We praise democracy most of the time, but we practice it as if we had accepted every argument against it, as if we believed it must depress the level of culture and of public life
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diy worldAs the suits gather in Switzerland, and the anti-suits in Brazil, openDemocracy lifts the lid on what those involved are really thinking and saying. Ezequiel Adamovsky and Susan George, anti-capitalism activists of different generations, talk about the agenda for Porto Alegre, while a veteran green activist and business advisor John Elkington reflects on whether there is any point to Davos. OpenDemocracy provides ongoing coverage from Porto Alegre.
The useful, life-giving and non-remunerative work people do for each other is not included in governments' calculation of economic value. It should be, says David Boyle. Read the rest of this post...
The charismatic Chávez, the dynamic Morales, even the mercurial Kirchner are winning the headlines in Latin America – but there is life in Lula yet, says Arthur Ituassu. Read the rest of this post...
The World Social Forum pioneered new
forms of global activism and democracy. Now it is being pressed to take
the shape of an older politics, reports Solana Larsen in Caracas.
The Brazilian president's absence
from the World Social Forum in Venezuela reveals shifting affiliations
in Latin America, says Carlos Tautz. Will Hugo Chávez, Néstor Kirchner
or Evo Morales replace Lula as the movement's new political icon?
Brazilian landless workers, Indian child labour campaigners, Canadian media activists all carried their hopes to the fifth World Social Forum. openDemocracy’s Porto Alegre team – Caspar Henderson, Solana Larsen, Vince Medeiros – talked to them. Read the rest of this post...
Fred Halliday’s verbal assault on activists at the World Social Forum rouses Peter Waterman to a passionate defence of the “global justice and solidarity movement”. Read the rest of this post...
As campaigners from around the world prepare for the fifth World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Ezequiel Adamovsky argues that the “movement of movements” has reached a crossroads. It needs a new political focus: inventing institutions that embody not hierarchies of power but cooperation among equals. Read the rest of this post...
As 150,000 participants from around the world prepare for the fifth World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil from 26-31 January 2005, Vince Medeiros critically examines western media coverage of this global event. Read the rest of this post...
European Social Forum activists and trade unionists condemn the outsourcing of call-centre jobs to India as one of globalisation’s injustices. But what do their Indian employees think? Angela Saini reports. Read the rest of this post...
The European Social Forum in London floundered over the issue of Islam’s relationship with the west, says Tunisian human rights activist Massoud Romdhani. He tells openDemocracy’s Rosemary Bechler why he prefers Marxist economist Samir Amin to Muslim reformer Tariq Ramadan. Read the rest of this post...
Will political and commercial dogma crush the liberating energies of the world’s social justice movements? The European Social Forum in London leaves Paul Kingsnorth with mixed feelings. Read the rest of this post...
Amidst the litter-strewn floors and hard-left headbangers at the 2004 European Social Forum, Paul Kingsnorth raises his eyes to the stars. Read the rest of this post...
It’s time that the global social justice movement moved beyond its “another world is possible” mantra towards a political strategy. In the week of the 2004 European Social Forum, veteran French-American global justice campaigner Susan George tells Caspar Henderson of openDemocracy that Europeans need to focus, organise – and lead. Read the rest of this post...
Record world oil prices are raising rumours of jihad in the Niger delta. But the conflict in Nigeria’s oil-producing heartland is more complex and localised than this suggests, says a human rights researcher who has met the rebel leader “Mujahid” Asari Dokubo. Read the rest of this post...
The next social revolution will happen where power lies, in the west – and it will arise from the developing world’s global diaspora. Ahead of the European Social Forum in London, leading British Asian musician and founder of Nation Records, Aki Nawaz, talks to openDemocracy. Read the rest of this post...
The decisive referendum victory of
Venezuela's populist president, Hugo Chávez, guarantees the continuation
of the Latin American oil state's tumultuous political experiment.
But in the wake of its latest electoral triumph, can Chávez's "Bolivarian
revolution" develop a larger capacity to heal the country's deep
schisms?
The western half of New Guinea is seeking to follow East Timor and win independence from rule by Indonesia’s military and global corporations. When media stereotypes add insult to injury, its campaigners find creative ways to protest. Read the rest of this post...
India’s “Dalit” – formerly known as “untouchables” – are mobilising at a global level to move beyond a long history of oppression. A French anthropologist finds a community poised between two worlds. Read the rest of this post...
A third visit to the World Economic Forum left the sustainability campaigner John Elkington enthusiastic about a gathering force which can connect pro- and anti-globalisers: social entrepreneurs. Read the rest of this post...
This Swedish activist combines observation of everyday Indian experience with her own political commitment to draw a lesson from Mumbai’s World Social Forum: women in the global justice movement are taking possession of space and voice. Read the rest of this post...
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50.50Podcast: Women and Memory, a report from Egypt In the blog: Positive Anger, Zainab Magdy Elections Most discussed articles...
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