The World and US Social Forums

The WSF/USSF is an expression of the peoples struggles to advance alternatives to the world-as-we-know-it. Since its first convening in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, it has captured the imagination of all who have come within its orbit and caught up by its vast and growing networks. It provides a large space for groups to mobilize, voice their oppression, exchange ideas, and express their desire for hope and another world. Central in the founding principles of the World Social Forum are: the advance of peoples rights (including womens rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, the rights of minorities, the rights of peasant farmers, and, generally, the rights and dignity of all peoples now oppressed), participatory democracy, social and cultural pluralism, and the end of market tyranny. This volume captures the full range of topics dealing with the WSF/USSF. It is a fresh treatment of materials for the insider" and provides ample background for someone who would like to attend."

Judith Blau, PhD (1972) in Sociology, Northwestern University, is Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and president of the US chapter of Sociologists without Borders. She has published extensively in the area of human rights and is co-author of Human Rights: Beyond the Liberal Vision, Justice in the United States, Freedoms and Solidarities, and Two Logics: Globalization vs. Human Rights. She is journal editor of Societies Without Borders. Marina Karides, PhD (2001) in Sociology, University of Georgia, is Associate Professor of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University. She has published multiple works on autonomous employment strategies, gender inequalities, and economic development ideologies. She is one of eleven co-authors of Global Democracies and the World Social Forums. She serves as Sociologists without Borders' representative on the National Planning Committee of the USSF.