Africa and the WSF: From Bamako 2006 to Nairobi 2007

> Pambazuka, January 26, 2006

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?i (...)

This Pambazuka "question and answer" provides a general overview of the World Social Forum (WSF), addresses the primary criticisms of the forum. African awareness-raising and mobilization was made possible in 2006 by holding polycentric events, which included Bamako, Mali. African attendance at previous forums had been minimal; therefore it was important that the WSF provide a space for groups from the area hardest hit by the globalization and poverty link to voice their concerns and ideas. read

date of on-line publication : 9 May 2006

Africa

YLÄ-ANTTILA Tuomas

Is Structurelessness Democratic? Two Normative Frameworks for Debates at the World Social Forum

> Network Institute for Global Democratization, November 2005

http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/adv (...)

Many NGO activists appreciate the World Social Forum’s ‘open meeting place’ format, in which no individual or organisation has explicit power, and everyone has a voice in the forum debates. However, this unstructured format ‘can lead to less democracy, rather than more of it,’ warn Finnish scholars. This paper discusses the need for members of the International Council, the decision-making body of the WSF, to adopt more formal rules in order to preserve the unique ‘open’ format of the Forum. read

date of on-line publication : 3 January 2006