[WSF-Discuss] Invitation to help CACIM plan events at the BelemForum, (2) : Critically engaging with the principles underlying the WorldSocial Forum

Wed Nov 19 14:22:02 UCT 2008

As some of you know, we a group called Uni-Alter, including Dominique Caouette and Raphael Canet and others that you may also know-are organising a 50 or so people delegation from Canada (Quebec ++ and Ontario) to Belem including civil society participants, students and prof-researchers-activists. 

I am pretty sure that some of us are interested in joining and/or publicizing at least some of the initiatives with CACIM.

For my part, I could probably contribute in some ways to this one on underlying principles of the WSF, or probably more on the one on the future of the WSF... as I do not know most of those documents that the description refers to and will NOT be able to read and prepare adequately around those. 

Let me know how the planning goes.

Salutations,

Marie-Josée Massicotte, Ph.D.

Directrice/Director, Études internationales et langues modernes/International Studies and Modern Languages
Professeure adjointe, École d'études politiques, Université d'Ottawa
Assistant Professor, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa

DMS 9160, 55 Laurier E.
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Canada

Tel.: 613-562-5800 (2732)
Fax: 613-562-5371
Courriel/email: massicot at uottawa.ca 

________________________________

De : worldsocialforum-discuss-bounces at openspaceforum.net [mailto:worldsocialforum-discuss-bounces at openspaceforum.net] De la part de Jai Sen
Envoyé : 19 novembre 2008 03:36
À : Post WSFDiscuss
Cc : Jai Sen
Objet : [WSF-Discuss] Invitation to help CACIM plan events at the BelemForum,(2) : Critically engaging with the principles underlying the WorldSocial Forum

Invitation to help CACIM plan events at the Belem Forum, (2) : Critically engaging with the principles underlying the World Social Forum

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Dear friends on WSFDiscuss, greetings - once again

            Further to our posting yesterday, we from CACIM are planning to also organise - again, hopefully together with others - the following event at the Belem Forum :

*    Critically engaging with the principles underlying the World Social Forum.

This posting is again both to give you advance notice of this event - and to invite you to join us there then ! - but also to invite you to help us plan for it.

Specifically, and just as yesterday, we are both attaching and pasting on below a brief write-up that we have prepared for the event, and we would be very happy if you would :

1.              Let us know whether you are coming to Belem, and if so, whether you would like to take part in this event. (Apologies to those with whom we have already been in preliminary touch about our events at Belem and from whom we have already heard in this regard.  But now that we have finalised our four events, please do write in again and let us know !  Thanks.)

2.              Comment on the draft outline for the event.  Please either respond here, on this list, or send us your comments in TRACKED CHANGES on the attached version.  Thanks !

3.              Make suggestions for key speakers for the event, with the following details : 

Name :

Name of organisation or institution or movement, if any :

Full contact details (email id, country and preferably city / town / village location, and phone contacts) :

Languages spoken :

and also :

A 50-100 word blurb on each person so that we know a little WHY you think the person is relevant to the event.

4.              Suggest appropriate organisations who might like to co-organise the events with us (again, FULL DETAILS, please, as above, with reasons as to why these organisations).

5.              Suggest possible sources of funds for this event - and in general, the set of four events we are proposing to organise at Belem.

Finally : PLEASE DO REPLY ALL, so that my colleagues also remain in the loop.  Thanks !

One more point : Just so that there is no confusion, please do note that we are proposing to organise four events in Belem, in all; as follows.  We are going to be also posting similar letters for each, inviting you to help us with them :

*     The Politics, Potentials, and Meanings of the Belem Forum : The Significance of the Forum for the Indigenous Peoples of the World (as per the message posted yesterday (Tuesday, November 18, 2008)

*     Critically engaging with the principles underlying the World Social Forum  (this message)

*     Facing the Future : The World Social Forum, the Global Justice Movement, and Beyond  (coming tomorrow)

*     A Global Labour Charter for Humanity : If Not Now, When ? .

We look forward very much to hearing back from you !  And perhaps also to meeting you there in Belem, and to your taking part in one or more of these events.

With warm greetings

for CACIM

            Jai Sen

att

Critically engaging with the principles underlying the WSF - Discussion Note d3 js151108 TC 191108 for comments.doc

Critically engaging with the principles underlying the World Social Forum

A discussion note towards a Workshop at the WSF at Belem, Brazil, in January 2009

CACIM, November 15 2008 - third draft[i][i]  COMMENTS WELCOME !

            The WSF (World Social Forum)'s Charter of Principles[ii][ii] has come to be quite widely celebrated as an unusual and very creative constitutional document that promotes horizontality, diversity, non-linearity, autonomy, and multi-polarity.  In many ways, it is one of the strongest expressions of the core principleS of the Forum, of being an open-ended open space.[iii][iii]  Although perhaps none has actually said this, some have come close to suggesting that it is a remarkable and perhaps even historic document, making manifest many of these quite new organisational principles of emerging movements across the world.

            On the other hand, both the concept and the practice of the Forum have also come to be quite widely contested since its formation in 2001, and where most recently there has been a prominent suggestion that it is perhaps time for it to pack up,[iv][iv] and an extensive debate that followed.  This proposal was also preceded by a low intensity but extensive debate about - and struggle over - the future of the Forum, and in particular that it needs to be given a more articulated political programme.[v][v]  And this is also aside from an even longer debate about the exclusions of fellow-travellers from the WSF that the Charter has brought about, such as the Zapatistas - who many believe were an inspiration for the global justice movement in general and for the WSF in particular.[vi][vi]

            Aside from (and notwithstanding) the controversies, there is much evidence however to suggest that the organisers of the Forum have also struggled over these past seven years since its formation to interpret and make manifest the Forum as envisioned in its Charter, not only in the evolution of the design and the globalisation of the Forum but also in the form and content of the series of rules and procedures they have progressively formulated over these years, and also perhaps of the organisational and policy decisions and resolutions that they - primarily in the form of the WSF's International Council - have taken.[vii][vii]

One of the responses of the organisers of the Forum to the intense criticisms that it faced following the Nairobi Forum in January 2007 was, for instance, to suggest that what the Forum does indeed need is more clearly defined organising principles for the Forum - significantly, a set of principles aside from (but complementing) those articulated in its Charter of Principles.  It has accordingly taken steps to constitute a commission on this, which has been working over the past year and has published a certain number of documents in this direction, and with which we have already taken some steps to critically engage.[viii][viii]

            The objective of this project within our larger project of critically engaging with the Forum (see http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=WSF) is to engage with the WSF's Charter and also of all the rules, procedures, statements of principles, and practices that it has formulated and practised over these years.  

The idea is to bring together all the documents that have been generated by the WSF's IC and by all its various commissions and committees - thereby addressing one objective of our larger project, to chronicle the Forum; to make these systematically and publicly available (as has been our practice right from the beginning; see OpenSpaceForum - www.openspaceforum.net); to study all the documents to, in particular - in this project -, see the degree of manifestation, consistency, and/or contradiction with the Forum's Charter; and to use all of this to promote debate about all this, within the body of the Forum, on the specialised listserve that we run (WSFDiscuss), and given the significance of the WSF as a world experiment - also, as far as we can, in wider social and political circles.

In particular, we plan to organise a Workshop on this subject at the upcoming world meeting of the WSF in Belem, Brazil, in January 2009; either independently or in collaboration with one or more of the several organisations in different parts of the world with whom we work on such matters; and/or other taking similar initiatives there.  We have already taken the initiative of registering an event of this title, but where the details of the event registered - the title, the names of the organisers, and the introductory blurb - can all be modified until November 30 2008.

We hope to mobilise the participation and leadership in this project of members of the EIOS (Explorations in/of Open Space) Collective that formed at the WSF in Porto Alegre in 2005 (of young scholar-activists from several parts of the world; see http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=EIOSCollective); of all those who volunteered to be part of the CEOS (Critical Engagement with Open Space) process at the Nairobi Forum in 2007; of the several institutions with whom we have collaborated over the past some years (such as the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in  Durban, South Africa;[ix][ix] the Programa de Estudios sobre Democracia y Transformación Global at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru; Fronesis, in Malmö, Sweden, http://fronesis.nu/english/[x][x]); of organisations such as ARCI (Italy), who have taken similar or related initiatives, at and about the Forum; and of the several other individuals in many parts of the world who have expressed in this subject over these years, including several members of the WSF's International Council. 

            We would be very glad to hear from others who are interested in and/or already working in this area, and/or to be informed of documents and/or websites that we could and should consult in this work; and, of course, to receive copies - in hard copy or soft - of any and all relevant documents.

Comments very welcome !

_____________

CACIM

www.cacim.net, info at cacim.net 

A3 Defence Colony, New Delhi, India

Ph +91-11-4155 1521

Notes

________________________________

______________________________

Jai Sen

jai.sen at cacim.ne <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.ne> t

CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India

www.cacim.net

Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, 4155 0963 - PLEASE NOTE NEW SECOND NUMBER !

Check out the OpenSpaceForum @ www.openspaceforum.net

Subscribe to WSFDiscuss, an open and unmoderated forum on the World Social Forum and on related social and political movements and issues. Simply send an empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe at openspaceforum.net <mailto:worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe at openspaceforum.net> 

And : Join CEOS at openspaceforum.net <mailto:CEOS at openspaceforum.net> , the CEOS (Critical Engagement with Open Space) listserve for exchange and coordination on open space theory and practice and to facilitate a critical discussion of the idea of 'open space'.  Just send an empty mail to CEOS-subscribe at openspaceforum.net <mailto:CEOS-subscribe at openspaceforum.net> 

Note : In case you are having problems opening any Word attachments I have sent you here, you could try one of the following : (a) Put your cursor on the icon, do a right click, see 'Open With', and open with Word...; or (b), try saving the document onto your desktop or hard disc, and then opening it.  With apologies in advance if this advice seems to question your technological literacy...

________________________________

[i][i] This note, prepared by Jai Sen for CACIM, supersedes a first and second draft, dated May 10 2008 and November 6 2008.  For details on CACIM, see www.cacim.net. 

[ii][ii] World Social Forum Organising Committee and World Social Forum International Council, June 2001 - 'World Social Forum Charter of Principles'; dt June 10 2001. Revised and approved version of original April 2001 Charter. Available at http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.asp?id_menu=4&cd_language=2.  The process of formation of the Charter is also of some interest, including some controversies and confusions that existed at the early stages.  See : Jai Sen, December 2003d - 'A Tale of Two Charters (Or : 'Another Charter Is (Im)Possible !').  8 pp.  Available at http://www.choike.org/documentos/Two_Charters.pdf; and : Jai Sen, December 2003c - 'Two Charters of Principles : A Comparison'.  Comparison of Original April 2001 WSF Charter of Principles with Revised Charter of Principles issued in June 2001, as found on the WSF website in October 2003.  December 19 2003, 7 pp.  Available at  http://www.choike.org/documentos/Two_charters_compared.pdf.

[iii][iii] See, for instance : Teivo Teivainen, forthcoming [2006] - 'Whose Civil Society ? The Charter of Principles and Boundaries of an Open Space', Chapter 5 in his Democracy in Movement : The World Social Forum as a Process of Political Learning.  Unfinished draft, 18 March 2006, for book to be published in late 2006 by Routledge, London; but even more : Boaventura de Sousa Santos, 2004b - 'The World Social Forum and the Future : The Future of the World Social Forum', in Jai Sen, Anita Anand, Arturo Escobar, and Peter Waterman, eds, 2004 - World Social Forum : Challenging Empires (New Delhi : Viveka). Available at http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1557.html. Based on latter part of paper presented at the XXIV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Dallas, USA, March 27-29 2003. First draft, 35 pp. Can be consulted at and cited from http://www.ces.fe.uc.pt/bss/fsm.php=A9 Boaventura de Sousa Santos.

[iv][iv] Walden Bello, May 2007 - 'World Social Forum at the Crossroads', Foreign Policy in Focus, May 4 2007.  Source : Transnational Institute @ http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?act_id=16771.

[v][v] Jai Sen and Madhuresh Kumar, compilers, with Patrick Bond and Peter Waterman, January 2007 - A Political Programme for the World Social Forum ?  Democracy, Substance, and Debate in the Bamako Appeal and the Global Justice Movements - A Reader.  Published by CACIM (Critical Action : Centre in Movement), New Delhi, India, and University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society (CCS), Durban, South Africa.  Soft copy available @ www.cacim.net and www.nu.ac.za/ccs; and : ATTAC Germany, nd, c.2008 - 'The debate on the future  of the World Social Forum - from Bamako to Bélem'.  Reader for the European Attac Summer University (2008) Workshop with Francine Mestrum (Member of the WSF's IC) and with Peter Strotmann and Marie-D. Vernhes (Sand im Getriebe). Compilers : Peter Strotmann and Marie-Dominique Vernhes, ATTAC Germany, editors of Sand im Getriebe.

[vi][vi] For one discussion, see : Jai Sen, 2004 - 'A Tale of Two Charters', in Jai Sen, Anita Anand, Arturo Escobar, and Peter Waterman, eds, 2004 - World Social Forum : Challenging Empires, New Delhi : Viveka, pp 72-75. Available at http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1557.html and at http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=WSFChallengingEmpires2004 <http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=WSFChallengingEmpires2004> .

[vii][vii] For a discussion of how 'the Forum' has been drawing lessons from its experience and repeatedly reinventing itself, see : Jai Sen, January 2007 (February 2006) - 'The World Social Forum as an emergent learning process', in Futures vol 39 (2007), pp 505-522.  Available through subscription @ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2006.10.006 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2006.10.006> . Unedited original available @ http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=34 <http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=34> .  

[viii][viii] One of the first documents in this area was : Vinod Raina, October 2007 - 'Guiding Principles for Holding WSF Events', draft 1, 26.10.2007; @ http://openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=501 <http://openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=501> .  As is our practice, we at CACIM attempted to critically engage with the proposals contained in this first document : Jai Sen, November 2007a - 'Some Hard Questions, 2 : A Source Of Considerable Worry; Some Suggestions For The Forum'.  As posted on WSFDiscuss on November 1 2007 10:44:45 PM GMT+05:30.  Available @ http://openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=502 <http://openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=502> .

[ix][ix] With whom we collaborated during 2006-7 in the organisation of two ajor events at the WSF in Nairobi, in January 2007 (see http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=CACIMEvents <http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=CACIMEvents> ) and in the preparation and publication of a major Reader; see note 4 above.

[x][x] With whom we collaborated in the organisation of two events at the European Social Forum at Malmö, Sweden, in September 2008 (see http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=CACIMEvents <http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=CACIMEvents> ).

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.openspaceforum.net/pipermail/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net/attachments/20081119/f8c78490/attachment-0001.html>