These photos are from the fifth World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil in January 2005. Click on the photos for larger images.
Sunday, January 30, 2005: Beyond the Ivory Tower
At
a meeting of academics, we dicussed how to make the university more relevent
and responsible to the rest of the world. Here Jackie Smith lays out goals
of developing concrete actions, building an international network, and deciding
whether to work with other sectors of civil society.
Toward U.S. and North American Social Forums
NIGD helped
organize and facilitate a panel on social forums in North America. Here Suren
Moodliar and Janet Conway describe their work with social forums in Boston
and Toronto. The forum was well attended and we had a good discussion. Later
NIGD will post a more complete report on this discussion.
Victor
Rosado and Mike Menser from the New York City Social Forum.
Mike
Menser and Michael Guerrero from the United
States Social Forum.
Beyond the World Social Forum
NIGD
also sponsored a talk in the Caracol Intergalaktica by the Youth Camp on the
Future of the World Social Forum. Teivo Teivainen, Thomas Ponniah, Meena Menon
huddling on the left, and Immanuel Wallerstein on the right.
Hugo Chavez
In
the evening, Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, spoke at the Gigantinho stadium
in Porto Alegre. Venezuela TV carried the event live and direct.
The
event began with a theater piece. A group of students from the Bolivarian University
in Caracas waved a huge flag over their heads.
Hugo
Chavez spoke for about 2 hours. See my report Hugo
Chavez returns to the World Social Forum.