Moving toward the WSF 2005: Participate in Its (...)

Dear Friends,

With this letter we start the mobilization for the Fifth World Social Forum (WSF), which will be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from January 26 to January 31, 2005. This letter has been sent, in different languages, to thousands of organizations that have participated in previous editions of the WSF (in Porto Alegre from 2001 to 2003 and in Mumbai in 2004) and in the Thematic and Regional Social Forums. Besides that, it can be duplicated and sent through electronic mailing lists available with the National and Local Social Forums Committees.

There is a special reason why we are contacting you now. We are planning important changes in the format of the Fifth WSF. While maintaining the diversity which is typical of the WSF, we would like to transform the WSF into a space that is increasingly capable of facilitating interlinkages and common actions among different participants who come together in the WSF. In order to achieve that, it is necessary to improve the process of finalizing "large events" (Conferences, Panels, Testimonies and Round Tables of Dialogue and Controversies) as well as the registration of hundreds of Seminars and Workshops that can be proposed by any organization registered for the event.

As everything that happens in the WSF, this step forward can only be possible with the participation of all - including yours. This new process starts now. Through a questionnaire designed to initiate the consultation, which will be available on the Internet, we will try to assess the central themes which are seen as priority issues by organizations for the WSF in 2005, and around which organizations are interested in organizing their activities at the WSF. Based on this consultation we shall initiate the process of building the Program for the WSF over the next eight months. We are looking forward to your active participation in the process!

Warm regards from the WSF International Secretariat

TOWARD THE WSF 2005

The new format for the WSF has been designed during an International Council meeting, which took place between April 4 and 7, in Passignano sul Trasimeno, Italy. Following are the principal elements in the new format:

Facilitate the aggregate of proposals for Workshops and Seminars
Consultation to formulate the basic thematic cores of the WSF 2005 Program
Working Groups to facilitate the aggregate of proposals
"Large events" finalized through the consultations
Autonomy and diversity guaranteed in the entire process
Program finalized in November
Now it is up to us

Facilitate the Aggregation of Proposals for Workshops and Seminars

One of the key features of the World Social Forum is its non-centralized format. At the WSF, any organization can present its views, experiences and activities through Workshops and Seminars that the organization is free to organize. Besides, as the WSF does not release a final statement, there is no hierarchy among the diverse issues discussed at the WSF. This commitment to plurality has allowed WSF to attract a diverse number of movements which are united in their opposition to neo-liberalism. In 2001, 420 self-organized activities were held. By 2004, this figure increased to around 1,200. This emphasis on the promotion of diversity will always be at the core of the WSF and will be reinforced. Thus, in WSF 2005, the free and autonomous organization of Workshops and Seminars will continue to be a right enjoyed by everybody who takes part in the Forum.

Equally important, however, is the necessity to allow organizations and people who are interested in struggling towards similar goals to come together in order to build links and plan common actions - during and between World Social Forum events. In the process of preparing for WSF 2005, we want to enhance the mechanisms capable of ensuring this as well.

The first mechanism we need to work on is information. This year, when an event (workshop or seminar) is registered, each organization will be informed through the WSF website about other self-organized activities already proposed on the same theme. The system will also provide contacts, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of the organizations that are associated with these proposed activities.

The idea is to allow the initiation of a dialogue and building of linkages among those who struggle for a new world before the World Social Forum event. We hope that in many cases this would lead to the combining or unifying of Workshops and Seminars proposed on similar topics, or coordination between proposals on shared concerns. The outcome should be activities that are richer, more diverse and more capable of generating alternatives and actions. We would like to avoid repetition and redundancy. Multiple events on similar concerns with little or no co-ordination is counterproductive and frustrating for thousands of people who come to the WSF.

The aggregates (combining of events or coordination between registered events on similar themes) of events is, however, a voluntary and self-organized process that will only be facilitated (but not directed) by the International Council and the International Secretariat of the WSF. There is no obligation for any organization to be part of this process of aggregate. Organizations will retain the option of continuing with their initial proposal if they do not wish to associate with others or if efforts to aggregate their events with those of others are not successful.

Consultation to Formulate the Basic Thematic Cores of the WSF 2005 Program

The efforts at facilitating dialogue and interlinkages begin with this letter, sent to thousands of organizations that have participated in previous editions of the WSF (in Porto Alegre from 2001 to 2003 and in Mumbai in 2004) and in the Thematic and Regional Social Forums. Through a questionnaire designed to initiate the consultation, which will be available soon, we will try to assess the central themes which are seen as priority issues by organizations for the WSF in 2005, and around which organizations are interested in organizing their activities at the WSF. Based on this consultation we shall initiate the process of building the Program for the WSF over the next eight months.

Let it be clear that this consultation is not designed to function as the registration process for Seminars and Workshops - we understand that most organizations are yet to finalize the structure and content of events they wish to organize at WSF 2005. Thus participation in this consultation by filling the questionnaire is not a necessary requirement for those who would eventually want to register events for WSF 2005. But those who do participate will be helping WSF 2005 to move forward.

Organizations can participate in the consultation by filling the questionnaire on the WSF website — this process will start from the beginning of June. The information filled in by organizations will be available on a database that everybody can access through the WSF website. Organization that do not have access to the internet can send their filled questionnaires by regular mail, which will also be incorporated into the database. The database will be user-friendly and allow people to retrieve information regarding the kind of proposals that organizations have made, their contact details and other relevant information.

A final output of the consultation will be the defining of the thematic cores of the WSF 2005. These will emerge from the consultation, from your inputs, and not based on any decision of the International Council or the Secretariat. We see this as a major advance for the "open space" concept of the WSF process.

Working Groups to facilitate the aggregate of proposals

Access to the database will allow organizations to initiate contacts with others with similar proposals. This process would also be supported by working groups, which we will call aggregate groups. They are expected to be formed in July.

Aggregate groups will be created to facilitate specific thematic areas or issues around which there are greater concentrations of expected activities - and, therefore, the task of coordinating or unifying Workshops and Seminars is more complex. The Content and Methodology Commission of the WSF International Council will coordinate the process, but it will essentially be a self-organized process.

For each issue, members of the aggregate group will be drawn from representatives of organizations that are interested in organizing Seminars and Workshops on that particular issue. The groups will need to function keeping in mind the inclusive spirit of the WSF process, respecting diversity and plurality.

Let us see how we propose to start forming these aggregate groups. Supposing, for example, there are a dozen of organizations which indicate through the consultation that they are interested in promoting issues related to Global Peace in the WSF 2005. In June, the Methodology and Content and Thematic commissions of the IC will start to contact these organizations and propose that they form a aggregate group. When the proposal is accepted, the group can decide upon a common agenda over the next few weeks. The group will then have the task of putting together a set of workshops and seminars around the issue of Peace. By incorporating different points of view, they will be richer, more diverse, and capable of formulating alternatives that are attractive to people.

"Large events" finalized through the consultations

The work of the aggregate groups will not be limited, however, just to the Workshops and Seminars. In 2005, the "large events" (Conferences, Panels, Testimonies and Round Table of Dialogue and Controversy), which were finalized, until 2003, by the International Council, will be constructed from the consultations.

Let us go back to our example. To enrich further the agenda of Global Peace, the aggregate group constituted to deal with this theme will be able to plan, for example, Testimonies with people who are fighting against the war, a Conference, a Panel and a Round Table of Dialogue and Controversy.

The new methodology incorporates, among other elements, the innovations introduced during WSF 2004, in Mumbai, where part of the "large events" were conceived and organized constructed by international networks - and not by the Indian Organizing Committee. The objective now is to work further on this innovation. By this process the "large events" besides being organized by multiple actors with a diversity of views and perceptions, would also be organically connected to the Workshops and Seminars.

Autonomy and diversity guaranteed in the entire process

Formal registration of Workshops and Seminars will start from August on. When registering an activity, each organization will have access to the proposed agendas prepared by different Aggregate Groups. They will be available on the WSF website. Organizations will be provided with the facility to add or make changes to these agendas that have been proposed. The Aggregate Groups will continue to facilitate the process.

The events registered will be available on the WSF website and the opportunity would be available to make contacts and link with organizers proposing events on similar themes. When organizations, through the active mediation of aggregate groups or through their own initiative decide to combine or co-ordinate their events with those of others, they shall have the facility to modify their initial proposals.

As would be clear, the autonomy and diversity that distinguishes the WSF will be guaranteed throughout the process. The process of aggregate of events will respect the principles of inclusive participation, continuing dialogue and plurality of views.

We will facilitate this effort to build a WSF that is designed to promote the construction of alternatives and the initiation of common actions. We will work to promote different kinds of preparatory meetings to further this effort. The principal goal would be to try to ensure that, in Porto Alegre, participating groups are able to jump from "I" to "we". To repeat: no aggregate of activities at the WSF 2005 will be imposed. Those who so wish can organize their independent activities or co-ordinate with other organizations without the mediation of aggregate groups.

Program finalized in November

The new methodology for the WSF 2005 Program also seeks to solve one of the biggest problems at World Social Forums: lack of previous announcement of the activities to be held during the event.

The process starting from registration of events to the final phase of aggregate of events will last three months: from August to October. In this period, besides the Workshops and Seminars, "large events" proposed by Aggregate Groups will be finalized. In November, the first draft of the Program will be available on the WSF website - subject to minor adjustments and corrections. This will help organizations decide in advance the kind of activities which they would like to participate in or conduct during the event. This will help them prepare better for Porto Alegre.

Now it is up to us

The innovation detailed above are a challenge for all of us. We feel that after successfully organizing four editions of the WSF, it is now possible to organize a Forum that maintains the plural nature of the WSF, and at the same is more capable of facilitating the formulation of alternatives and the construction of common actions.

Nothing will be possible in a top-down manner. We propose that you get involved with the World Social Forum 2005 from now! Print and spread this letter and the questionnaire/ consultation form; send it by e-mail to other members of the organization you belong to; discuss the questions drifts with them. If possible, try to send printed versions of this letter and of the form to organizations that identify themselves with the Forum, but have not Internet access.

From June, participate in the consultation by filling in the questionnaire on the WSF website, and encourage others whom you know to do likewise. Follow the results of the consultation as they unfold on the WSF website. Contact other organizations that are interested in debating issues in which you have an interest. Consider the possibility of joining a Aggregate Group.

Beyond this, we will of course be willing to clarify any queries that you may have.

A little more than eight months separate us from Porto Alegre 2005. Let us strive to build a World Social Forum that stays alive in everybody’s memory, because it truly advances the struggle for a new world.

Warm regards from the WSF International Secretariat

Moving toward the WSF 2005: Participate in Its Elaboration Now