Whats hot and not WSF 2005

Whats hot and not- the list

2005-02-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

...Whats hot and Whats Not....
Porto Alegre was hot- beneath the seas of white tents thousands sweated to make a better world possible- but did they? World Socialsing Reporters have this prelimary report

Que Scorchio :Female Mapuche Indian Intervention at a meeting about the future of the WSF

Que chungo:Marginalising Indigenous Movments by siting the Indigenous Space far away from everywhere else.
Coporate sponsorship of the WSF

Hot- MTD ( movement of unemployed workers), Collectivo Situationes, Not Haves and Dalits, African Social Forum, Anti Capitalism, Global Days of Action Against Capitalism, Campaign against the Green Desert

Not- MST ( movement of landless peasants), Anti Bushism, Global Day of action against poverty, PGA ( sort it out)

Hot: Reclaiming public water Not: Reclaiming the UN

Hot- Durban Declartion that put some NGOs into a tizz Not- G19 declaration- consensus?

Hot- Babels/ Nomad commitment to translation and horizontality Not- Babels/Nomad reality

Hot- Grupo reflexion rural-campaingning against 'sustainable soya'
Not- Sustainable Soya- as perpeutated by WWF- green capitalism- legitmising the expansion of monocultural and transgenic soya

Hot- Horizontality- Not- Diagonals

Hot- lack of mainstream media, Not- Mainstream Medias thirsty greed for spectacluaristions at the WSF

Hot- Free Knowledge- Not- LINUX

Hot- Community Radio- Not são Paulo Indymedia

Movers and Shakers of the WSF
John Holloway, Chavez, Leo Bassi ( Brazilian poltical clown), Economic Hitman-John Perkins

Passados
Immauel Wallerstein, Lula, Glibero Gil ( minister of culture singing Bob Marley and 'Imagine') Hardt

Hot; princiapls of the International Youth Camp Not; The International Youth Camp ( a crazy mix of anarcho capitalism- not unlike Glastonbury)

Hot- GBLT space
Not- Village of Peace

Society
hot- homo erotic interprutations of Capoeira, topless brazilian men, we are everywhere face scarves, glue sniffing bogeling, unkempt 70´s hairdos, Mate tea, cladestinos in hotels, MST straw hats, MTD t´shirts Portaloos in IYC ( exceptionally clean despite the thousand of people), clowning , chairs out ( mass removal of chairs to make room for more people in meetings)

Not- showers in bikinis, earring alley ( aggressive jewellry sellers) ,doors t´shirts, PT flags, Pastels de Queijo, mass robberys in campsite, baseball hats, MST t,shirts

Words we used - Global Resonance, glutenate, embroyonic, estamos on el camino- pregunatando, laboratory

Words we didn´t- mass mobilsation, plenary, name dropping of any sort

Simmering
Caracol Intergalaticka- it almost boiled but didn´t quite- however with the ESF in Greece and the global days of Action and caracolians promising presence at all of these the Caracol could spiral to become a big name in 2005.

Discussion Points ( topics left of due to lack of consensus in the group)
Yo Mango
Solidarity Economies

Where do we go from here

2005-01-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

News from the journos
The forum attracts vast amounts of journalists- our reporter inside the press centre has this report.
" A number of journalists and politicains mingling inside the press centre are locked in a current analysis that the social movements and the social forums are suffocating themselves.This analysis stems from the fact the forum has failed to deliver anything and simulatenously failed to adher to its own principals, the fact its growth is slow, that it has not tried to seize power as a whole but been faced with elements within it trying to seize power and that the social movments themselves have no where to go"
This indeed is a matter of debate- of course its clear that 150,000 people from 170 countries gathering together wanting to change the world is incredible- but scratch beneath that superficial surface and its hard not to be cynical.
Hypocrisies abound here- one finds oneself simulatenously inspired and despairing, cynical and incredibly hopeful.
Can the process go beyond what it is- does it need to/ does it have to- is it possible or even necessary to have such large events that begin to implode themselves.
more later....

2005-01-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

Que malo!!!!!

Erruptions at the camp
Because of a youth camp decision to run a boycott of coca cola and pepsi products throughout the forum numerous solidarity economy vendors are stocking local soft drink products and upping the prices.

frantic meetings are now taking place to decide what to do

Que scorchio!!!

470- Hippie hoppie, yo mangoie type local movement

whats hot whats not 23rd Jan

2005-01-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

Que Scorchio!!

words- laboratory, glutenate, critcal transtions, another slogan really is possible, book mosaic, electro clash music at the gay bar
Muy Chungo!!!
ethnic jewellery sellers
words- plenaries, another world is possible, merge, flag of flags, psy-trance parties, hetros at the gay bar

hot goss...
The opening ceremony speeches of the WSF will be by Lulu, Chavez and Zapatero- Spains new prime minister. Manu Chaou will end the line up

Que bizarrio!!
Apparently- the centre of the earth is one massive highly charged crystal that creates several intense concentrations of energy on the earths surface. Where these point coverge cities appear in the sky above them. Cities of peace, harmony, magic, spiritualism- other worlds we can only dream of.
Apparently its possible to connect with the people in these cities and have some form of dialogue with them. Anyway one group of people in the village of peace are putting a considerable amount of energy in trying to get hold of aforementioned people and invite them to the youth camp.
As of yet they havent answered but we are trying to ring them again tonight at sun set.

2005-01-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

20th January

In the last two days numbers of people have swelled immensly as people from all over the world start to pour in accompanied by flags, drums, ethnic wear and earrings. Paths of the park are lined with a curious mixture of jewellry sellers, alcholics, total nutters, earnest socialists, moody punks, serious anarchists, floaty environmentalists, peyote swilling spirtualists, computer geeks, hip hops kids, bemused people from the nearby favela and the odd horse- everywhere you look random constructions appear , tents spring up and some one tries to sell you some earrings.
As we begin the process of this forum it already feels crazy, like an enormous explosion has taken place and hell mouth has opened to allow the most incredible variety of political, spiritual, emotional beliefs time in the 'real world'
But overiding all of this there is this feeling of solidairty, of excitement, anticipation, of construction of passionate chaos.
I thought that we were not winning -that we were marginilzed, that we were often shouting blindly into the wind- but then someone shakes my hand and says- I heard what you are doing in the UK, I want to come can I come
and then it comes back...we have achieved amazing things and we will do many more.

2005-01-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

The relation between the camp and the forum is at times tense and often chekered by political manipulation and attempts at domination from some elements of the central organizing commitee of the forum. Last night the forum rang up camp organizers to say that 21,000 people registered for the forum would be staying at the camp.
The camp infrastructure has capacity for 25,000. Already 12,654 people have registered for the youth camp-separatly from the forum...
Meaning the potential population of the camp could well be expanding to around 50,000 people.
This latest news has done nothing to relieve realtions between forum and camp organizers, and provides a major last minute headache for infrastructure groups within the camp.
Que chungo!

World Social Forum in Numbers

2005-01-17T05:23:00.000-08:00

Number of particpants: 120,000 from 170 countries
Number of people registered for the youth camp as of 14/01/2005: 25,564
(expected to double)
Amount of space taken up by forum:7,800 metres
Metres of canvas used to cover marquees: 2000
Number of Babels translators: 450

Cost of forum: 14-15 millions reias ( about 4 million euros)

Where it comes from
4.5 million- NGOs and agencies that fund social projects
5 million-Federal Government and Minsitry of Tourism
1 million- Petro Bas ( big Brazilian oil company) and Federal Bank of Brazil
2 million- Government of the state ( 600,000 in services)
2 million- Prefect of Porto Alegre- Joan Verle of the PT before he was ousted from power by the more right wing PPS late last year.

Next world social forum rumours

2005-01-17T05:03:00.000-08:00

Possibly Morocco- although for many this is the worse possible option as there will be the European Social Forum in Greece and the Meditarreanean social forum all in 2005- to much action round the med.

Simultaneous continental forums- although this does not get many people going but the idea is to give continents the opportunity to focus on their regional areas- however there is already the Forum of the Americas, African Social Forum and the European Forum.

other ideas- Senegal and South Africa

or a 2 year break....

Incidentally 2 travel companies booked all of the hotels in Porto Alegre for the World Social Forum and hiked up the prices- not hot.

2005-01-16T15:06:00.000-08:00

Its been a long day. People from all over Brazil gathered for the last national encuentro of the International Youth Camp before the forum starts. So your discerning world socialising forum reporters took time out to see what exactly the youth were wearing.

MST straw hats- MST the landless peasant movement have provided the camp with tonnes of straw hats. They look good and they are practical a definite HOT!

Also hot Haviana flip flops- an absolute must for all one you have transcended the immeasurable pain barriers caused by blisters and toe rubbing. HOT!

Also very hot- ruffled skirts, backless tops lime green everything and died hair, for boys barechested tanned, small green khaki shorts.
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On the boil- moviment hippie hoppie- hip hop kids with political attitude and a commitment to ending global capitalism through beat boxes and non hierarchical organisation.

Not hot
Behind every good initaitive there always a dark force lurking this time it is the form of DS youth wing off the 4th international and PT ( really rather similar to the SWP) Basically they are trying to centralise control in the youth camp- whilst the good old autonomistas try hard to fend them of with long statements and exhausted consesus.
DS have threatened autnomistas with a long letter citing reasons they feel included from the cmap process

not:ankle length white socks

Simmering

The new Nomad software designed to stream all translations into Mp3 format for internet transmission- could be good but will it work

The Caracol Space- a covergence of initiatives. new movements, new ideas, new networks or the same old people telling each other the same old things.

Copy Left Day- a call for people all over the world to scan and copy their favourite texts ,music, books for inclusion in this copy left project- but will the copies come.

Camp Eco constructions-will they pass the environmental cynic test or are they just symbolic constructions that will be laid to waste after the forum.

more later- cocktail party by the swimming pool to attend to....

Introduction

2005-01-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

Previously known as the European Socialising Forum we are pleased to announce the development of the new internaitonal wing of our prestigous organisation. Throughout the build up to and during the World Social Forum in Brazil- we will be providing you with the best in hot topics, gossip, information tit bits, famous people spotted that you just wont find anywhere else on line. We will keep you abreast of the topics that have fallen of the list- the fallings out and the goings on of this years 2005 World Socialising Forum.

All our welcome to contribute to this online blog....

Watch this space