As the challenges facing the peoples of the world increasingly acquire global dimensions, so has been the development of civil society in its rich variety. This has, in turn, made the precise boundaries of non-governmental activities a subject of fierce debate. Prior to increased economic globalization citizenship had been a question of legal nationality. This framework has, expectedly, become insufficient in a world of multiple identities and loyalties; particularly for civil society entities that have, for strategic reasons, set themselves apart, seeking alternative solutions at all levels by building a formidable balance of power that will enable them influence the great decisions of the time.

A Global Public Arena

Global Civil Society is close to becoming an international political player; something it has been struggling to be since the end of the 2nd world war. Interacting as it does with a wide range of actors, including the United Nations agencies, regional and international organisations, has led it to seek with each partner new forms and patterns of legitimisation, mobilization and interactions.

Entering the Arena

Entering the global arenas and engaging in political action therein has not been easy. In fact it has demanded particular resources from civil society entities, with each organisation providing just a small part of what is required in the way of strategic resource mobilisation. It has only been by acting as networks that civil society, in its social movement mode, has sought to enter the international arena and carry out their social re-constructive functions. These functions have defied the false dichotomy, often and erroneously articulated by the powerful actors in the global community - in the names of the multilateral and governmental agencies, between operational and advocacy NGOs; an approach that is clearly invalid since we all know that all acts which create space for the weak and powerless to assert their interests are political by any shades of imagination.

Porto Alegre

The World Social Forum as an international event drawing upon the participation of several hundreds of NGOs and social movements, started out as a chance for civic forces in society to meet at the same time as the World Economic Forum in Davos. The rallying agenda was: to take a stand against neo-liberal globalization and alongside that position to highlight possible alternative solutions. The slogan was therefore: "Another world is possible". With this slogan the WSF hit the ground with a deliberate pace that reflected a powerful unity, commitment and organisation.

The first World Social forum took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil from 25-29th January 2001. It has since become a high point in the international social movement. Yet there is room for improvement in order to creatively develop it into a crucible for alternatives to capitalist, financial globalisation which wreaking havoc on the weak economies of the South.

The Mustard Seeds of Porto Alegre

It all began with isolated pockets of protests against the hold of neo-liberalism in the world societies, the most outstanding being:

• The neo-Zapatistas in the chippers
• The landless movement in Brazil
• The popular upspringings in Latin America against structural adjustment in 1990s.
• The demonstrations in Paris against MAI in 1998.
• The Seattle protests in 1999 and many others that followed.

Indiscriminate and, up to some point, reckless liberalization of the global markets and a corresponding growing awareness of its undesirable effects have found adversarial company in the higher-level organisation of civil society actors. They are demanding alternative means of reining in and, as a matter of necessity, regulating globalization.

The first WSF could be regarded as the culmination of these efforts by social movements across the world, particularly those that were keen to apply breaks to the onrush of destructive globalisation spearheaded by the corporate sector.

It is not the first time in the history of contemporary international relations for concerned citizens of particular sections of the world society to engage in a concerted effort aimed at drawing an alternative charter for development o0fr human society. Similar efforts have been made several times to promote economic social rights. The Porto Alegre initiative is a continuation of the glorious history of the disadvantaged in society to close ranks across national boundaries of enslavement to challenge undemocratic transnational authority like the one currently being exercised by the Washington consensus.

The Porto Alegre initiative could be said to have been the brainchild of a Brazilian entrepreneur – Oden Grajew - the chairman Of the Ethos Institute along with the sense of social responsibility of the Brazilian Association of Entrepreneurs for Citizenship who worked tirelessly to give WSF a physical home in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In 2001 close to 20,000 people from as many as 100 countries of the world gathered in Porto Alegre. It was a result of studious mobilization of civic resources both in Brazil and elsewhere in the world where progressive civil society activists felt the need to make the WSF a reality.

Content, Participation and Methodology

Over four days, morning-long conferences were organised to address the questions of access to the distribution of the world's wealth, the safeguarding of democracy from financial capital and a critical audit of the Washington Consensus.

The discussions also touched on foreign debt burden, land and trade issues. All these were structured around key thematic issues such as:

• Production of wealth and social reproduction
• Access to wealth and sustainable development
• Affirmation of civil society public arenas and
• Political and ethical power in the alternative society.

The 2002 Porto Alegre gathering brought together close to sixty thousand participants. The African participation was greatly improved - thanks to ENDA's commendable efforts to mobilize and host the first African Social Forum in Bamako; a Porto Alegre preparatory meeting which brought together a cross section of social movements in the continent. Both the Dakar meeting of the WSF international steering committee meeting and the Bamako African Social Forum played a great role in preparing the way for an increased African participation in the WSF in Porto Alegre.

Close to 100 Africans took part in the 2002 WSF. The African workshops attracted many participants, particularly from Afro-Brazilian community. The plenary/conferences saw prominent African civil society activists take the floor and share with rest of the world our own perspective of a new and more democratic world order.

Immediate and future Challenges

Until a movement of citizens able to fight for a fairer, alternative economic model is founded, WSF seems to have achieved some of its strategic objectives: an exchange of experiences and the establishment of a reference in time and place for those who would like to place social development agenda on a front burner and who in doing so would like to find ways of putting paid to the domination of the markets in international relations. The nagging challenge will soon be: how can the spirit of Porto Alegre translate into a radical presence in the local communities so that it does not remain exclusively an arena for exchanges (though extremely important), but instead develops into a catalyst, promoting local resistance to neo-liberal globalism into formidable redoubts of anti-capitalist democracies.

More down-up concertation of efforts need to go into ensuring that Africa's voice is increasingly heard, both in Porto Alegre in 2003 and in India in 2004. Only then can we realize the dream of hosting the WSF in the years to come as has been suggested in many quarters. The modalities of how to get there should be the subject of future consultations at the national, regional and continental levels.

Globalizing the WSF spirit

The World Social Forum operates under the banner "Another World is possible" This idea has resulted in the organization of similar regional and sub-regional platforms in other parts of the world by a wide variety of activists. Africa has had 3 social forums in Bamako, Addis Abeba and Cairo respectively. A special Post-Mombai meeting of the continental plat form took place in Nairobi in July 2004. The Social Forums are platform to strengthen popular democracy and mobilization. They serve to critically challenge the status quo that puts markets and profits before people. They serve to build global and regional solidarity around issues of social and economic justice.

It is clear that for Africa there is a need to create both national and regional social forums as platforms for social action. And in keeping with the trends set by the World Social Forum, these events should be a collective organizational effort by national and sub regional networks that bring together key social justice movements at the national level.

It is in this spirit that the Kenyan Social Forum was established way back in 2003, following several briefings and debriefings by civil society activists who had been attending taking part in the WSF events in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The Kenyan Social Forum provides the largestnational platform for activists seen so far under the banner "Another Kenya is Possible." The KSF is organized according to the Charter of Principles of the World Social Forum. Interested networks, organizations, individuals and social movements that aim to promote justice, peace and equity organize are responsible for its functioning as a platform. It is organized so that we can share views, learn and make our voice heard in the face of mounting attacks on Kenyan people's rights to dignity, development and self determination by local and international political and business elites.

The Social Forum will also be a major opportunity for activists to discuss and take stock of political, economic and social developments in the country and the ways in which the government and civil society should tackle these. As an open but ideologically jealously guarded space its activities are managed by a steering committee whose mandate will be clearly spelled out in a charter that under construction. A more flexible management committee to which a coordinator will be unswerable will do the day-to-day running of the platform. In the interim, i.e., before the Forum takes off on its own, SODNET will remain the focal point for the initiative.