Author Description

This comprehensive volume provides a glimpse into the wide-ranging discussions, debates and arguments which have gone into making the World Social Forum (WSF) one of the more prominent platforms of alternative ideas and practices in the present world. Building on the First Edition (published in India by the Viveka Foundation, New Delhi in 2004), this Second Edition has been revised and updated to include coverage of those Social Forums that took place as recent as the summer of 2007. Here is what some critics had to say about the First Edition: If you want to know how the World Social Forum was formed and what the opinion of some of the main actors in it is on issues such as globalization, transnational feminism, justice and peace among others, this is the book to read. - VirtualActivism.org A useful array of writings on the entire WSF process--the global context in which it emerged, the manner in which different movements and ideologies have interacted and shaped this process and the manner in which it has itself grown in the past years. - Aniket Alam, The Hindu An excellent effort at combining both information and critical reflection on the World Social Forum phenomenon. - Massimo De Angelis World Social Forum: Challenging Empires is a stupendous collection of essays, documents and statements, a critical self-consideration of the WSF process by a variety of people. - Milan Rai, The New Standard A stellar collection of essays. Indispensable reading. - Immanuel Wallerstein, Fernand Braudel Center Table Of Contents Acknowledgements Notes on the Editors Notes on the Contributors Introduction: Critically Engaging with the World Social Forum PART 1 Antecedents: Critical Perspectives - For Struggles, Global and National - Samir Amin, interviewed by V. Sridhar - Coming: A Rerun of the 1930s - Walden Bello - The Road From Genoa - Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello, Brendan Sm