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The Social forum-process; tendencies and features
Niklas Hansson
niklas.hansson@ethnology.gu.se, n.hansson2@spray.se
Department of Ethnology Gothenburg University
Etnologiska Institutionen Göteborgs Universitet
Paper från ACSIS nationella forskarkonferens för kulturstudier, Norrköping 13–15 juni 2005.
Konferensrapport publicerad elektroniskt på www.ep.liu.se/ecp/015/. © Författaren.
Introduction
This piece of writing is concerned with contemporary politics, primarily focused on the World
Social Forum, and the ongoing political process that I would like to refer to as the Social
Forum-process. My point of entry as it comes down to this particular political process and my
research, is the local “offspring” called the Gothenburg Social Forum. A Social Forum cannot
be conceived of as the representation of a movement (a particular social movement and its’
repertoires and proposals), rather, the Charter of Principles 1 (the document that “guides” this
process) and some of the initiators of this political invention, proclaims it to be more like an
open meeting place,
for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free
exchange of experiences, and interlinking for effective action by groups and movements
of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the world by
capital and any other form of imperialism and are committed to building a planetary
society directed toward fruitful relationships […] 2
– or that of a communicational and informational space.
The Social Forum-process, the process that was set off into the world (if you look by
datum) through the stimulation of what is called the World Social Forum’s Charter of
Principles and which was launched during the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in the
year of 2001 as an effect stemming from these efforts. Number two in the chronological order
of this document is interesting for the remainder of this paper, hence proclaiming the
unleashing of a process, or a flow of orientations: “2. The World Social Forum at Porto
Alegre was an event localized in time and space. From now on, in the certainty proclaimed at
Porto Alegre that ‘another world is possible’, it becomes a permanent process of seeking and
building alternatives, which cannot be reduced to the events supporting it” (Leite, J-C, 2003:
10) This imperative has been taken seriously if one directs the attention towards what has
happened world wide since then. If only taking into consideration how this particular idea of a
meeting place subsequent to these initial steps and principles has been spread like a
contagious viral implementation of an open space for communication between various actors
engaged with how global and local economical development and political power are executed
today. Local efforts sprung from this document have emerged on all continents 3 , thus making
1 http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.php?id_menu=4&cd_language=2 (2005 06 01).
2 Ibid.
3 Unsgaard, O, 2005 Det globala civilsamhälets 1990-tal. De Sociala Forumens föregångare; FN-konferenser
och den transnationella Zapatismen, (Forthcoming article on the genealogy of the social forum-process).
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