One of the biggest challenges the World Social Forum has faced in the seven years it has existed is the mutual recognition of the diverse struggles by the various social movements that aim to transform society. Without a doubt, it is this political situation, which has prevailed since the Charter of Principles was written, that has made possible the confluence of an ever-increasing array of political actors in the WSF.
The diversity of cultural and political identities involved in the Forum helps bring the many ideas, projects, proposed alliances, and priorities of our struggles into conflict. This conflict renders typical top-down models unviable, and it means that we must make a concerted effort to consolidate our efforts.
On the other hand, as a militant feminist and anti-racism activist, I believe that this is one of the biggest achievements of this process. Still, it would be impossible not to recognize the resistance and the conflicts that still lead to the deligitimizing of some political agendas at the Forum. For example, there are recurring debates over who is the main enemy (in the singular!), as if it is possible to stop imperialism irrespective of its patriarchal and racist nature.
I don’t think the Forum runs a risk of becoming too institutionalized. The countless local, national, regional, global and thematic initiatives that occur share political principles and ethical values. There is no institutional model that limits their expansion and deepening.
Our big challenge is to create the conditions that make it easier for our many struggles to work together, which would reduce the risk of the Forum becoming too diffuse.
The most recent Forum, in Nairobi, Kenya, made it clear that this is not a simple task. It requires time, persistence, political investment, and systematic work on behalf of the various actors involved. The day that had been reserved for the collaboration between the struggles ended still a long way from reaching its goals. And now, in the coming months, there is a lot of work ahead. There won't be a centralized Forum, like in Nairobi, or polycentric ones, as in 2006 in different regions. Instead, there will be work toward several mobilizations in January of 2008, all connected, coordinated, and carried out by diverse initiatives (not by the International Council of the WSF), which in different parts of the world strengthen and express the struggles of the social movements seeking alternatives to neoliberal globalization.
The alternatives proposed at the World Social Forum seek to counter the globalization process led by large multinational corporations and international institutions that serve their interests with the complicity of national governments. We are trying to bring about new era in world history of the world, where a globalization based on solidarity that respects universal human rights (the rights of all citizens, male and female) becomes a reality. This new globalization would also respect the rights of all nations, and the environment. It would be supported by democratic international systems, and would strive to advance social justice, equality and the people's sovereignty. (This is in the fourth paragraph of the Charter of Principles of the WSF.)
I would like to see the Forum move forward with its construction of alternatives. To bolster this effort, it is necessary to respect the WSF Charter of Principles. Without principles, political alliances lose their strength and capacity to found truly solid foundations, capable of shifting to a new paradigm.
The diversity, pluralism and breadth of the space at the World Social Forum needs to be founded on its principles, because they are what orient the dialogue and helps limit the tendency for our struggles for society’s transformation to operate in isolation. We must have more than just official alliances on specific points. It’s necessary to have principles. For that reason, we must also fight whatever fundamentalist, sexist, ethnocentric, racist, homophobic, and xenophobic convictions that persist within the World Social Forum.
Guacira César de Oliveira is the director of Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria, Brazil, and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus (www.fpif.org). Translated from the Portuguese by Katherine Kohlstedt.
