CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

May 19, 2004
Dear Friends,

With this letter we start the mobilization for the Fifth World Social Forum
(WSF), which will be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from January 26 to
January 31, 2005. This letter has been sent, in different languages, to
thousands of organisations that have participated in previous editions of
the WSF (in Porto Alegre from 2001 to 2003 and in Mumbai in 2004) and in the
Thematic and Regional Social Forums. Besides that, it can be duplicated and
sent through electronic mailing lists available with the National and Local
Social Forums Committees.

There is a special reason why we are contacting you now. We are planning
important changes in the format of the Fifth WSF. While maintaining the
diversity which is typical of the WSF, we would like to transform the WSF
into a space that is increasingly capable of facilitating interlinkages and
common actions among different participants who come together in the WSF. In
order to achieve that, it is necessary to improve the process of finalising
"large events" (Conferences, Panels, Testimonies and Round Tables of
Dialogue and Controversies) as well as the registration of hundreds of
Seminars and Workshops that can be proposed by any organisation registered
for the event.

As everything that happens in the WSF, this step forward can only be
possible with the participation of all - including yours. This new process
starts now. Through a questionnaire designed to initiate the consultation,
which will be available on the Internet, we will try to assess the central
themes which are seen as priority issues by organisations for the WSF in
2005, and around which organisations are interested in organising their
activities at the WSF. Based on this consultation we shall initiate the
process of building the programme for the WSF over the next eight months. We
are looking forward to your active participation in the process!

Warm regards from the WSF International Secretariat
Towards the WSF 2005


The new format for the WSF has been designed during an International Council
meeting, which took place between April 4 and 7, in Passignano sul
Trasimeno, Italy. Following are the principal elements in the new format:


Facilitate the aggregate of proposals for Workshops and Seminars

Consultation to formulate the basic thematic axes of the WSF 2005 programme

Working Groups to facilitate the aggregate of proposals

"Large events" finalised through the consultations

Autonomy and diversity guaranteed in the entire process

Programme finalised in November

Now it is up to us


Facilitate the aggregate of proposals for Workshops and Seminars


One of the key features of the World Social Forum is its non-centralised
format. At the WSF, any organisation can present its views, experiences and
activities through Workshops and Seminars that the organisation is free to
organise. Besides, as the WSF does not release a final statement, there is
no hierarchy among the diverse issues discussed at the WSF. This commitment
to plurality has allowed WSF to attract a diverse number of movements which
are united in their opposition to neo-liberalism. In 2001, 420
self-organised activities were held. By 2004, this figure increased to
around 1,200. This emphasis on the promotion of diversity will always be at
the core of the WSF and will be reinforced. Thus, in WSF 2005, the free and
autonomous organisation of Workshops and Seminars will continue to be a
right enjoyed by everybody who takes part in the Forum.

Equally important, however, is the necessity to allow organisations and
people who are interested in struggling towards similar goals to come
together in order to build links and plan common actions - during and
between World Social Forum events. In the process of preparing for WSF 2005,
we want to enhance the mechanisms capable of ensuring this as well.

The first mechanism we need to work on is information. This year, when an
event (workshop or seminar) is registered, each organisation will be
informed through the WSF website about other self-organised activities
already proposed on the same theme. The system will also provide contacts,
e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of the organisations that are
associated with these proposed activities.

The idea is to allow the initiation of a dialogue and building of linkages
among those who struggle for a new world before the World Social Forum
event. We hope that in many cases this would lead to the combining or
unifying of Workshops and Seminars proposed on similar topics, or
coordination between proposals on shared concerns. The outcome should be
activities that are richer, more diverse and more capable of generating
alternatives and actions. We would like to avoid repetition and redundancy.
Multiple events on similar concerns with little or no co-ordination is
counterproductive and frustrating for thousands of people who come to the
WSF.

The aggregate (combining of events or coordination between registered events
on similar themes) of events is, however, a voluntary and self-organised
process that will only be facilitated (but not directed) by the
International Council and the International Secretariat of the WSF. There is
no obligation for any organisation to be part of this process of aggregate.
Organisations will retain the option of continuing with their initial
proposal if they do not wish to associate with others or if efforts to
aggregate their events with those of others are not successful.



Consultation to formulate the basic thematic axes of the WSF 2005 programme


The efforts at facilitating dialogue and interlinkages begin with this
letter, sent to thousands of organisations that have participated in
previous editions of the WSF (in Porto Alegre from 2001 to 2003 and in
Mumbai in 2004) and in the Thematic and Regional Social Forums. Through a
questionnaire designed to initiate the consultation, which will be available
soon, we will try to assess the central themes which are seen as priority
issues by organisations for the WSF in 2005, and around which organisations
are interested in organising their activities at the WSF. Based on this
consultation we shall initiate the process of building the programme for the
WSF over the next eight months.

Let it be clear that this consultation is not designed to function as the
registration process for Seminars and Workshops - we understand that most
organisations are yet to finalise the structure and content of events they
wish to organise at WSF 2005. Thus participation in this consultation by
filling the questionnaire is not a necessary requirement for those who would
eventually want to register events for WSF 2005. But those who do
participate will be helping WSF 2005 to move forward.

Organisations can participate in the consultation by filling the
questionnaire on the WSF website -- this process will start from the
beginning of June. The information filled in by organisations will be
available on a database that everybody can access through the WSF website.
Organisation that do not have access to the internet can send their filled
questionnaires by regular mail, which will also be incorporated into the
database. The database will be user-friendly and allow people to retrieve
information regarding the kind of proposals that organisations have made,
their contact details and other relevant information.

A final output of the consultation will be the defining of the thematic axes
of the WSF 2005. These will emerge from the consultation, from your inputs,
and not based on any decision of the International Council or the
Secretariat. We see this as a major advance for the "open space" concept of
the WSF process.



Working Groups to facilitate the aggregate of proposals


Access to the database will allow organisations to initiate contacts with
others with similar proposals. This process would also be supported by
working groups, which we will call aggregate groups. They are expected to be
formed in July.

Aggregate groups will be created to facilitate specific thematic areas or
issues around which there are greater concentrations of expected activities
- and, therefore, the task of co-ordinating or unifying Workshops and
Seminars is more complex. The Content and Methodology Commission of the WSF
International Council will coordinate the process, but it will essentially
be a self-organised process.

For each issue, members of the aggregate group will be drawn from
representatives of organisations that are interested in organising Seminars
and Workshops on that particular issue. The groups will need to function
keeping in mind the inclusive spirit of the WSF process, respecting
diversity and plurality.

Let us see how we propose to start forming these aggregate groups.
Supposing, for example, there are a dozen of organisations which indicate
through the consultation that they are interested in promoting issues
related to Global Peace in the WSF 2005. In June, the Methodology and
Content and Thematic commissions of the IC will start to contact these
organisations and propose that they form a aggregate group. When the
proposal is accepted, the group can decide upon a common agenda over the
next few weeks. The group will then have the task of putting together a set
of workshops and seminars around the issue of Peace. By incorporating
different points of view, they will be richer, more diverse, and capable of
formulating alternatives that are attractive to people.



"Large events" finalised through the consultations


The work of the aggregate groups will not be limited, however, just to the
Workshops and Seminars. In 2005, the "large events" (Conferences, Panels,
Testimonies and Round Table of Dialogue and Controversy), which were
finalised, until 2003, by the International Council, will be constructed
from the consultations.

Let us go back to our example. To enrich further the agenda of Global Peace,
the aggregate group constituted to deal with this theme will be able to
plan, for example, Testimonies with people who are fighting against the war,
a Conference, a Panel and a Round Table of Dialogue and Controversy.

The new methodology incorporates, among other elements, the innovations
introduced during WSF 2004, in Mumbai, where part of the "large events" were
conceived and organised constructed by international networks - and not by
the Indian Organising Committee. The objective now is to work further on
this innovation. By this process the "large events" besides being organised
by multiple actors with a diversity of views and perceptions, would also be
organically connected to the Workshops and Seminars.



Autonomy and diversity guaranteed in the entire process


Formal registration of Workshops and Seminars will start from August on.
When registering an activity, each organisation will have access to the
proposed agendas prepared by different Aggregate Groups. They will be
available on the WSF website. Organisations will be provided with the
facility to add or make changes to these agendas that have been proposed.
The Aggregate Groups will continue to facilitate the process.

The events registered will be available on the WSF website and the
opportunity would be available to make contacts and link with organisers
proposing events on similar themes. When organisations, through the active
mediation of aggregate groups or through their own initiative decide to
combine or co-ordinate their events with those of others, they shall have
the facility to modify their initial proposals.

As would be clear, the autonomy and diversity that distinguishes the WSF
will be guaranteed throughout the process. The process of aggregate of
events will respect the principles of inclusive participation, continuing
dialogue and plurality of views.

We will facilitate this effort to build a WSF that is designed to promote
the construction of alternatives and the initiation of common actions. We
will work to promote different kinds of preparatory meetings to further this
effort. The principal goal would be to try to ensure that, in Porto Alegre,
participating groups are able to jump from "I" to "we". To repeat: no
aggregate of activities at the WSF 2005 will be imposed. Those who so wish
can organise their independent activities or co-ordinate with other
organisations without the mediation of aggregate groups.



Programme finalised in November


The new methodology for the WSF 2005 programme also seeks to solve one of
the biggest problems at World Social Forums: lack of previous announcement
of the activities to be held during the event.

The process starting from registration of events to the final phase of
aggregate of events will last three months: from August to October. In this
period, besides the Workshops and Seminars, "large events" proposed by
Aggregate Groups will be finalised. In November, the first draft of the
programme will be available on the WSF website - subject to minor
adjustments and corrections. This will help organisations decide in advance
the kind of activities which they would like to participate in or conduct
during the event. This will help them prepare better for Porto Alegre.



Now it is up to us


The innovation detailed above are a challenge for all of us. We feel that
after successfully organising four editions of the WSF, it is now possible
to organise a Forum that maintains the plural nature of the WSF, and at the
same is more capable of facilitating the formulation of alternatives and the
construction of common actions.

Nothing will be possible in a top-down manner. We propose that you get
involved with the World Social Forum 2005 from now! Print and spread this
letter and the questionnaire/ consultation form; send it by e-mail to other
members of the organisation you belong to; discuss the questions drifts with
them. If possible, try to send printed versions of this letter and of the
form to organisations that identify themselves with the Forum, but have not
Internet access.

>From June, participate in the consultation by filling in the questionnaire
on the WSF website, and encourage others whom you know to do likewise.
Follow the results of the consultation as they unfold on the WSF website.
Contact other organisations that are interested in debating issues in which
you have an interest. Consider the possibility of joining a Aggregate Group.


Beyond this, we will of course be willing to clarify any queries that you
may have.

A little more than eight months separate us from Porto Alegre 2005. Let us
strive to build a World Social Forum that stays alive in everybody's memory,
because it truly advances the struggle for a new world.



Warm regards from the
WSF International Secretariat


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