q Chapter One GLOBALIZATION AND THE Wor tb SociaL Forums A s this book was being revised for its second edition, the world was witnessing what was perhaps the largest ever and most widespread upsurge of mass protest. This most recent global wave of movements called themselves Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Revolutions, the indignados or indignant ones. Their claims resonated with one another, despite only very loose connections and differences in language and political systems. But what many of this new wave of activists did not always re- alize was that their movements were part of a global force that had been in motion for decades, building on the struggles and determined efforts of countless activists and organizations, and. informed by a long history of transnational dialogue and learn- ing. The World Social Forum (WSF) is an important part of this history, created to be a space where activists around the world can share analyses, develop their understandings of how global forces shape Jocal conditions, envision alternatives, and build solidarity with others who are committed to values of human dignity and justice. At a historical moment of deepening global2 CHapter One crises related to financial instability, climate change, and political leadership, it is imperative that social movements prioritizing human dignity and harmony with nature become more efk ve agents of political transformation. The alternative 1s too pain- ful to consider. We put forward this edition of our overview of the World Social Forums to help readers understand this vitally important global political development and to inspire action to make another world possible. In the 1970s and 1980s, protests against the lending policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) emerged in the global south, By the late 1990s, tens of thousands of protesters were gathering wherever the world’s political and economic elite met, raising criticisms of global economic policies and calling for more just and equitable economic policies. As the numbers of protesters grew, so did the violence with which governments responded. Governments spent millions and arrested hundreds of nonviolent protesters to ensure their meetings could take place. Italian police killed Carlo Giuliani, a twenty-three-year-old protester, at the meeting of the Group of 8 (G8) in Genoa in 2001, dramatiz- ing for activists in the global north the brutal repression against activists that is common in the global south. The size of police mobilizations against these overwhelmingly nonviolent protests was. unprecedented in Western democracies, and it signaled the declining legitimacy of the system of economic globalization that the world’s most powerful governments promoted. After years of such protests against the world’s most powerful economic in- stitutions—the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization Sie and the G8—a team of Latin American and French meen launched the first ‘World Social Forum (WSF) in January — he | Within a few short years. the WSF eae fe ac. non- oriented political gathering” moder RisOry Nea Maa 1 of global efforts 0 promote ana Mobilizing around the sl Jternative vision protest logan “Another jor focal point of B of global integration.GLOBALIZATION AND THE Worto Social Forums 3 icy “ing World Is Possible,” the WSF began as both a protest against the tive annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, tin, and as an effort to develop a shared vision of alternatives to the W of predominant, market-based model of globalization. Many see ‘ally the WSF as a crucial process for the development of a global N to civil society that can help democratize the global political and economic order, and some would argue that it is the most im- cies portant political development of our time. This book aims to obal introduce readers to the WSF process—by which we mean the rete networked, repeated, interconnected, and multilevel gather- net ings of diverse groups of people around the aim of bringing ee about a more Just and humane world—and the possibilities and Ee challenges this process holds. In this chapter we describe the political and economic conditions that gave rise to the global ed justice movement and the WSF. lent The first WSF was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in late lice January 2001. The timing of the WSF was strategically chosen the to coincide with the WEF, an annual meeting of global politi- 1a- cal and economic elites typically held in Davos, Switzerland. nst The WEF is a private interest group that has worked since its ice founding in 1971 to promote dialogue among business leaders StS and governments, and to shape the global economy. Over the he years an ever more impressive list of political and business leaders at has participated in this private event, for which corporate del- ts egates pay upward of $20,000 for the opportunity to schmooze is with the global power elite. The WEF is widely criticized for d providing a space where the future of the world is discussed 4 without participation from most of the world’s population. European—mostly French—and Latin American activist groups and political organizations were among the first to protest the WEF in the 1990s. This eventually blossomed into the idea of r a WSF that received sponsorship in Brazil from the Workers’ r Party, a political party that won government elections in the city a of Porto Alegre, supported the principles of global economic f