Since 2001 · Porto Alegre → Cotonou 2026 · 17th edition
The World Social Forum (WSF) was born in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, amid growing challenges to neoliberal globalization. It was conceived from the outset as a counter-space to the policies of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The WSF is a global platform for citizen engagement, critical reflection and collective proposals specific to social movements and CSOs of the world.
In contrast to the logic of elitism, competition and commodification, the WSF proposes a horizontal, self-managed, open and inclusive process, based on the voluntary participation of individuals and organizations committed to a more just world. It is not a decision-making summit, but a space for convergence, debate, formulation of proposals, sharing of experiences and networking of initiatives that oppose the dominant forms of exploitation, exclusion and supremacy.
Over more than two decades, the WSF has held 16 major editions around the world: Dakar, Tunis, Nairobi, Salvador de Bahia, Mumbai, Montreal, Mexico, Belém, Kathmandu among others. Each edition was built around local contexts and regional mobilizations, while integrating major global issues.
Beyond its physical gatherings, the WSF is a permanent political process, a transnational dynamic of resistance and construction of alternatives in the service of peoples and the planet for democratic, social, ecological and cultural transformation, driven by citizen mobilizations across the world.
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