I Americas Social Forum, Quito 2004

Theme 1

The economic order: human and environmental impoverishment, debts, corruption, total market; the public space and economic rights; reproductive economy. Resistance, views of the future and the construction of alternative models.

• Implantation of the total market under the postulates of free trade: WTO, FTAA, subregional and bilateral agreements. Commercialization, privatization and corporate control of production and life. Their scope and impact in all spheres.

• Mass impoverishment and new forms of exclusion in North and South. How to characterize, identify and prevent them?

• Other roads for regional integration: are the CAN, MERCOSUR, CARICOM short term alternatives? The perspective of Latin American integration as a historic project.

• External debt as a mechanism of economic subordination and imposition of the model. Present processes of challenging it: illegitimacy, non-sustainability, etc. Are there short term solutions?

• We are creditors: environmental debt, historical debt, debts owed to women. How can they be recovered?

• The hidden face of the economy: sexual division of labor, reproduction and the caring economy. Macroeconomy and gender. Economic and gender justice; how to redistribute responsabilities, time, resources and recognition?

• The other economy: alternatives for organzing production, reproduction, exchange, finance. The solidary economy. Environmental and economic sustainability.

• The role of international cooperation and the new development trends.

Theme 2

The violent face of the neoliberal project: imperial hegemony, militarism, strategic control over biodiversity, sexist violence. Resistance and the emergence of new subjects.

• Scope and implications of the US strategy. Resistance; peace and cooperation initiatives. Sub-regional military plans and the interrelations between war, the economy and politics. The strategic control of resources.

• Regional peace and cooperation initiatives. Weaknesses and resistance in the Empire. Hemispheric routes for interconnecting peoples.

• Military-authoritarian logic vs human rights. Expressions and responses in North and South.

• Food sovereignty: a strategic proposal for rural and urban areas, for North and South. How to build it?

• Privatization of protected natural areas and the role of NGOs in pursuing this goal. How to respond from a posture of national sovereignty and from peoples and local communities?

• Bio-prospection and bio-pirating; intellectual property rights and the risks of negotiating profit-sharing.

• "Environmental services" as an expression of commercialization and privatization of nature. How to respond from a posture of national sovereignty and from peoples and local communities?

• Sexist violence: expressions and resistance in the context of militarization.

Theme 3

Power, democracy and the State: changes, continuity and views of the future.

• How to build democracy, sovereignty and human rights in a period of breakdown of international structures.

• Opportunities, limits and perspectives in experiences of social movements and alternative political forces in government.

• Power dynamics and relations with international institutions at the sub-regional, regional and "world government" levels.

• Ethics and politics of the democracy we aspire to.

• Defense of social rights and the public space. A means of redefining the State and democracy?

• Corruption and impunity: roots, scope and citizen responses.

• Initiatives of advocacy in public policy, mechanisms and spaces for dialogue and negotiation. Towards a new public institutional framework?

• Power dynamics in society and the private sphere.

• Democracy and diversity: GLBT citizens.

Theme 4

Cultures and communication: resistance, memory, construction of identities; spaces and practice of creation; critical and alternative language; democratizing communication.

• Culture and memory: "shields" against the imperial project.

• Peoples, communities, ethnic groups: identities and resistance.

• Building new urban identities.

• Worldviews and spirituality.

• Cultural aberrations: sexism, homophobia, racism: challenges for change.

• The right to communicate and public policies.

• The monopolization of the media and communication systems.

• The commodification of information, journalistic independence and ethics.

• Independent, alternative and community media.

• Social appropriation and control of new technologies; civil rights vs. Control and surveillance.

• Communication, gender and diversity.

Theme 5

Indigenous peoples and African descendents: territories; autonomy; diversity and multiculturalism; knowledge and intellectual property.

• Democracy and collective rights: the State and rights in relation to indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants.

• Sovereignties, institutionality and systems of representation.

• Conceptions and practices of indigenous and afro economies, their contributions for an alternative economy.

• Building multicultural, diverse and egalitarian societies.

• Alternative proposals to globalization of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants.

Transversal themes: Gender and diversities

II Americas Social Forum, VI Polycentric WSF, Caracas, 2006

Theme 1

Power, politics & struggles for social emancipation

New global power patterns: relations among social movements and organizations, parties and the State. Balance and perspectives of struggles against neoliberal capitalism in the American continent. Relationship between politics and economics. The role of the State: public and private spheres. Struggles for democracy. Social practices of resistance: new political cultures and new forms of organization. The World Social Forum: processes and perspectives. Political projects and program proposals. Solidarity and new internationalism. Women’s movements, struggles against patriarchism and against all forms of violence. The continental current state of affairs and new paths for construction of alternatives. Perspectives and political struggles of peoples and indigenous nationalities. Youth struggles. Horizons for change and social transformation: are other types of socialism possible?

Theme 2

Imperial strategies and peoples resistance

Neoliberalism of war and imperial order. Militarization, criminalization of struggles and poverty, terror, terrorism and the culture of fear. Policies of military ‘cooperation’: military bases, occupation and immunity agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean. The “war of civilizations” as a new strategy for imperial expansion. Commodification of life and its legal-institutional instruments: “free trade”, foreign debt, international financial institutions; WTO, the FTAA and FTAs; multinational corporations. Electric energy models and energy geopolitics. Crisis of the institutions within the United Nations system and international law. The struggle for human rights, and the rights of peoples. Sovereignty and the struggle against colonialism. SOUTH-SOUTH relations. New perspectives for regional integration and people's integration. The debate on development. Resistance, civil disobedience and struggles for peace.

Theme 3

Resources for and rights to life: alternatives to the predatory model of civilization

Capitalism and threats to life: global warming and ‘natural’ catastrophes, loss of biodiversity, desertification. Imperial appropriation and privatization of resources. Struggles for access, redistribution and protection of resources: land, biodiversity, water, seeds and energy sources. Indigenous lands and autonomy. Urban crisis, social apartheid and violence. Struggles for new urban spaces and relations. Patterns of hegemonic knowledge and construction of anti-hegemonic knowledge. Dialogue between knowledges. Intellectual property and appropriation of knowledge. Right to health. Alternative health practices. Sexual and reproductive rights and de-criminalization of abortion.

Theme 4

Diversity, identities and cosmo-visions in movement

Plurality and inter-culturality. Indigenous peoples and nationalities and people of African descent. Racism and colonial legacy. Latin-American and regional identities. Local identities. Knowledge, spirituality and inter-religious dialogue. Sexual identity and diversity. Youth cultures and identities. Spaces and rights for people with special needs. Gender identities and sexual diversity.

Theme 5

Work, exploitation and reproduction of life

Precariousness, exclusion, inequality and poverty in the North and in the South. Work and gender inequalities. Labor, unions and social organizations. Migrations and new forms of exploitation. Child labor. Human trafficking. Resistance and new social arrangements in labor. Non-mercantile forms of reproduction of life: reciprocal treatment, indigenous communities, solidary economy, family-based agriculture, cooperatives and self-management. Care economy.

Theme 6

Communication, culture and education: alternative and democratizing dynamics

Right to information and communication in order to strengthen citizenship. Resistance to the concentration of ownership of the media. Social agenda in communication for building alternatives. and Media communication and oral communication: resistance and alternatives to hegemonic communication. Democratization of access to new technologies. Social appropriation of communication and information technologies, and on-line resistance (internet and mobile telephone systems). Artistic production and de-commodification of culture. Socio-cultural movements as forms of peoples' resistance. Linguistic diversities and critical languages. Right to education and student struggles. Anti-hegemonic educational models and experiences of popular education.

Transversal themes: Gender and diversities

III Americas Social Forum, Guatemala 2008

Theme 1

Scope and Challenges of the Changes in the Hemisphere: Post-Neoliberalism, Socialism(s), Civilizational Changes

• New directions for autonomous thinking: the debates around change and alternative models.

• Sovereignty (national, regional, food, energy, financial and other forms) as the main hub for national, international and geopolitical transformation.

• Redefinitions of the State: strengthening of the public sphere and of redistributive principles, plurinationality, gender equality.

• Proposals for building popular power and participatory democracy. New visions of the exercise of political power. Relations between movements, parties and the state.

• Approaches of diverse, solidary and egalitarian economy.

• Alternative and bottom-up economic integration. South-south-relations. New modalities of cooperation, solidarity and exchange.

Theme 2

Peoples in Resistance to Neoliberalism and Imperial Domination.

• Regional and continental scenarios of resistance: proposals, initiatives, ways of mobilization, coordination.

• Questioning the empire from inside: resistance and alternatives in the North.

• Fight against the commodification of life and its legal and institutional instruments: free trade, ecological, social and historical external debts, international financial institutions, World Trade Organization, Free Trade Agreements, multinational corporations.

• Armed neoliberalism: militarization, military bases and military “cooperation” policies. Terror, terrorism and a culture of fear. Feminicide. Different forms of organized crime.

• Criminalization of social struggles and of poverty. Resistance and struggle against the patriarchy and the commercialization of women’s lives: programmatic and organizational innovations.

Theme 3

Defending quality of life in the face of predatory capitalism

• The global food crisis? Causes and perspectives. Interrelations with agrofuels.

• Impact of the extractive industry, struggle against the mining industry.

• Human rights, privatization and commodification of public services and social security.

• Reaffirming sexual and reproductive rights against the conservative offensive.

• Work, exploitation and reproduction of life: struggles, rights and alternatives. Searches and perspectives of emigrants

• Redefinition of key elements of life: land, territories, biodiversity, water, seeds and energy; their protection and redistribution.

• Alternatives to urban-centralism, urban segregation, social exclusion and relegation of the peasant world.

Theme 4

Diversities and Equality: challenges for achieving them

• The initiatives and politics of equality and diversity.

• Plurality and interculturality.

• Racism and the reproduction of colonial order.

• Latinamerican identities and regional identities. Migrant identities.

• Gender identities and sexual diversity.

• Youth culture and identity.

• Space and rights for the disabled.

Theme 5

The ideological dispute: communication, culture, knowledge and education.

• Counter-hegemonic communication, democratization and resistance to dominant communication. Networks and communication links of movements and peoples.

• Proposals on alternative technologies: challenges and practices.

• Defense of public space and goods within communication, culture and education.

• Counter-hegemonic knowledge and dialogue of know-how.

• Resistance to ultra-conservative religious trends.

• Cultural movements: new proposals of cultural plurality and expression of diversities.

• The right to education and student struggles. Counter-hegemonic education models and experiences of popular education.

Theme 6

Original, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples and Nationalities: “Good living” and its keys for the future

• Struggles and political projects of peoples and nationalities.

• Territories, autonomy and self-determination.

• Peoples rights and collective rights.

• Conceptions and practices of indigenous and afro-economies.

• The legacy of “good living” for the construction of pluricultural, diverse and egalitarian societies.

• Culture, knowledge and spirituality of the indigenous and afro-descendant people.

• Participation and leadership of indigenous women.

Transversal Themes: Gender and Diversity