Introduction
This report to social movement analysts and activists in South Africa and the rest of Africa arises from the meeting of the International Council (IC) of the World Social Forum that was held in Mumbai following immediately on from the Fourth World Social Forum that took place there 16-21 January 2004. Rather than trying to report in detail on the Mumbai forum itself, the main concern of this report is to communicate the assessments and the proposals for the future of the forum that were posed during the IC meeting, and to contribute to further discussions and actions on the matters raised directly, or posed indirectly. However, even as activists in Africa are becoming more aware of the WSF, it is necessary to briefly locate this report within some broader overviews of the nature of the WSF and the existing/emerging debates around its aims and functioning.
Ever since it was first held in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in 2001, and then again in 2002 and 2003, the WSF has been growing in size (to include many hundreds of meetings), expanding in participation (from 15,000, to 60,000, to 100,000) and increasing in impact. It is also developing further in its methods of organisation through many discussions, external analyses and internal self-assessments. In this way, for example, it was agreed that the location of the WSF should be 'rotated' annually, alternating between Porto Alegre and other key parts of the world. For the first move it was agreed that the WSF of 2004 should be held in India as another major country of the South and one with the vast and vibrant social movements that are so crucial as the aim and inspiration, and the vital mass base of the WSF wherever it is held.
The fourth meeting of the WSF drew more than 120,000 people into the Indian mega-city of Mumbai. As had been intended, most participants were from the Indian sub-continent and from the rest of Asia. Whereas Porto Alegre, as was also to be expected, was heavily Latin American in the mass participation. There were also more Africans at the Mumbai forum than in earlier forums in Porto Alegre. This is mainly due to the increasing interest in the WSF within Africa. It is difficult to report exactly how many African organisations and individuals were present in Mumbai, but it is necessary to note that, despite efforts by the African Social Forum to identify and finance a large number of African organisations to go to Mumbai (seemingly between 60 and 70) a larger number seem to have attended under other invitations and financing, and many of these went as 'partner' organisations to Northern NGOs [see also 4. below]. As to the attendance from South Africa per se, it must be stressed that there was no single "South African delegation", as the local media reported, because the approximately 25-30 South African organisations and individuals present in Mumbai also seem to have gone there on a variety of 'tickets' and under separate initiatives and invitations.
What is more generally significant about the predominantly Asian version of the WSF is that it introduced new features and gave different emphases to various dimensions of the WSF processes. The preparatory Indian organising and mobilising efforts over two years contributed to the expansion of the WSF subject content and coverage, and to debates within, and about, the WSF in significant ways. The experience of Mumbai is also stimulating further analyses and debates about the nature of this dynamic expression of popular forces, and about the direction(s) of development of this important means for the expanding organisation, interaction and cooperation of such forces throughout the world .
Footnotes:
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Based on a presentation made to a WSF Report-Back meeting hosted by the Alternative Information and Development Center in Cape Town on 12th February 2004.
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