Convergence: Volume 36 Number 3/4

A new social phenomenon has been increasingly establishing itself over the last few years: a strong resistance to the idea of a single thought, that which affirms that the future of humanity is conditioned to market laws, to economic globalisation and its recommendations of a neoliberal nature.

This social movement, called by some an anti-globalisation movement and by others alter-globalisation, was born in Seattle in the United States, cradle of world capitalism, and arrived in 2004 at Mumbai, India, with the fourth World Social Forum. It has placed before the eyes of humanity a question about the course it is taking after the fall of the Berlin wall, when capitalism with no control took possession of the world, producing devastating consequences for democratic living among nations and peoples. The world has become more unequal, more people have lost their perspectives of the future, and more countries have found themselves distant from the possibility of obtaining a decent living for their sons and daughters. At the same time, the world has become more divided, more barriers have been constructed among human beings; racism and prejudice against the poor of the world, the religions of the poor and the poorer countries has grown.

On the other hand, the world is witnessing technological development hitherto never seen by humanity, and an increase in the production of goods and services as well as in consumption. These products reach a market with no frontiers, facilitated by the development of communication and the means of transportation. But there are few who can avail themselves of these improvements, there are few who can appropriate themselves of the wealth that is produced, aggravating the distance between the rich and poor of our planet.

This progressive increase of the production and circulation of wealth has produced another impact: the progressive destruction of natural goods and the reduction of biodiversity, condemning future generations to live in a world with a threatened future.

The new social movement mentioned has constituted itself against this state of affairs, and has affirmed its disposition to involve itself in constructing alternatives with the cry that “another world is possible”. Born within the context of the protests against the multilateral institutions, especially the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO, millions of people have taken to the streets to call for an end to this course that leads to destruction and death. Great manifestations have unfolded in world meetings that seek to propose alternatives and organise social players to construct a globalisation of another kind, where human rights can be respected and where sustainability of natural resources can be taken into consideration.

The great novelty of this process is civil society as protagonist, as seen in the public presence of the social movements and the civil organisations that bring the voices of the social players - peasants, indigenous communities, women, youth and many others - and their availability in constituting a political force for change. With this, a new political culture is being built, where the diversity of voices, their horizontality, the collective construction of alternatives, are all marks of a new model of constituting authority and social change.

Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001, the World Social Forum has shown an impressive capacity for growth and for agglutinating organisations and movements worldwide, in criticising the present organisations of the world economy and in its impacts on social and environmental order. It is the place where ideas and ways to construct alternatives are produced; it is also there where action strategies are strengthened.

The movement of civil society has shown the limitations of the single thought that has reigned absolute, imposing the idea that there is no way out for humanity other than within the context of a savage and devastating capitalism. Globalisation has been questioned, its neoliberal policies have been put to the test and its social and environmental impacts denounced. The old truth has proven to be false. The movement of civil society has also revealed those that produce these disasters: the multilateral organisms, the great corporations, the World Economic Forum at Davos. It has been denouncing and opposing the new configuration of the empire of the United States and its strategy to intensify its presence in the world, its bellicose militarism and its action against countries, human lives and natural resources.

All of these phenomena over the last few years have been followed by an intense mobilisation and participatory action of old and new social players on the scene, who involve themselves in a common fight. There is here an educational dimension that has not been totally explored, that makes new groups and new generations incorporate themselves in these strategies for action, this new participatory political culture of civil society. This is the theme of this special issue of Convergence.

This issue was organised towards seeking a reflection on the World Social Forum as an educational space. Initially, the present meaning of globalisation and the process of the World Social Forum is discussed. Paul Bélanger highlights the globalisation phenomenon and discusses education as a positive factor in the search for an alternative to it. Anne Marie Speyer and José Corrêa Leite discuss the World Social Forum process, the first text configuring historical information on its constitution and development and the second discussing its political meaning.

The articles that follow seek to point out how the World Social Forum process unfurls in educational spaces, in movements to learn and to teach. Sérgio Haddad deals with the WSF as an educational dimension that shapes its expansion and its course. Maité Llanos discusses the educational meaning of the WSF event based on the youth camp as a space for learning and for social practices, with the prospect of deconstructing neoliberalism. Celita Eccher, Cecilia Fernández and Iliana Pereyra show how the action of women’s movements intervene in the WSF process and how they learn with their participation. Jan Eldred and Alan Tuckett discuss the WSF as practice in the field of adult education.

This edition is a contribution to the debate on the relation between the recent movement of civil society worldwide as a phenomenon for fighting for a just and democratic world and the role of education and educators within this context.