IPS is once again sending a multi-lingual team to provide an independent record of the biggest global gathering of civil society. The first outside Brazil, and coming this time just before the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland, Mumbai could be a new beginning.
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Out of the WEF’s Shadow
Movement Injects Bold, New Spirit into WSF
By Ranjit Devraj
As the curtain comes down on the fourth World Social Forum in Mumbai, its organisers and its rich mix of activists, experts and campaigners said they are confident that the movement has outgrown its original raison d'etre becoming a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum (WEF) and opposing the policies of the Bretton Woods institutions.
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Beats Better than Bombs
By Alecia McKenzie
''Drop beats not bombs.'' That is the message four young hip-hop artists and filmmakers brought to the WSF.
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Sexual Violence Makes Another World Impossible
By Eunice Mafundikwa
THE ALLEGED rape of a South African female delegate to the Mumbai social forum has elevated the profile of gender based violence at this annual gathering of activists from around the globe.
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WSF in Egypt in 2006?
By Raúl Pierri
This year's WSF in India is a historic event, activists say with a note of satisfaction as the forum comes to an end. But it may well be time for this annual international gathering, which seeks a new kind of globalisation, to be held in other regions such as Africa.
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Iran’s Nobel Peace Price
Ten Minutes with Shirin Ebadi
By Zofeen Ebrahim
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE winner Shirin Ebadi, well groomed in tea pink trouser suit, flicks her coiffeured hair with manicured nails, barely able to hide her fatigue and sleepiness in front of reporters. Here she gives TerraViva 10 minutes.
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Democratise Globalisation before Globalisation Denatures Democracy
By Boutros Boutros-Ghali
WHILE GLOBALISATION has generated great hope for much of the world, it has also given rise to numerous threats.
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WSF marginalising the marginalised?
By Joyce Mulama
"We do not feel we belong here. We have been struggling since the start of the conference to be recognized but no one seems to care about us and our needs," Ghai said in a press conference Jan 19. Behind her was a white banner with the words: "Why Are You Also Ignoring Disability?”
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A Culture Shock for Some
By Dionne Jackson Miller and Joyce Mulama
When Molly Linehan checked her e-mail a day ago, there was a message from her mother. "I've been reading about this forum you're at. Please be careful.”
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Brazilians Go Home Slightly Restless
By Mario Osava
Brazilians, accustomed to street demonstrations and a carnival culture, could not resist the call of the crowds of Indians filling the streets of the Nesco industrial complex each day of the WSF in Mumbai, from morning until night, in rallies that drew groups of many colours and diverse demands.
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NO TO LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM! Say Some - For Others, Dominance of English is No Problem
By Dionne Jackson Miller
Despite the tower of babel-like atmosphere at times resulting from the over 130 nationalities at the WSF, most people appear to have managed to communicate somehow. There were, however, some criticism that English predominated too much.
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Young voices ring loud
The shouts of 20 young people rang out at the entrance of the Don Bosco school in downtown Mumbai against the police for stopping their procession.
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They Came, They Shouted, They Left Dusty but Changed
By A McKenzie
The World Social Forum (or "Fair", as some have been referring to it) was an experience in a lifetime.
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And many more stories:
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India's hosting of the just-finished fourth World Social Forum has left an indelible mark on the movement, still nascent and without peer, but now also facing growing-up pains. The huge participation of marginalised groups brought many WSF veterans face to face with the issues that they say they have been fighting for.
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India as Venue Provides a Tough Reality Check
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
MUMBAI - India's hosting of the just-finished World Social Forum (WSF) has left an indelible mark on the body politic of this annual meeting, still nascent and without peer on its fourth year but now also facing growing-up pains.
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Out of the WEF’s Shadow
Movement Injects Bold, New Spirit into WSF
By Ranjit Devraj
As the curtain comes down on the fourth World Social Forum in Mumbai, its organisers and its rich mix of activists, experts and campaigners said they are confident that the movement has outgrown its original raison d'etre becoming a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum (WEF) and opposing the policies of the Bretton Woods institutions.
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WSF in Egypt in 2006?
By Raúl Pierri
This year's WSF in India is a historic event, activists say with a note of satisfaction as the forum comes to an end. But it may well be time for this annual international gathering, which seeks a new kind of globalisation, to be held in other regions such as Africa.
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Stop Debt Payments Now
By Joyce Mulama
"Our African governments must know that we are watching them". Pressure is mounting on African governments not to repay hefty external debts owed to donor organisations.
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Globalisation begets Insecurity, begets violence
By Raul Pierri
THE PATH of economic globalisation must be changed in order to avoid undermining social security. Otherwise it will continue to exacerbate poverty, and therefore violence, warned a number of panellists Monday that included Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics.
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Grassroots? Just Look Outside
By Qurratul Ain Tahmina
The tiny brown boy slumps on the slope of the highway divider, playing happily with a discarded food tray that someone chucked over the granite perimeter wall of the industrial complex that serves as the venue of the WSF.
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Oxfam official says delegates should listen more to each other
Fewer Talking Heads, Please
By Dionne Jackson Miller
All over the world, social forums are being set up and they are all making connections, in countries, and between different movements
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No More WSF for Me - South African Activist
By Eunice Mafundikwa
The frustrated expression on her face said it all. Mohau Pheko, a gender and economic justice activist from South Africa is up to the neck with World Social Forums. She has attended all four and is definite that she will not be at the next WSF to be held in Brazil about same time next year.
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Landscape worsening but...Media Watch Makes Progress
By Dionne Jackson Miller
"The situation of the media has dramatically worsened for people who believe that media should be about democratic pluralism," Roberto Savio told a Media Watch seminar on Monday.
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All Gov’ts are Targets
By Qurratul Ain Tahmina
Many nations are strong supporters of Washington's policies, say activists.
If delegates at the World Social Forum, regardless of where they came from, were asked to identify a single enemy, they would have little hesitation in naming George Bush and his government.
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Health a Casualty of War
By Sandhya Srinavasan
Testimonies from Palestine, Africa, Afghanistan, and Equador
"THE IRAQI RESISTANCE is turning Iraq into another Vietnam for the U.S. forces," said Walden Bello, social activist from the Philippines and recipient of the Alternative Nobel Prize.
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Globalisation from Below
Mix of hope and scepticism as up to 100,000 people from 132 countries descend on Mumbai.
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And many more stories:
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WEF DAVOS SWITZERLAND
Without the tensions of a parallel counter-summit, the World Economic Forum in Davos this year is focused on the links between economic growth and security, as well as the reconstruction of Iraq, calls for the “eurozone” to cut interest rates, investment in China, and the WTO's Doha Round. Read about it in IPS.
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DAVOS FORUM: Farm Trade Unnerves Even the Most Stolid
By Gustavo Capdevila
DAVOS, Switzerland - The inequality of international farm trade, of all the problems afflicting the developing countries, is apparently the only one capable of shaking up the more than 2,000 business executives, financiers, government leaders and economists participating in the World Economic Forum this week.
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DAVOS FORUM: 'A World Beyond Iraq Also Needs Reconstruction'
Sanjay Suri
LONDON - Leaders of the developed countries, gathered for the World Economic Forum in Davos, are being asked to look beyond themselves -- and beyond Iraq -- to rebuild a new world.
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TRADE: Pressure Rises for WTO Negotiators
By Gustavo Capdevila
DAVOS, Switzerland - The goal of recovering this year the ground lost in the Doha Round of trade talks is winning support among the 147 member states of the World Trade Organisation, troubled by two years of sluggish negotiations.
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RIGHTS-CANADA: Journalist Caught in 'Post-9/11 Witch Hunt'
Analysis - By Marty Logan
MONTREAL - When police raided an Ottawa journalist's office and home this week because of an article she wrote about a Canadian deported from the United States to face torture in Syria, it was a reminder how closely this country has followed the U.S. lead in the ”war on terrorism”.
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TRADE: Agriculture the Yardstick for Liberalisation
Gustavo Capdevila
DAVOS, Switzerland - The director-general of the World Trade Organisation rejects the idea of separating agriculture from the rest of the issues in the Doha Round as a means to kick-start the foundering multilateral negotiations.
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DAVOS FORUM: Flexibility the Price for Making Profits in China
By Gustavo Capdevila
DAVOS, Switzerland - China holds surprises for foreign investors, who might find themselves doing business with the president of a major company who is also the leader of the firm's labour union and local secretary of the governing Communist Party.
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DAVOS FORUM: Two Different Worlds Overlap
Gustavo Capdevila
DAVOS, Switzerland - The World Social Forum, which ended Wednesday in Mumbai, seemed to have a lingering after-effect on the corporate executives, financiers and government leaders gathered in the alpine resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF), which began that same day.
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TRADE: NGOs Take Their Own Message to Davos
Stefania Bianchi
BRUSSELS - Leading non-governmental organisations and trade unions will be closely monitoring the World Economic Forum, opening in Davos Wednesday, to ensure that they can make their own message clear in what threatens to be a mini trade ministerial.
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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Meet Outgrows World Economic Forum - Activists
Ranjit Devraj
MUMBAI, India - As the curtain comes down on the fourth World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai, its organisers and its mix of activists said the movement has outgrown its original raison d'etre - becoming a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum (WEF) and opposing the policies of the Bretton Woods institutions.
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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Growing Pains, Growing Success
Raúl Pierri
MUMBAI, India - The World Social Forum took an historic step in moving from Brazil to India this year, but there is plenty of room for improvement, say activists, convinced that the global gathering should head to Africa in 2006.
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