INFORMATION ABOUT THE II WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
(01/30/2002 to 02/05/2002)
Links to some sites with information about the event:
Rio Grande do Sul Government Site related to WSF
Porto Alegre Government Site related to WSF
Le Monde Diplomatique on Brasil Site
Information on Porto Alegre - WSF Host City, Rio Grande do Sul Capital, Brazil:
City description by site Wcams
City's General Data from Porto Alegre Government
City's General Data from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS
The eight Brazilian organizations that comprise the Organizational Committee for the WSF-2002 are:
- ABONG (Brazilian Association of Non-Governmental Organizations)
- ATTAC (Action for the Taxation on Transactions in Support of Citizens)
- CBJP (Brazilian Commission for the Justice and Peace, CNBB)
- CIVES (Brazilian Association of Entrepreneurs for the Citizenship)
- CUT (Workers’ Central)
- IBASE (Brazilian Institute of Social and Economical Analysis)
- MST (Landless Workers Movement)
- Rede de Justiça Social e Direitos Humanos.
The Brazilian Organizational Committee is a facilitator instance of the WSF; it is responsible for the registration of delegates and workshops, for the definition and organization of the thematic grade, for the distribution of the spaces and stands.
Around 60,000 people are being expected for the event, representing more than 170 countries. Two Peace Nobel Prizes are also being expected (Adolfo Peres Esquivel, chosen in 1980; and Rigoberta Menchu, chosen in 1992), as well as dozens of ministers from several countries (7 from France), and personalities like Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Boaventura de Souza Santos.
Activities:
(Source: Site oficial do FSM, Site do Governo do Estado do RS, referente ao FSM and local newspapers)
Several kinds of activities are being organized, in an attempt of including a maximum of participants in the program. For that, several physical spaces in the city, as auditoriums, schools, gymnasiums and colleges, besides the Event Center of PUC, will be used to decentralize the activities. The WSF aims to be more than a simple event; it aims to constitute a space for the reflection between institutions and people; alliances and movements from the civil society. The WSF program tries to find answers to questions that involve great global challenges, valuating the diversity and the multiple possibilities of building a better world.
Conferences
They are addressed to delegates, and have the purpose of releasing proposals, platforms and alternatives that are being discussed by nets, movements and organizations from the civil society that fight against the neoliberal globalization.
Special Conferences
Spaces for the debate presentation of proposals form events that were former to the WSF 2002, as the Food Security Meeting and the World Educational Forum.
Seminars
The seminars are defined by the organizations of the International Council, and have the purpose of allowing the identification, the elaboration and also of going deeper into specific themes, as well as, offering an opportunity for the public debate and for the socialization of strategic reflections. 81 seminars are being organized.
Workshops
They allow meeting, exchanging experiences, articulating, planning and defining strategies of groups, alliances and nets. More than 800 workshops are being anticipated. See the program of some workshops and also the full program at the Official Site Oficinas.
Declarations
Statements made by important personalities, whose life can be considered as a mankind patrimony or an important expression of the WSF values.
Related Events (or special)
Focused on campaigns and on the social mobilization, as: Peace Conference: A World without War is Possible, Participatory Budgeting & War Costs, International People Court for the Foreign Debt (Sandra Quintela 21 2252-0366 / 21 92926472) and the Plenary on the American Free Trade Area (ALCA) (Fátima Melo (21) 2286-1441)
Press Conferences
Taking place after the conferences, they aim to produce an integrated view of the works developed and of the formulated proposals. The National and International Organizational Committees are giving a press interview in Porto Alegre on January, the 30th, at 3:00 p.m., room 202 of the Event Center at PUC.
Press
Assistance e-mail: fsm2002imprensa@uol.com.br
Telephones: (11) 3258-4466 / 8914 / 7110 / 1573 c/ Verena Glass.
In Porto Alegre, the press will be answering on the phones: (51) 3339-9225 /
9220 / 9227, com Verena Glass
Special Forums (or parallel)
Some initiatives that put together some sectors with some interventionalistic
identities as the II World Parliamentary Forum, the Local Authorities’ Forum,
the World Judges’ Forum, the Little World Social Forum, the Pan-Amazonic Social
Forum and the Unions, Food Security and Agrarian Forums.
Cultural Programming
An open space for cultural events that strengthen the message and the public
identity of the WSF as a political and cultural event.
International
Youth Camping
It will take place in Harmonia
Park and will have a specific program within its space and another to integrate
its participants to the general dynamics of the Forum. The World Youth Meeting
will also take place on February 2nd and 3rd, at the Event
Center at PUC.
Main locations for the WSF activities:
1) Event Center Of PUC PUCRS: Av. Ipiranga, 6690, Partenon, east zone of Porto Alegre. See some images: 1
2) Harmonia Park (or Maurício Sirotzky Sobrinho): next to Porto Alegre downtown area. See images: 1, 2, 3
3) Hotel Plaza São Rafael: Alberto Bins street, 514, downtown.
4) Usina do Gasômetro: beginning of Andradas Street, downtown. See image: 1
See how was the I Fórum Social Mundial, realized in the period 25 to 30/01/2001
IMAGES OF THE II WSF:
JANUARY 29th, 2002:
- late afternoon in the city: 1, 2
- Moonlight in Porto Alegre: 1, 2
JANUARY 30th, 2002:
- Preparation of “Pôr-do-sol” amphitheater: 1
- Preparation for the Intercontinental Youth Camp: 1
JANUARY 31th, 2002 (Forum Opening Day):
- Event Center at PUCRS being prepared: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
- March at the Opening Event:
a) images of Borges de Medeiros Avenue, taken from Otávio Rocha viaduct: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
b) images of Açorianos Plaza and of Pôr-do-sol amphitheater, from Matriz Square: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
FEBRUARY 1st to 5th, 2002:
->see
live images of the Intercontinental Youth camping and Pôr-do-sol amphitheater, clicking "câmera
móvel".
FEBRUARY 2nd, 2002:
- walk around the Event Center at PUCRS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38
- Typical Rio Grande do Sul presentations at Galpão Crioulo: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
FEBRUARY 3rd, 2002:
- strolling at "Brique da Redenção": 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
- end of a II WSF meeting about agriculture at Araújo Viana auditorium: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
- Going to the Intercontinental Youth Camp:
- colorful tent city: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
- Meeting and workshops of young people groups: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
- Other images of the camp: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
- Pôr do Sul amphitheater:
- performance space, stage arches and sunset : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
FEBRUARY 4th, 2002:
-walking around WSF at PUCRS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
LAST DAY IMAGES (05/05/2002):
- closing session of the II WSF at the event center of PUCRS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SELECTION OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING IMAGES OF THE II WSF (in the opinion of this site responsible):
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
SELECTION OF THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE IMAGES OF THE II WSF (in the opinion of the responsible for the site): 1
ASSESSMENT OF THE II WSF:
There have been present at the event:
- 51,3 thousand registered participants,
- 35 thousand registered listeners
- 210 ethnics
- 186 languages
– thousand working people
- 3 thousand press professionals
– 15,320 delegates representing civil society organizations (NGO's, unions and social movements)
- 57% men and 43% women, from 131 countries
- 4.909 organizations of the civil society
- 15 thousand participants of the Intercontinental Youth Camp, from 51 countries
- 2,5 thousand children registered for the « little forum », with 800 voluntary workshop workers
- 550 thousand daily accesses to the WSF official site.
The greatest number of foreign delegates came from Italy (979), followed by Argentina (924), France (682), Uruguay (465) and the United States (406).
There have been present 2,4 thousand journalists, coming from 1,05 thousand vehicles from 48 countries; 780 free lancer journalists from 33 countries; 467 newspapers; 193 magazines; 188 radios; 140 digital medias and 116 TV channels.
Among the main personalities present at the II WSF, we highlight:
-
Noam Chomsky, linguistics professor of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), author of more than 30 books
on politics, in which he focus subjects related to the American interventionism in countries of the third world;
-Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize in 1980, and member of the executive committee of the permanent assembly for human rights of the UNO ;
-
Rigoberta Menchu, Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, received due to her fight in defense of the indigenous
people of Guatemala; she is assistant of UNESCO direction and President of the Indigenous Peace Initiative;
- Boaventura de Souza Santos, Portuguese sociologist that focus on subjects as the participatory democracy .
Source: ZH (06/02/2002), WSF International Committee, Gaucho Committee for the WSF.
See how the I World Social Forum, that took place between the 25th and 30th of January /2001, was
