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‘If the WSF Didn’t Exist, It Would Be Necessary To Create It’ Aminata Dramane Traoré, one of the leaders of the social movement in Mali and member of the WSF's International Committee reckons that the Forum is essential to the common struggle of people oppressed by a "violent world economy." 'Militarism and Paranoia will strike WSF' "In future many activists will be prevented from travelling to other countries by being denied entry visas, because a new kind of criminalisation of social protest is under way," says Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Taking stands is vital for the WSF The WSF as an "open space" idea can either be implemented in a liberal direction or in a committed, progressive direction, says Walden Bello, Executive Director of Focus on the Global South. Davos has lost its arrogance The WSF didn’t produce the progressive wave in Latin America by itself; nevertheless, it would be difficult to imagine it without (the presence of) the WSF, says Cândido Grzybowski, director of iBase (Brazil) and member of the WSF's International Committee. We Now Need Accomplishments "We will need legs of a marathon runner to lay the foundation of true democracy", says Anuradha Mittal, social activist and Head of the Oakland Institute in California. Everybody Leaves the Forum Happier, Wiser and Stronger Interview with Roberto Savio, journalist, founder of IPS, member of the WSF's International Committee and head of its Communication Group.

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A selection of stories from IPS/TerraViva

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Native Peoples and the World Social Forum For the indigenous peoples, the Forum provide a platform for the traditional knowledge and diverse characteristics of each region, as people raise their voices in support of justice and rights, writes T. Marcos Terena (Brazil),member of the Xané indigenous group and president of the ITC Inter-tribal Committee Labour Still has to Catch Up with the WSF Whilst new union strategies, new labour movements, and even new spaces for a new kind of international labour struggle are developing, labour does not yet have the impact on the WSF that is necessary, writes Peter Waterman, a longtime commentator on labour and social movement internationalism. A vibrating US Social Forum Over 15 planned actions are currently confirmed across the United States. The seeds of many of these actions have grown in the soil that was fertilized in Atlanta last June, when the first-ever US Social Forum was held, writes journalist Norman Stockwell from Madison, Wisconsin The Forum at the Crossroads By Walden Bello, Executive Director of Focus on the Global South, professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines