WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Crisis as Opportunity for "Another World"

January 22, 2009
By Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 21 (IPS) - A World Social Forum (WSF) revitalised by a global crisis that has awakened new interest in the proposition that "another world is possible" - now perceived as either less utopian or more urgently needed - will take place from Jan. 27 to Feb. 1 in Belém, in northern Brazil.

With the economy in free-fall, a more concrete debate will occur in Belém on "the nature of the crisis" and the model of development, according to Cándido Grzybowski, the head of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses (IBASE) and one of the original organisers of the WSF.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's decision to attend the WSF in Belém on Jan. 29 and 30, instead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, reflects a change in the alignment of forces.

This year’s edition of the WEF, which brings together the world's business, political and cultural élite annually, will be held Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 under the theme "Shape the Post-Crisis World". The WSF originated as a rival assembly, to protest the WEF’s policies and propose alternatives.

In January 2007, Lula chose to attend the WEF in Davos and skip the 7th WSF in Nairobi, Kenya. It was a gravy-train time of strong global economic growth, soaring commodity prices and plentiful foreign investment in Brazil. The markets seemed to promise prosperity for all.

Now, given the economic, energy, environmental and food crises, the ideas of the WSF appear to be more attractive and realistic...