Challenging Authoritarian Capitalism by Wallgren, Thomas; Pyakurel, Uddhab; Pardo, Catalina Revollo;

Short description:

The World Social Forum (WSF) was conceived as a platform for exchange of experiences and interlinking effective action. In this book, leading intellectual-activists from four continents take stock of the WSF-experience so far and suggest new paths for collaboration between all who build other possible worlds.

Long description:

The World Social Forum (WSF) was conceived as a platform for exchanging experiences and interlinking effective action. It has brought together people and social movements opposed to neoliberalism, imperialism and the domination of the world by capital. In this book, leading intellectual-activists from four continents take stock of the WSF-experience until the early 2020s and suggest new paths for collaboration between all who build other possible worlds.

Since the first meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2001, at least hundreds of thousands of activists have contributed to WSF activities locally, regionally, and globally. In the early years of the WSF, high hopes were often associated with the pink wave in Latin America, the Arab Spring, and similar events elsewhere. Many foresaw the coming of a systemic crisis and some activist-intellectuals even predicted with some accuracy the outbreak of the financial crisis. But not many predicted the strengthening of authoritarian capitalism that followed. The focus of this edited volume is on the multiple practices of struggle, organization, and conceptual innovation expressed in the main WSF slogan since 2001: "Another world is possible."

Most chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Globalizations.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: social movements and forums in times of authoritarian capitalism  1. World Social Forum – possible perspectives  2. Complexity, technology and the future of transformative politics  3. Conservative twist and challenges for Peru and Latin America: civilizing crossroads in a context of epochal change (reflections in process)  4. Global movement dilemmas: transnational representation and impact in the World Social Forum  5. Alternative paths of transformation  6. ‘Systemic thinking’, ‘regenerative culture’, and new forms of prefigurative politics: challenges for the global left  7. Transnational Feminisms Building Anti-Globalization Solidarities  8. The World Social Forum between politics and NGOs  9. Earth Vikalp Sangam: proposal for a Global Tapestry of Alternatives  10. The World Social Forum: the paradoxical quest for strength in plurality  11. Reflecting the Nepali Social Forum processes and 2018 event  Afterword: the online future of transnational activism: pandemic digitalization of the World Social Forum