By Satya Sivaraman

After the fourth World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai, there is a question high on some heretic minds: Is Another Forum Possible?

Since they kicked off in Porto Alegre, Brazil three years ago, the annual World Social Forums have become a magnet for people who are all convinced about the possibilities of changing the world.

But the nagging doubt for some delegates, as well as some who are not participating, is -- how exactly do they plan to achieve all that they want? I mean, change the world into a green, humane, peaceful and participatory place? Before I get into this complicated subject, a bit more about what WSFs 1, 2 and 3 have achieved so far.

Undoubtedly the greatest success of the World Social Forums has been to challenge the hubris of global elites with their silly slogans like the ‘End of History’ or ‘There is No Alternative’ to neo-liberal capitalism and free-market driven globalisation. The WSF -- by focusing on the issues that it has done so far -- has sent out a popular message that there are indeed alternatives, and lots of them too.

Another major achievement of the Forums has been to excite the imagination of activists worldwide to the idea that the world can not only be changed but in very new and creative ways too. The Forums have energised many a tiring radical and attracted many more potential ones – all with its sense of celebration and fun.

On yet another front with its open, non-sectarian approach, the WSF events have also helped cut across the myriad divisions within the world of activists who over the years have evolved in diverse ways. Surely one of the WSF’s most magical draws has been the possibility of people with significant ideological differences but with similar goals working in a coalition to take up the challenges our world faces.

But given the enormity of the problems faced by the people of planet Earth, some have begun to ask painful questions about the politics, process and even purpose of the WSF itself.

For some anarchists the WSF if not open enough, for some on the left it is not red enough while for the occasional deep green, they are not deep enough. While some of these questions and complaints raised do reek of being part of the usual turf battles to control the ‘space’ offered by the WSF, many are very valid ones too.

Look at the record of the WSF from the heretic’s point of view. When the forum was launched in early 2001 -- in the pre-Sep. 11 world -- the demons being fought -- the IMF, World Bank and the World Trade Organisation were formidable foes and yet hopelessly tame compared to what we face today -- nothing less than what Uncle Sam unleashed. With the attack on New York’s twin towers becoming an excuse for global conquest by the United States and its allies, the creation of mere ‘spaces’ instead of entire ‘armies’ seems to be a grossly inadequate response.

Of course many of the WSF constituents can take credit for the glorious global anti-war marches that preceded the invasion of Iraq last year- but did that really make a difference to the ruthless march of U.S. imperialism? How is the WSF politically – or for that matter socially -- relevant any more? Is not the Iraqi national resistance, with all its flaws, a more effective opposition to the might of the U.S. Empire than a bunch of well meaning but clueless peace activists?

And there are other questions too- about the WSF process itself.

For example, despite its repeated claims to not being an ‘organisation’ of any kind but only a gathering place for kindred souls, are not the timing, location, participation and proceedings of the WSF guided by a handful of people ‘in the loop’? Is not this needless pretence at creating a ‘space’ free of political and organisational identities a perfect breeding ground for the very same entities to flourish in a dozen disguises?

How is the structured ‘spontaneity’ of the WSF different from the hoax of the mysterious ‘market forces’ that its participants are fighting against? And if spontaneity is indeed such a premium virtue for its founders, then why is the WSF held every year in clockwork fashion -- like an activist trade fair of sorts?

Cruel questions all of them, but at least some of them will need to be addressed by all those concerned about the Forum’s future.