[WSF-Discuss] Be Aware of the World Social Forum - and Jackie Smith

Sat Nov 17 08:12:21 UCT 2007

The author of this report seems to be unaware of the new book by Jackie 
Smith and friends, 'Global Democracy and the World Social Forums'.

This slim volume was produced by a whole collective of authors - in the 
spirit of the Forum itself.

Less than 200 pages, it provides an overview of the Forum process since the 
first in 2001, an overview of the problems debates around it and a 
consideration of the various theories about it. It makes a very nice 
introduction and course book.

Strongly recommended by this sometime participant, critic and writer.

Details: Around US$ 20 from the US publisher:

http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=167980

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Madhuresh" <madhuresh at cacim.net>
To: "WSFDiscuss List" <WorldSocialForum-Discuss at openspaceforum.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 6:09 AM
Subject: [WSF-Discuss] Be aware of the World Social Forum

>
>    Be Aware of the World Social Forum!
>    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    *Jackie Smith, PhD, gives lecture at Notre Dame campus to introduce
>    the World Social Forum during International Education Week, seeks
>    student action.*
>    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>    /http://www.nolanchart.com/article293.html accessed on November 17 2007
>    /
>
>
>    /by DigitalBob/
>    (Libertarian)
>
> Last night I attended a lecture by Dr. Jackie Smith
> <http://kroc.nd.edu/faculty_staff/faculty/jsmith.shtml> of the Sociology
> Department at the University of Notre Dame and the Universityâ?Ts Kroc
> Institute for International Peace Studies. The topic was "Global
> Democracy and the World Social Forums". It was part of the series of
> lectures in "International Education Week
> <http://newsinfo.nd.edu/content.cfm?topicid=25328>"â?" sponsored by the
> U.S. Dept. of Education and U.S. Dept. of State.
>
> I saw it on my local Meetup events listing. Not knowing what a World
> Social Forum was and it was open to the public, I thought Iâ?Td take a 
> look.
>
> The first bullet point in the PowerPoint presentation was "Globalism is
> Inevitable". There was muttered agreement in the room.  In attendance
> were 15 students and one disheveled guy in his forties (me). Her lecture
> explained that much of the social ills in the world today are the result
> of decades of neo-liberal economic policies. This got interesting,
> because Iâ?Tve thought most of our prosperity came from less government
> interference in the lives of its citizens and that money was good. I
> watched this presentation with my libertarian goggles on.
>
>
> Some of the other bullet points explained what Globalism does:
>
>    * Globalism opens free markets
>    * Globalism reduces the role of government
>    * Globalism expands privatization
>
> So far, so good.
>
> The criticism of Globalism is that itâ?Ts run by the elites, instead of
> the ordinary people. Unchecked Globalism is linked to specific growing
> inequalities. The 400:1 ratio of pay in corporations is seen as bad. The
> free market becomes a substitute democratic governance. The open borders
> policy under neo-liberal Globalism is the free movement of goods and
> services, but not people. The free market is unable solve such things as
> health issues. She pined for the days of more regulation and government
> involvement, which was the trend before the Reagan-Thatcher era.
>
> Dr. Smith believes that the World Social Forum is one way to begin to
> correct this trend.
>
> The World Social Forum was created as a response to the World Economic
> Forum <http://www.weforum.org/en/about>, which began Switzerland in the
> early 1970s. Dr. Smith observed that those who tended to rise to higher
> levels in government were "technical experts" such as economists,
> instead of representatives of ordinary people, like lawyers. This hit me
> as strange, since most politicians in our government had law degrees
> more so than economic degrees. But I was there to listen.
>
> In the late 1990s, there was a growing discontent with the neo-liberal
> model and against development policies of the World Bank, for instance.
> Economic development was favored for international trade over meeting
> the needs of domestic markets.
>
> A visible example of this discontent was the 1999 protests in Seattle at
> the meeting of the World Trade Organization
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTO_Ministerial_Conference_of_1999_protest_activity>.
>
> Although she acknowledged there was some vandalism, it was unfortunate
> and relatively minor for such a large crowd. It was mostly a peaceful
> protest. The media missed the message, and focused too much on the 
> violence.
>
> Another example in the slide presentation was of a gate around a meeting
> place for NAFTA. Instead of caging in the protesters in a "free speech
> zone" as some politicians practice today, this gathering surrounded
> itself in 12-foot-high fences.
>
> The first World Social Forum took place in 2001 at Porto Alegre, Brazil.
> The organizers expected 4,000, but 15,000 people showed up. In addition
> to the local Brazilian activists, it was attended by a ATTAC
> <http://www.attac.org/?lang=en>, a French-based citizen lobby for the
> taxation of international currency transactions for social benefits.
> Apparently this tax would be used to stabilize currency, and for the
> consideration of social justice, instead of just for corporate profit.
>
> The WSF is held each year. Since then itâ?Ts grown in size to up to
> 150,000 attendees. Itâ?Ts also been held in Kenya and Pakistan. Due its
> size, itâ?Ts now being held in several countries at the same time.
>
> One comment Dr. Smith made at this point, which I found amusing,
> regarded travel to the Kenya conference. It took a long time for African
> attendees to travel to Kenya, because they had to change planes in
> Europe. There were few direct flights between African nations. And this
> had to do with /money/ (her emphasis). I had to think about that one.
> Last time I checked, point-to-point chartered flights in the U.S.
> started at $20,000.  There are many flights in this country with delays,
> but regual service for under $300.   Iâ?Tve had a 12-hour layover in each
> of my travels to South Africa through Heathrow. And that was a $5,000
> ticket in business class. Oh, well.
>
> The World Social Forum is now expanding to a series of Local Forums.
> However the United States is far underrepresented.  While the WSF is
> virtually unknown in the U.S., it is part of the daily conversion in
> places such as Austria.  The forums will foster networking, sharing
> experiences, developing analyses, and planning actions.
>
> Dr. Smith gave several examples of collectivist actions which benefitted
> local people. For instance, the folks in Ithaca, NY created their own
> local currency to buy goods made in their own community. National
> currencies tend to deplete jobs in a community that are less profitable
> for a given industry. One example was a farmer who grew heirloom
> vegetables, those you canâ?Tt find in most supermarkets. By having the
> local community invest in its farmers as a co-op, everyone would share
> in the bounty or shortages from the harvest.
>
> She wrapped up the presentation with a call to action. She noted that
> corporate-run newspapers are having a hard time competing with
> distributed media outlets on the internet. Youâ?Tre looking at one!
>
> There were many opportunities for participation. These were some of the
> website that had more information:
>
>    * www.ussf2007.org <http://www.ussf2007.org>
>    * www.wsf2008.net <http://www.wsf2008.net>
>
> The next day I wrote Dr. Smith <mailto:jsmith40 at nd.edu> an email
> thanking her for letting the community know about the World Social Forum.
>
> Although I disagreed with many of the solutions discussed, I recognize
> that there is a lot of frustration with the way things are. I found it
> valuable listening to another point of view.
>
> -- 
>
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