India: From Reflection to Action

Satya Sivaraman

DELHI, 31 Jan (TerraViva) - As large swathes of India reeled under a wave of severe cold weather on January 26 activist groups around the country warmed up things with a variety of protests, rallies and public meetings more >>

More Thoughts than Action on Action Day

Alejandro Kirk

Unlike the massive gatherings of past years, the World Social Forum’s “Global Day of Action” Saturday did not fill avenues around the world nor did it make headlines on any major progressive media outlet, let alone the mainstream. more >>

Diversity, a Birthright Waiting to Be Recognised

Mario Osava

CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil, Jan 28 (IPS) - For many people, the World Social Forum (WSF)’s influence and effect is waning, perhaps because it has outpaced public opinion and the dominant political processes, but not the real needs of the times, which require complex and urgent solutions. more >>

Music and Remembrance in Bogotá

María Isabel García

BOGOTÁ, 29 January (TerraViva) In Simón Bolívar Park in Bogotá, a huge swathe of vegetation and clean air amidst the asphalt and traffic jams that choke this city, six white marquees were erected to shelter those taking part in theGlobal Day of Action. more >>

Mumbai: Industrial Workers March On

Sandhya Srinivasan

MUMBAI, Jan 27 (IPS) - There was grim determination on the faces of the 500-strong crowd that marched through the streets of this western port city for the World Social Forum’s Global Day of Action on Saturday.  more >>

Burning Snow in Montreal

Susan Alexander

MONTREAL, Jan 26 (IPS/TerraViva) - "The Snow is on Fire" was the rallying cry in Montreal, Quebec, with the slogan brought to life by a troupe of fire dancers who led an anti-globalisation parade along the city’s main shopping street, St Catherine’s. more >>

Evictions High on Atlanta Agenda

Matthew Cardinale

ATLANTA, Georgia, Jan 26 (IPS) - Some 400 activists from Atlanta, Georgia and around the U.S. South gathered for a People’s Movement Assembly Saturday, in solidarity with the Global Day of Action. more >>

Crisis in Lebanon Casts Pall on WSF

Rebecca Murray

BEIRUT, Jan 26 (TerraViva) - A small group of angry demonstrators protesting heavy electricity cuts took to the streets in an increasingly volatile Beirut the night of January 21, setting fire to tires and Dumpsters and blocking main roads. more >>

WEF Takes On Terrorism, Terribly

Ravi Kanth Devarakonda

DAVOS, Jan 25 (IPS) - The global political elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos is focusing on terrorism as the major threat to international peace — but is conspicuously silent on ensuring that counter-terrorism measures do not breach human rights. more >>

Italians Awaken to Palestinian Pain

Sabina Zaccaro

ROME, Jan 25 (IPS) - Several Italian civil society groups will mark the World Social Forum’s global day of action Saturday by pledging support for Palestinians. more >>

Kenya Forum to Focus on Democracy and Peace

Kwamboka Oyaro

NAIROBI, 23 Jan (IPS) - The Kenya Social Forum (KSF) for 2008 had its work all cut out even before the start of the new year as governance and peace became the greatest challenges in the country following the controversial presidential elections last December. more >>

Media dyslexia and the WSF

Perla Wilson

SANTIAGO (TerraViva) - There is a consensus that the actions implemented during the Global Day of Action will not be picked up by the commercial press, in spite of efforts by the communications group recently set up by the WSF International Council. more >>

Controversial Proposals Expected at WEF Gathering

David Cronin

BRUSSELS, Jan 20 (IPS) - The seemingly incongruous presence of pop singer Bono amid the sombre suits of business and political leaders attending the World Economic Forum (WEF), should ensure that the question of how to end African poverty features prominently in media coverage of the January 23-27 event. more >>

‘Another Africa has Already Begun’

Zarina Geloo

LUSAKA, 18 Jan (TerraViva) - “Another Africa is not just possible, it has already begun. Africans have begun to articulate their issues in their own way, and to seek their own solutions to their own problems.”  more >>

Palestinians in Lebanon network to sustain ‘right of return’

Rebecca Murray

TYRE, Lebanon, 18 Jan (TerraViva) - On Global Action Day, pro-Palestinian organisations will stage a demonstration in Jerusalem around the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’, when they were forced out of the land that became Israel in 1948.  more >>

Justice Street Performers in Santiago

Alejandro Kirk

SANTIAGO, Jan 26 (TerraViva) - A light summer drizzle greeted the people of Santiago as they woke this morning. The clouds, however, soon drifted away, while in the Plaza de Armas, in the old, historical city centre, around two thousand people gathered to take part in the WSF Global Day of Action. more >>

The world cannot stand back from Colombia’s tragedy

María Isabel García

BOGOTÁ, 18 Jan (TerraViva) - In the same way that the World Social Forum (WSF) was able to channel world-wide opposition to the US war in Iraq, the day of Action and Mobilisation planned for the 26 of January may serve to underline our complete rejection of the civil war in Colombia, which has already taken four million lives, according to local experts and activists.  more >>

Post-Socialist Europe: Too Early for Global Worries?

Zoltan Dujisin

PRAGUE, Jan 15 ((TerraViva) In line with the World Social Forum’s new approach of holding several simultaneous events around the world, many European countries have announced a myriad of actions for Jan 26, but east of Germany only Romania and the Czech Republic are shyly participating in the WSF’s “Global Action Day.” more >>

India: Democracy Vs Free Market

Satya Sivaraman

DELHI, 15 Jan (TerraViva) -“We are participating in the Global Day of Action to protest against the Indian government’s attempt to open up the coastal region to investment from the tourism and other industries that threaten the livelihood of traditional fishing folk,” says T.Peter, President of the Kerala Fishworkers Union more >>

Pakistani regime fails to muzzle pro-democracy movements

Zofeen T. Ebrahim

KARACHI, 15 Jan ( TerraViva - When the dust settled, at the end of the five-day World Social Forum, held in March 2006, in Karachi, few had any illusions that the event would lead to the sinful act of sowing the seeds for an organized pro-democracy movement to counterpunch the military regime that hosted the event. more >>

The Public Eye Is Watching Davos

Gustavo Capdevila

BERN, Jan 17 (IPS) - Civil society is in Davos, Switzerland once again to keep a watchful eye on events at the World Economic Forum (WEF). more >>

World Social Forum and World Economic Forum - A Bridge Too Far?

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Dec 6, 2007 (IPS) - A group of human rights organisations will attempt to bridge the gap between two antagonistic camps in January: the World Economic Forum which meets in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, and the World Social Forum, generally held in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. more >>

Highlighting the Amazon’s Diversity

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 2, 2007 (IPS) - The international council of the World Social Forum met this week in the northern Brazilian city of Belem to plan the next steps to be taken by global activists, including the eighth edition of the WSF, to be held in January 2009 in Brazil’s Amazon region. more >>