 2004 meeting included marches, as well as colorful and lively demonstrations. The 2004 meeting also saw the convening of the General Assembly of

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