Here you will find more in depth analytical online articles - not from daily media houses, but from various websites from around the world ....

Is another world possible without the women’s perspective? - By Patricia Daniel, Open Democracy, January 18, 2007
The World Social Forum must represent the best of the new world not the patriarchal worst of the old, says Patricia Daniel.

The Nairobi Social Forum - By Jean Nanga, Congolese revolutionary Marxist, January, 2007
The arrogance of neoliberalism, although certainly challenged in some Latin American countries, seems to face a cooling of opposition everywhere else, as if there was an exhaustion of the “expansive wave” of the movement for global justice. What can we expect from the second World Social Forum to be held in Africa (following its polycentric version in 2006, held in Bamako, Caracas and Karachi), where all the evils of globalisation in its different phases are concentrated? Will it give a second breath to the movement, a greater and firmer radicalism in the area of alternatives?

World Social Forum 2007: Warts and all - By Adam Maanit, January 21, 2007
There are a few things about Kasarani stadium, the venue for the 2007 World Social Forum, that seem at odds with the spirit of this now institutionalised annual civil society gathering. The gates, razor wire and sentries stopping-and-searching at the main entrance certainly contradict the spirit of openness that the WSF purports to foster. So too do the regular patrols of red-beretted soldiers toting AK-47s.

World Social Forum Winds-Up in Nairobi - By Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Pan-Africanist!, January 26, 2007
The World Social Forum (WSF) that took place in Nairobi was one of those 'once in a life time' events for many people; and 'once a year' events for the veterans who continue to attend every one.

World Social Forum: just another NGO fair? - By Firoze Manji, Fahamu & Pambazuka News, January 26, 2007
The World Social Forum, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya for the first time in Africa, was supposed to be a forum for the voices of the grassroots. But Firoze Manji writes that, despite the diversity of voices at the event, not everyone was equally represented.

A very social affair - By Adam Ma'anit, January 28, 2007
Things were looking a bit grim at the World Social Forum to begin with - but then they started serving 'anti-capitalist curry'. Adam Ma'anit reports.

The three faces of the World Social Forum - By Anthony Barnett, Open Democracy, January 30, 2007
After seven years, is it any closer to making another world possible? Anthony Barnett in Nairobi takes an engaged yet critical look at the World Social Forum.

The Road From Protest to Professionalism: The World Social Forum Looks for a Business Plan - By Ullrich Fichtner, Der Spiegel, January 30, 2007
It started as a protest movement, but now anti-globalization activists are struggling to redefine themselves. The new message from the World Social Forum in Nairobi is that business plans are needed to help make the world a better place.

This is not the World Social Forum I like to attend - By Farooq Tariq, January 30, 2007
I attended the World Social Forum in Nairobi from 20 to 25th January 2007. I also attended the two days meeting of WSF International Council meeting at the same place after the WSF. What I would like to say is very simple. This is not the WSF I like to attend for the following technical, political and economical reasons.

The World Social Forum fails to Address the War in the Middle East - By Sarah Choukah, Global Research, January 31, 2007
Up to 50,000 delegates from various non-governmental organizations and civil society groups attended the Seventh World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi, Kenya, from the 20th to the 25th of January.

Africa at the heart of the debates - By Jean Nanga, Congolese revolutionary Marxist, February, 2007
This is the first time that so many Africans, men and women, had come to a World Social Forum. The attendance was five to seven times bigger than in the preceding African Social Forums and was more representative of the diversities of the countries of Africa.

Can the Davos elites sleep easy? - By Hilary Wainwright, Transnational Institute, Februar 1, 2007
The World Social Forum in Nairobi took important steps to extend and renew the roots of the global justice movement, despite its organisational problems. With trade campaigners, labour organisers and water justice activists all consolidating networks in Africa, the Davos elites have reason to be fearful, writes Hilary Wainwright.

Is Another World Possible? - By Henning Melber, Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, February 1, 2007
Some (self-)critical reflections on the World Social Forum in Nairobi.

From WSF 'NGO trade fair' to left politics? - By Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society, February 1, 2007
A mixed message - combining celebration and autocritique - is in order, in the wake of the Nairobi World Social Forum. From January 20-25, the 60,000 registered participants heard triumphalist radical rhetoric and yet, too, witnessed persistent defeats for social justice causes - especially within the WSF's own processes.

WSF 2007 reflections - By Jesse Osmun, WSF2007 participant, February 1, 2007
On the first day of the World Social Forum in Nairobi, I was sitting in a workshop on the trends for the next century. Pat Mooney (?) from the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation was talking about the threat of nanotechnology. He was speaking about how the ability to turn nickel into platinum, and cornmeal into fishmeal was going to radically alter the economics of the planet. I was taking notes when a roar erupted from the workshop to my right. I was intrigued, and slipped out to investigate.

From a World Social Forum to a World Social Movement - By Roberto Savio, IPS, February 3, 2007
Seven World Social Forums (WSF) have been enough for the dynamic of civil society to complete a cycle and initiate a stage of profound change — in contrast to the World Economic Forum (WEF), which has been held 37 times.

Globalisation From Below - By Steve Ouma, Kenya Human Rights Commission, February 7, 2007
A critical examination of the WSF highlights the imbalances between on the one hand the NGOs and CSO and on the other, the people's movements. The conclusion is that the former must now begin to listen to the latter in order for globalisation to occur from below and for the masses to speak to power.

Is the World Social Forum of use for popular struggles? - By Samir Amin, February 8, 2007
The undeniable success of the World Social Forums (and of the national and regional forums), from their first edition (Porto Allegre 2001) to their seventh (Nairobi 2007) shows that the formula met a real objective need, felt by many militants and movements engaged in their struggles against neo-liberalism and aggression (including military aggression) of imperialism. In these struggles, movements and militants have much renewed their forms of organization and active intervention in society.

About the WSF in Nairobi - By François Houtart, CETRI (Centre Tricontinental), February 11, 2007
The World Social Forum has been organized in 2001, at a moment of full hegemony of the Neo-liberal phase of capitalism, as a counterpart to the World Economic Forum of Davos, which every year is the meeting of the principal economic powers of the world. Seven years after the beginning of the Social Forums we are facing a new situation. The neo-liberal system is on the defensive, in spite of still triumfant discourses, of measures of adaptation to new situations, like the struggle against poverty, and in spite of disposing still an enormous power of decision.

The World Social Forum 2007: A Kenyan Perspective - By People’s Parliament, February 12, 2007
In its Charter of Principles of the World Social Forum is described as” an open meeting place for reflective thinking.... by groups and movements that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism..” Such was the description that created, amongst the members of the People’s Parliament, an unprecedented enthusiasm and excitement, particularly because the WSF was coming, for the first time, to Africa and to their door steps in Nairobi, Kenya. To many of them, it was an opportunity that they knew was not likely to present itself again during their lifetimes, and there was on their part, understandably, an urgency to participate, to be part of and to contribute to the WSF in Nairobi.

World Social Forum on the Road from Nairobi to Atlanta: Who Does the WSF Belong to? - By Michael Leon Guerrero, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, February 13, 2007
The 2007 World Social Forum (WSF) was probably the most challenging WSF to date. Many contradictions surfaced and became tensions in Nairobi. There are criticisms that NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and churches dominated the process, and that local Kenyan movements were shut out. Some of the services of the forum were contracted to corporations – cell phone provider Celltel had a big presence as well as resort hotels like the Windsor, who had a beer and food tent located in the prime vending location of Kasarani Stadium, site of the WSF. The Kenyan Security Minister, also known as "the crusher" for his role in repressing anti-government political actions, owns the Windsor. On the third day of the forum, local Kenyans shut down the Windsor's operation, protesting the high cost of food. They also mobilized actions each of the first two days to demand that the registration fees be waived for Kenyans. Ultimately, the gates were left open.

Is the WSF movement in crisis? - By Lee Sustar, February 16, 2007
THE 2007 WORLD Social Forum in Nairobi highlighted some of the strengths--but also problems and limitations--of the international conferences. In fact, questions remain over the future of the WSF, with no meetings scheduled for 2008 and no location announced for the next planned event in 2009.

The 7th World Social Forum: Facing Current Challenges and Future Perspectives - By Irene León & Sally Burch, February 20, 2007
Due to its plural character and diverse participation, the World Social Forum continues to be the most significant space for the construction of anti-neoliberal thought, ideas and alternatives. The 1,200 activities which made up the agenda for the seventh forum, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya from the 20th to the 25th of January, pay tribute to its vitality, which has grown out of the innovative proposal and whose backbone are the social processes present there: the movements, networks, campaigns and intellectuals, that have provided the basic material for its substance and dynamics. On this particular occasion, they took the vantage point of Africa, a continent rich in social and political initiatives, but which also suffers the most from the incongruence of the neoliberal model.

Lessons from Nairobi - By Hilary Wainwright, Transnational Institute, March, 2007
Renewing the local popular roots of the global social forum process is central to the future of the left. Hilary Wainwright reports from this year’s World Social Forum.

The Nairobi World Social Forum – An Initial Summing up - By Oliver Bondfond, CADTM, March 3, 2007
The seventh World Social Forum (WSF) took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 20 to 25 January 2007. There were numerous important issues at stake with Nairobi providing the space for working out alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation. Held in Africa for the first time, its purpose was above all to deepen the roots of the anti-globalisation movement on the continent most affected by neo-liberal politics. Unfortunately, for a variety of organisational reasons the expectations generated by this global event were seriously disappointed. Nonetheless, despite its shortcomings, the WSF once again showed its resilience.

After the WSF in Nairobi - Some Reflections - By Michael Warschawski, Alternative Information Center-Jerusalem, March 20, 2007
The 7th edition of the World Social Forum, held in Nairobi Kenya, raised a series of important questions which were mentioned at the International Council and will be discussed in one of its next sessions, after we appointed a working group which will try to prepare the discussion. These questions can be summarized as questions of the ethics of the WSF: the place of multi-national and other big corporations in sponsoring the event, from where to accept financing? How much open should remain the “open space” and does it include fundamentalists preachers or blatant racists? Who can decide and on what ground?

Critical Reflections on WSF Nairobi 2007 - By Onyango Oloo, National Coordinator KSF, March 29, 2007
In summary, the overall picture that emerges from these critiques is that the WSF Nairobi 2007 event gave rise to disturbing and negative tendencies such as commercialization, militarization and authoritarian and undemocratic decision making in the World Social Forum process. The Secretariat and Organizing Committee of which I was a key member, comes in for some very heavy roasting.

The Best and Worst of Nairobi - By Emira Woods, FPIF, May 4, 2007
The World Social Forum’s greatest achievement in Nairobi was creating this space where over 70,000 people representing social movements from all over the world could gather and reflect on successes and strategize for the future. One key thing that came out was the formation of the Africa Water Network. It was just an idea at the beginning of the week in Nairobi. But over the week, leadership evolved, ideas evolved, and a network was born. That's the WSF at its best. Many people from many different countries can come together to create synergy and in this case a concrete network fighting the privatization of this critical resource, water. The network includes not only activists but engineers and people linked to governments as well.

Making the Forum Truly Global - By Jamal Juma', Palestinian grassroots campaign 'Stop the Wall', May 8, 2007
The existence of the World Social Forum is already a historic achievement. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crisis of the alternative movements and theories that opposed the current system, the fact that there was again a place stating that there is an alternative was an important step.

The Politics of Imagination - By Melanie Joseph, Foundry Theatre in New York, May 8, 2007
The World Social Forum’s greatest achievement is its continued existence as a modified open space, an open space for people with an opposition to neo-liberalism, in other words, an opposition to the corporate (and military) model in which capital, instead of people, is the organizing principle of public institutions and societal structures.

Focusing the Struggle - By Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society, May 9, 2007
The World Social Forum's primary achievements are gathering the multiplicity of movements fighting neoliberal capitalism and imperialism, and maintaining the open space to keep alive mutual education and networking. But aside from the kinds of adverse power relations critiqued by grassroots activists in Nairobi, the WSF's main disappointment remains our inability to converge on strategy, generate agreed-on joint actions, and forge cross-sectoral ties.

The 'Alter-Globalists' Hit Their Stride - By Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University, May 18, 2007
The World Social Forum, founded as a sort of anti-Davos, has matured and evolved more than even its participants realize. From the beginning, the WSF, which met in Nairobi from Jan. 20-25, has been a gathering of a wide range of organizations and movements from around the world that defined themselves as an opposition to neoliberal globalization and imperialism in all its forms. Its slogan has been "another world is possible" and its structure has been that of an open space without officers, spokesmen or resolutions. The term "alter-globalists" has been coined to define the stance of its proponents.

After Nairobi, A New Round of World Social Forums - By Gustave Messiah, Member of WSF IC, May 19, 2007
The Nairobi World Social Forum was, in my opinion, an excellent forum. One of the most interesting, because one of the most contradictory. The Nairobi Forum demonstrated the strength and vigour of the world social forums and alter-globalization movement. The alter-globalization movement is not limited to the social forums, but the forum process does occupy a special place within the movement. The Nairobi WSF brought to light various questions regarding this process. At first, problems, difficulties and very strong contradictions related to the process piled up. However, after two days, the forum process finally overrode these initial questionings.

The Forum at the Crossroads - By Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South, May 20, 2007
A new stage in the evolution of the global justice movement was reached with the inauguration of the World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2001.

Evaluation of the 7th WSF - By Collective contribution to the debates within the IC of WSF in Berlin, May 2007
At the end of the 7th WSF, during the meeting of the International Council from 25th – 26th January 2007, certain members of the organizing committee refused to listen to the criticisms and made improper accusations against those who raised their voices. It is very easy to discredit people, be it from the South or from the North, who make criticisms.

VII World Social Forum - By Anuradha Mittal, Unknow date
First organized in the Brazilian town of Porto Alegre in 2001, WSF’s call of "Another World is Possible" and its message against war, injustice, and social inequities, is no longer regional. It traveled to Mumbai, India, in 2004 and to Bamako, Mali; Caracas, Venezuela; and Karachi, Pakistan in 2006. However, as the attendance to each Forum increases in numbers (150,000 in Caracas) from its modest beginnings in Porto Alegre, WSF has also generated criticisms from several quarters.