Handbook on World Social Forum Activism

by Smith,Jackie

• ISBN13: 9781594519468
• ISBN10: 1594519463
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-01-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The World Social Forums began in 2001 as a civil society countersummit to the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of global corporate and political elite that shapes global economic policies. Since then the World Social Forums have become the premier focal point for a diverse array of movements and associations advancing alternative visions of globalization. The World Social Forum processencompasses a variety of meetings and networking activities taking place around the world at local, national, regional, and global levels. United by a belief that 'œAnother world is possible,' World Social Forum activists are engaging in a massive global experiment to bring about a more democratic and just world. Social Forums held at multiple levels from local to global help connect activists in an increasingly dense network of advocates for radical social change. They have mobilized hundreds of thousands of people and may be one of the most important political developments of our time. The Forums' overlapping networks link conversations across vast distances as well as over time, allowing unprecedented learning and sharing across movements and across continents. Handbook of World Social Forum Activismbrings together some of the leading scholars of the WSF process from North America and Europe to offer comparative and longitudinal analyses of the World Social Forum process. Succinct chapters offer lessons and insights on this important global movement drawing from a variety of innovative research methods. The collection documents and contributes to the ongoing process of reflection and learning from World Social Forum experiences and is accessible to activists, students, and scholars alike.

Author Biography

Jackie Smith is Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. Scott Byrd is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Murray State University. Ellen Reese is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California-Riverside. Elizabeth Smythe is Professor of Political Science at Concordia University College

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	p. v
List of Acronyms	p. vi
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. x
Foreword	p. xiii
Introduction: Learning from the World Social Forums	p. 1
Background and Context
Social Forums as Public Stage and Infrastructure of Global Justice Movements	p. 11
(In)Fertile Ground? Social Forum Activism in Its Regional and Local Dimensions	p. 29
The Political and its Absence in the World Social Forum: Implications for Democracy in the Forum and in the World	p. 50
Surveys of World Social Forum Participants Show Influence of Place and Base in the Global Public Sphere	p. 64
Campaigns and Movements in the Social Forum Process
More Than a Shadow of a Difference? Feminist Participation in the World Social Forum	p. 85
Indigenous Peoples and Social Forums	p. 105
Building National Labor Solidarity: Unions and Labor Activists at the 2007 United States Social Forum	p. 125
The World Social Forum as a Bounded Open Space: Maintain It, Fix It, or Nix It? Evidence from Post-9/11 Global Antiwar Activism	p. 148
Our World Is Not for Sale! The WSF Process and Transnational Resistance to International Trade Agreements	p. 166
Global Environmentalists and Their Movements at the World Social Forums	p. 186
The Road to the World Social Forum: The Case of the Dalit Movement	p. 206
Local Places and Global Spaces
African Voices and Activists at the WSF in Nairobi: The Uncertain Ways of Transnational African Activism	p. 227
Global Movements in Local Struggles: Findings on the Social Forum Process in Italy	p. 248
Diverging Visions of Another World in the Making of the Quebec Social Forum	p. 266
In the Belly of Empire: The U.S. Social Forum Process	p. 283
Democratic Innovations
Youth Camps and the Bolivarian Revolution: A Story of Horizontalism and Blocked Diffusion	p. 305
Deliberative Discussion and Languages in the World Social Forum Process	p. 320
Democratic Innovation in the U.S. and European Social Forums	p. 339
Transnational Movement Innovation and Collaboration: Analysis of World Social Forum Networks	p. 360
Conclusion: The Space as Actor: The Form and Content of the Social Forum Process	p. 378
References	p. 397
About the Contributors	p. 432
Index	p. 438
List of Tables and Figures
WSF 2005 Participants by Geographical Origin	p. 31
Polycentric WSFs 2006 by Nationality of Participant	p. 32
Number of Social Forum Events and Organizations by Region	p. 33
Social Forums by Scale	p. 34
African Social Forums-National, Subnational, and Local	p. 46
Political Experiences and Affiliations of WSF and USSF Participants	p. 69
Political Views of WSF and USSF Participants	p. 74-75
Social Characteristics of USSF Participants that Are Unionists, Other Labor Activists, and Nonlabor Participants	p. 134
Political Participation of USSF Attendees	p. 135
Political Views of Labor Activists and Other USSF Attendees	p. 136
World-Systems Location of 2005 and 2007 WSF Participants by Geographic Region	p. 194
Characteristics of Participants in 2005 (Porto Alegre) and 2007 (Nairobi) WSFs	p. 195
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