Methodolgy
for World Social
Forum 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 equality
- 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.
