WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: ARISE AND WALK

The World Social Forum (WSF) movement has already won a moral victory. \'\'The world is not for sale\'\' and \'\'Another world is possible\'\' are not empty slogans but calls to action that have won over public opinion around the world. In this column, based on a document addressed to the WSF International Council, Amin calls for the orchestration of major world effort comprised of: a campaign against the so-called preventive wars of the United States, and, subsequently, for the evacuation of all of its military bases; a campaign in favour of the right to access to land, the recognition of which is vital for three billion peasant farmers on three continents; a campaign to regulate industrial relocation; and a campaign to cancel all Third World foreign debt. The WSF today faces a crucial choice. It has the possibility of becoming a place for the patient construction of fronts capable of bringing about the convergence of the myriad progressive forces worldwide. To achieve this I would suggest the definition of common platforms articulated around the rejection of both neoliberalism and of the militarisation of globalisation under the control of the United States. The broad and open alliance of movements that share this perspective would make it possible to construct positive alternatives.