The World Social Forum, created as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum in Davos, is underway this week in Dakar, Senegal.
The news coverage of the WSF, as compared to the WEF, is a bit sparse.
The WSF organization (or whatever it is … since it says on its web site it’s not actually an organization but rather a de-centralized movement or gathering) grew out of the anti-globalization sentiments that led to the World Trade Organization (WTO) riots in Seattle in 1999.
Since 2001, the WSF has put on this annual event, often with big name speakers like Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz or former Brazilian President Luiz Inacia Lula de Silva. But the event seems to have dropped off the mainstream media’s radar screen and WSF also does a poor job of covering itself. Three days into it and, last I looked, their news section on the site is void.
Makes me wonder what the point of it is, if nobody’s paying attention anymore. But maybe that’s just here in the somewhat self-centered United States of America. Here are some highlights I gleaned off Google News:
- Deutsche Wells: Thousands march in support of democracy, against capitalism
- AFP: World Social Forum starts as turmoil strikes Arab world
- SwissInfo: Anti-globalizers gather under the baobob tree
- Associated Press: Working class hero Lula says capitalism is dead
- The Guardian: Signs of Change, says Bolivia Prez Morales
There’s usually a good number of Seattle and Pacific Northwesterners who attend the WSF.
Anyone have any news or reports from local participants in Dakar?
