21.09.2005
Report of the Hemispheric Council’s meeting in Caracas

The full report of the Hemispheric Council meeting, which took place from August 14th to 17th, in Caracas (Venezuela) is already available online for download (RTF format). During the meeting, the thematic and transversal axes for the WSF 2006 Americas venue were defined. The Americas venue of the WSF 2006 will take place in Caracas, in January 2006. Read more below:

THEMATIC AXES:
1.Power, politics and struggles for social emancipation
New global power patterns: relations among social movements and organizations, parties and the State. Balance and perspectives of struggles against neoliberal capitalism in the American continent. Relationship between politics and economics. The role of the State: public and private spheres. Struggles for democracy. Social practices of resistance: new political cultures and new forms of organization. The World Social Forum: processes and perspectives. Political projects and program proposals. Solidarity and new internationalism. Women’s movements, struggles against patriarchism and against all forms of violence. The continental current state of affairs and new paths for construction of alternatives. Perspectives and political struggles of peoples and indigenous nationalities. Youth struggles. Horizons for change and social transformation: are other types of socialism possible?

2. Imperial strategies and peoples’ resistance
Neoliberalism of war and imperial order. Militarization, criminalization of struggles and poverty, terror, terrorism and the culture of fear. Policies of military ‘cooperation’: military bases, occupation and immunity agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean. The “war of civilizations” as a new strategy for imperial expansion. Commodification of life and its legal-institutional instruments: “free trade”, foreign debt, international financial institutions; WTO, the FTAA and FTAs; multinational corporations. Electric energy models and energy geopolitics. Crisis of the institutions within the United Nations system and international law. The struggle for human rights, and the rights of peoples. Sovereignty and the struggle against colonialism. SOUTH-SOUTH relations. New perspectives for regional integration and people's integration. The debate on development. Resistance, civil disobedience and struggles for peace.

3. Resources for and rights to life: alternatives to the predatory model of civilization
Capitalism and threats to life: global warming and ‘natural’ catastrophes, loss of biodiversity, desertification. Imperial appropriation and privatization of resources. Struggles for access, redistribution and protection of resources: land, biodiversity, water, seeds and energy sources. Indigenous lands and autonomy. Urban crisis, social apartheid and violence. Struggles for new urban spaces and relations. Patterns of hegemonic knowledge and construction of anti-hegemonic knowledge. Dialogue between knowledges. Intellectual property and appropriation of knowledge. Right to health. Alternative health practices. Sexual and reproductive rights and de-criminalization of abortion.

4. Diversities, identities and worldviews in movement
Plurality and inter-culturality. Indigenous peoples and nationalities and people of African descent. Racism and colonial legacy. Latin-American and regional identities. Local identities. Knowledge, spirituality and inter-religious dialogue. Sexual identity and diversity. Youth cultures and identities. Spaces and rights for people with special needs. Gender identities and sexual diversity.

5. Work, exploitation and reproduction of life
Precariousness, exclusion, inequality and poverty in the North and in the South. Work and gender inequalities. Labor, unions and social organizations. Migrations and new forms of exploitation. Child labor. Human trafficking. Resistance and new social arrangements in labor. Non-mercantile forms of reproduction of life: reciprocal treatment, indigenous communities, solidary economy, family-based agriculture, cooperatives and self-management. Care economy.

6. Communication, culture and education: alternative and democratizing dynamics
Right to information and communication in order to strengthen citizenship. Resistance to the concentration of ownership of the media. Social agenda in communication for building alternatives. and Media communication and oral communication: resistance and alternatives to hegemonic communication. Democratization of access to new technologies. Social appropriation of communication and information technologies, and on-line resistance (internet and mobile telephone systems). Artistic production and de-commodification of culture. Socio-cultural movements as forms of peoples' resistance. Linguistic diversities and critical languages. Right to education and student struggles. Anti-hegemonic educational models and experiences of popular education.


TRANSVERSAL AXES:
- Gender
- Diversities

Check the ASF website (http://fsainfo.rits.org.br). There you will find information about the WSF 2006 in Caracas. For further doubts, write to fsmcaracas@forosocialamericas.org or fsa@forosocialamericas.org.