1st Edition

Challenging Authoritarian Capitalism The Transformative Power of the World Social Forum

120 Pages
by Routledge

120 Pages
by Routledge

120 Pages
by Routledge

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... Read more

Introduction: social movements and forums in times of authoritarian capitalism

Thomas Wallgren, Uddhab Pyakurel, Catalina Revollo Pardo and Teivo Teivainen

1. World Social Forum – possible perspectives

Chico Whitaker

2. Complexity, technology and the future of transformative politics

Thomas Wallgren, Vijay Pratap and Ritu Priya

3. Conservative twist and challenges for Peru and Latin America: civilizing crossroads in a context of epochal change (reflections in process)

Virginia Vargas V.

4. Global movement dilemmas: transnational representation and impact in the World Social Forum

Giuseppe Caruso and Teivo Teivainen

5. Alternative paths of transformation

Gustavo Esteva

6. ‘Systemic thinking’, ‘regenerative culture’, and new forms of prefigurative politics: challenges for the global left

Ana Margarida Esteves

7. Transnational Feminisms Building Anti-Globalization Solidarities

Janet Conway

8. The World Social Forum between politics and NGOs

Simone Lovera-Bilderbeek

9. Earth Vikalp Sangam: proposal for a Global Tapestry of Alternatives

Ashish Kothari

10. The World Social Forum: the paradoxical quest for strength in plurality

Carminda Mac Lorin

11. Reflecting the Nepali Social Forum processes and 2018 event

Uddhab Pyakurel

Afterword: the online future of transnational activism: pandemic digitalization of the World Social Forum

Giuseppe Caruso, Carminda Mac Lorin and Teivo Teivainen

Biography

Thomas Wallgren is Social Activist, Professor of Philosophy, and Director of The von Wright and Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has been involved in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - Coalition for Comprehensive Democracy, Corporate Europe Observatory, and the Network Institute for Global Democratization.

Uddhab Pd. Pyakurel is Associate Professor of Political Sociology and Director of Global Engagement Division at Kathmandu University, Nepal. Pyakurel has his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, and frequently contributes to journals on socio-political developments in Nepal. He is associated with South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, and Network Institute for Global Democratization.

Catalina Revollo Pardo is Colombian Immigrant Activist and Academic in Brazil. She has her PhD in Psychosociology of Communities and Social Ecology from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and is Substitute Professor in the Department of Psychology at Federal University of Minas Gerais UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her work investigates the Colombian situation and immigrant groups in Brazil from the perspective of Latin American decolonial criticism and postcolonial studies.

Teivo Teivainen is Professor of World Politics at the University of Helsinki, Finland. On behalf of the Network Institute for Global Democratization, he took part in founding the International Council of the World Social Forum. He is a recipient of Hopkins Award of the American Sociological Association, Amartya Sen Prize of Yale University, and Outstanding Activist Scholar Award of the International Studies Association’s IPE Section.