Future options for the WSF

Pierre Beaudet

14/06/2011

Opinión

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Meeting in Paris last May, over 100 representatives of various social movements who sit on the International Committee of the World Social Forum deliberated on the future of the WSF, energized so to speak by the “Arab Spring”.

A new wave of struggles

For sure in that part of the world, peoples are on the march. Social movements of all kinds have coalesced to debunk apparently solid dictatorships. Moreover, the struggle continues to go beyond the ousting of old cronies, and to enter the domain of social justice and environmentally-friendly development. According to several activists who were in Paris like Kamal Labhib, Samir Amin and Gustave Massiah, the struggle is only starting and takes specific shapes in accordance to the specific national situation. What is new is the extraordinary inclusive nature of this movement, its capacity to act through decentralized networks, and the impetus to avoid subordination to the State.

At the same time, this popular movement makes no excuse of its profound anti-imperialism, as the United States and its European subordinates are working hard to “pacify” and maintain the status quo in favour of their corrupted friends in Saudi Arabia, Algeria and many other places, while threatening Tunisians, Egyptians and Palestinians if they dare to ask fundamental changes. In this context, the military intervention in Libya does not aim at “saving the people” or “defending human rights”, but to divert popular uprisings all over the Arab world and create an environment where neo-colonial adventures will continue after Libya to Syria, Yemen, Sudan and elsewhere.

Throughout the discussions in Paris, WSF supporters were convinced of the necessity to participate in this struggle. One thing sure is certain is that it is important to break the relative isolation of social movements in the Maghreb-Machrek. IC members for that reason agreed to start the discussion about organizing the next WSF either in Tunis or in Cairo, to physically manifest the solidarity of the world. It is not only to support Arab social movements by the way. The imperialist/neoliberal aggression in that part of the world is part and parcel of the global offensive against the peoples everywhere. The Maghreb-Machrek rather than an isolated conflict-ridden region is the epicentre of the world crisis, its concentrated form of inter-imperialist rivalries, resources plundering and violent repression. The incredible assaults since 2001 against African, Arab and Asian peoples were part of an “endless war”, as called for by former President Georges W. Bush, to re-establish the declining supremacy of the US-NATO alliance. The costs for the people have been tremendous, however in many ways, the aggression did not fulfill Washington’s dreams.

What we have now is a new phase of popular resistance and at the same time, more attempts by imperialism to subjugate the peoples. The stakes are enormous for social movements all over the world. Holding the next WSF in the Arab world and preparing it by supporting social movements all over the Maghreb and the Machrek is not only a moral imperative, but also a political priority.

Rethinking the Forum

In some ways, this new focus on social movements in a part of the world where there was minimal interaction encouraged the IC members to look back and to look ahead. For sure, the WSF was a tremendous asset in the rise of a new generation of social movements and popular struggles in many countries, particularly in South America. The outgrowth of the WSF in Africa, Europe, Asia and even North America facilitated the development of convergences while producing a host of new ideas, practices and theories. In the recent while, innovations like the development of specific spaces to allow social movements to plan and strategize allowed further advances, such as it was seen in Dakar last February. Indeed, many social movements are now trying to develop strategic perspectives.

The issues are old and new at the same time: how to win the “battle of ideas” against hegemonic systems controlling education, culture and media, and build a popular platform of defiance, dignity and confidence; how to build extensive and intensive alliances with different social actors, like intellectuals, indigenous, trade unions and progressive political parties; how to change the political system and break the cycle of domination by exploring and struggling for new governance. All of this and many more are on the agenda of the social movements and therefore on the agenda of the WSF. It’s a bit of a new phase really: on the positive side, enlarging the drive by social movements to change the world (and not just talk about it!), and on the negative side, considering the huge challenges coming out of the imperialist/neoliberal State system, forcing hard confrontations.

The WSF in its first ten years had a “cultural impact”, let us call it like that. It was a huge gathering, opposing the elite views (concentrated in Davos), exposing, visualizing so to speak the strength, imagination and energy of the social movements. Yet today, this dimension although still important (especially in parts of the world that have not gone through that first phase) needs to be refurbished. In South America for example, people’s struggles and social movements are confronted by new challenges. The fact that many of these movements defeated neoliberal elites and put forward left-center governments is central to the South American problematique and is actually addressed by social movements there. The relatively comfortable and friendly distance between movements and political actors is moved around by contradictory processes, whereas social movements and its cadres are integrating the new governments, and whereas the prospects for inclusive, democratic and eco-friendly development are the object of new debates and struggles.

The emphasis on focusing on local and national problematiques does not diminish the importance of the WSF process however. The holding of an international gathering of many social movements under the banner of the WSF is not the only tool, as it has been demonstrated by the expansion of local, national, regional and even thematic forums. It appears that in the next phase, these forums will expand even further.

Reorganization

This means that the WSF which has never been in any case a “big event” will focus differently. The purpose is the same: facilitate the accumulation of forces by social movements through sharing experiences, views and strategies. It is not dependent on holding one single “big event”, although these large gatherings have also their advantages. It needs to be calibrated to the specific needs of social movements and avoid a sort of “ritualization” which sometimes comes from “social entrepreneurs” which are more present within the NGO community. NGOs have been helpful in the past, as "secondary agents” and that “support-function” of theirs needs to be reiterated. Social movements must reaffirm their leadership, identify how and on what stronger articulations can be promoted through theoretical and political elaborations.

Part of this discussion is related to resources. International gatherings like the WSF cost a lot of money. In the past, participant’s contributions were prominent, especially when the local organization insisted that it should be so (like in Mumbai in 2004). Nevertheless, liberal foundations and friendly governments have also contributed heavily. While there is nothing wrong in principle from taking money that is largely “public” (through fiscal revenues), it appears that this type of funding is going to decline in the next phase. Liberal western-based NGOs are more or less all under stress. As for progressive governments, it will be more difficult to reconcile the ecologist objectives of most social movements with extractive and carbon-centered policies currently promoted by some of these left-center governments. The only option really is to strengthen the self-financing activities of WSF members. The resource committee of the WSF (an active working group within it) has interesting proposals in that regard and will launch shortly a new discussion. Some of these proposals are based on current experiments. For example, the US Social Forum in Detroit (June 2010) put together a very popular program with grassroots movements and people’s movements while remaining financially autonomous. This is not “merely” financial or technical, but relates to the core-values and perspectives of the WSF.

The next 10 years

Social movements in many parts the world are still in an ascendant “mood”. Even when they are struggling to survive, a larger consensus is being shaped to the effect that social movements need to be at the center, and not at the periphery, of the struggle for social justice, democracy and peace. There is no other “savior”...

In the meantime, social movements are not static, they are changing and new generations are pushing up. Within the WSF, this is particularly striking with the emergence of African, Asian and Middle-Eastern movements. This is not to diminish the importance of South American and European networks but more likely, some sort of a transition is taking place. For sure, Brazilian, Argentinean, Bolivian and other South American movements will continue to have a large influence of forthcoming debates and processes, especially if they can help Asian and African movements to consolidate and play a leading role.

Parallel to that transition, a new spectrum of processes is appearing to produce new ideas, perspectives, and proposals. Some of these processes involve innovative joint explorations by intellectuals and activists, focusing on action-oriented research, investigation and analyses and therefore scaling up the debates. A new “collective intellectual” in the tradition of Gramsci and Bourdieu is breaking the boundaries between social movements and research/education networks, which will help building strategic elaborations that are required by movements in the next phase of the struggle and in order to build counter-hegemonic tools and perspectives.

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/150511