The WSF/USSF is an expression of the people's struggles to advance alternatives to the world-as-we-know-it. Since its first convening in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, it has captured the imagination of all who have come within its orbit and caught up by its vast and growing networks. It provides a large space for groups to mobilize, voice their oppression, exchange ideas, and express their desire for hope and another world. Central in the founding principles of the World Social Forum are: the advance of peoples' rights (including women's rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, the rights of minorities, the rights of peasant farmers, and, generally, the rights and dignity of all peoples now oppressed), participatory democracy, social and cultural pluralism, and the end of market tyranny. This volume captures the full range of topics dealing with the WSF/USSF. It is a fresh treatment of materials for the "insider" and provides ample background for someone who would like to attend.

Originally published, in part, as Volume 3, No. 1 (2008) of Brill's journal Societies Without Borders