Enlaces News #9 (May 2005)

The World
Social Forum

The World Social Forum movement continued to grow in 2005 with over 155,000 registered participants, of whom 35,000 were youth and 6,823 received press credentials. More than 6,872 organizations representing over 151 countries participated in over 2500 activities. For more information on the WSF process, see: http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/ http://www.memoria-viva.org/fsm05/indexen.htm

The new WSF 2005 methodology stressed self-organized events rather than the more formally organized plenaries of years past. The resulting bonanza of workshops and discussions provided forums for organizations and participants to meet, strengthen networks, plan actions and create concrete proposals. This specificity had its pros and cons. While it allowed for deeper exploration and alliance-building, it did not provide the level of cross-fertilization that many participants had come to appreciate from previous Forums. This year’s Forum did create a space for proposals and alternatives where over 400 proposals have been posted .

In 2006, the World Social Forum will shift to a decentralized format. The regional Americas’ Social Forum will take place in Venezuela during the same time as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January. The 2007 World Social Forum will take place somewhere in Africa.