arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Dear Friends

From August 13 to 15, some 80 representatives of networks and organizations on the International Council (IC) of the World Social Forum met in Bangkok, Thailand, to discuss progress on issues relating to the WSF process and, more specifically, to the methodology to be adopted at WSF 2003 in Porto Alegre. The basis on which the various activities are to be organized was approved, although the details on some points not yet defined in the programming will be submitted to the IC by a 15-member working group
at its next meeting (to be held on the occasion of the Europe Social Forum, which will take place from November 6 to 10 in Florence, Italy).

METHODOLOGY FOR WSF 2003

As decided at the last IC meeting in late April in Barcelona, the Working Group on Methodology set up on that occasion prepared a draft programme, which should include the following activities:

- Five thematic areas
- Conferences
- Panel debates
- Testimonies
- Seminars
- Workshops
- Dialogue and controversy round tables
- Provision for debates on the Regional, Thematic and Local Social Forums

It is up to the IC member-organizations to suggest actors to put on the activities, with the exception of the workshops, which will be proposed by the delegates participating in the event.

Thematic Areas:
Each thematic area is conceived as a catalyst of concerns, proposals and strategies that are already being pursued by the organizations participating in the WSF process. Through the WSF, the aim is to give them visibility and, in possible, have them adopted as widely as possible by the various actors of planetary civil society struggling against neo-liberal globalization. It was decided that
there will be five Thematic Areas at WSF 2003:
- Democratic Sustainable Development
- Principles and values, human rights, diversity and quality
- Media, culture and counter-hegemony
- Political power, civil society and democracy
- Democratic world order, working against war and for peace

The working group composed of IC members will detail the
recommendations for the Thematic Areas and for proposed sub-areas - which may make up the panel debates - by the IC's forthcoming meeting in Florence, Italy.

Conferences:
The purpose of the conferences is to socialize views and analyses to the broader public at the Forum. They should contribute to strengthening a broad movement of public opinion as to the need, possibility and urgency of building "other worlds" in the light of the threats and limits of neo-liberal economic and financial globalization. The proposal is that at least one conference be
organized per Thematic Area.

Panel debates:
Structured by Thematic Area, the panel debates are the map of WSF actions and its public face as a forum of world civil society. They will explore the major issues, proposals and strategies and bring out all their diversity of roles and outlooks in their action to change neo-liberal globalization and to bring "other possible worlds" into being.

Testimonies:
The Testimonies are talks by leading personalities - or groups of people acting in the same field - who offer outstanding examples of lives spent working for human liberty and dignity which indicate avenues to a new world. They are a way of valorizing the political and cultural patrimony of the universe of groups, organizations and
movements that are building the WSF.

Dialogue and controversy round tables:
These are a specific setting within the WSF to bring delegates' views and proposals into confrontation with those of guests from political parties, governments and UN organizations. The aim is to choose hot issues where setting up dialogue and controversy according to previously agreed rules, can be useful to the process of spelling out the proposals and strategies of world civil society.

Seminars:
The seminars are an opportunity for thinking collectively about the "state of the issue" and for pointing to possible developments in a limited subject area from among the sub-themes in each thematic area. They are intended both to elaborate and explore the diagnosis of these issues and to discuss related proposals and strategies.
They are an essential component to our thinking constructively together in that they bring organizations, movements and networks together around the themes in an endeavour to strengthen the bloc of subjects embodying the proposals and actions.

Workshops:
The workshops are activities proposed by the groups, movements and organizations that register delegates to WSF 2003. They are the factory of the Forum, a kind of world civil laboratory, and are intended to bring groups, coalitions, networks, movements and organizations into contact to share their experiences, network, plan
and define strategies, always with a view to taking action in the present and the future.

Provision for debates on the Regional, Thematic and Local Social Forums:
At a location reserved for the purpose, permanent activities will be organized and facilities provided so that the various Social Forums held prior to Porto Alegre (Argentina Thematic SF, Europe Regional SF, Asia and Pan-Amazon SFs and other national and local SFs) can be
heard. It will be a kind of site for exhibitions, meetings and debates open throughout the time WSF 2003 is being held, with a specific programme to be agreed on with those who took the initiative of holding the various Forums. The idea is to give visibility to the process in which the WSF is moving to the world level, while respecting the autonomy, characteristics and specific dynamics of each of the Forums that will have been held.

OTHER PREPARATIONS

Registration for WSF 2003:
Now the methodology for WSF 2003 has been defined, over the coming few weeks the WSF Executive Secretariat in Brazil will be finalizing the registration procedures and form for delegates to the event. Any civil society organization, movement or group that declares its agreement with the WSF Charter of Principles may register, participate with delegates and propose activities for WSF 2003. The
WSF sees these actors as having legitimacy as representatives of groups of people and collective endeavours. Other militants or interested parties not belonging to any organization may participate as spectators.

Regional and Thematic Forums:
As is already being widely announced, the process of taking the WSF to the world level includes a number of Social Forums that are regionally focussed or that explore issues considered priorities in discussions of neo-liberal globalization. Three major Regional Forums of this kind are being held prior to WSF 2003: the Europe SF, the organizational process for which is firmly in place, will take place from November 6 to 10 in Florence, Italy; the Asia SF, which is to take place from January 2 to 7, 2003 in Hyderabad, India, has been considerable strengthened by the presence of a large number of Asian organizations at the Bangkok meeting; and the Pan-Amazon SF, which will take place from January 16 to 19, 2003 in Belem do Para,
Brazil. As regards the Thematic Social Forums, two themes have been considered priorities: the effects of neo-liberal policies and the militarization of conflicts in developing countries. In this connection, the Argentina Thematic Social Forum is taking place this week in a country chosen to host the event because it is one of the most striking examples of the disastrous results of the neo-liberal
economic model. Meanwhile, the Bangkok meeting also discussed the militarization of conflicts and, on the basis of the assessment by representatives of Palestinian organizations on the IC, proposed that discussions be resumed on holding a Palestine Social Forum in Ramallah as early as December this year.