A brief intro to the world social forum from an intern attending the event.

Greetings from Puerto Alegre, Brazil: The World Social Forum

Here we are our second day in Puerto Alegre, as a part of Alternatives internship program myself and two other interns are attending the first World Social Forum in Puerto Alegre Brazil. The Forum is a an opportunity for humanitarians, unions, environmentalists, academics, activists and many more interested in social issues to dialogue. Some of the topics being discussed are those regarding development- in particular in Latin America, globalization, genetic modification, and the effect of technology on culture. Some of the participants include organizations such as; Green peace, INSPIR- Inter-American Union Institute for Racial Equality, CTA-Central Workers Union for Argentina, and many more.

The Brazilian government has been criticized for funding part of this conference and a result instead of being held at the public university it is being held at a private university. Some have criticized whether an event like this will have any outcome besides creating a space for debate. Being that this is the first Forum of this kind to occur it is impractical to be discussing these outcomes, as there is no doubt that in creating an environment for the exchange of knowledge from a global perspective is in itself a step in the right direction. There is already a project called 'A Hundred Stone Pages` which seems to be moving in this direction.

The layout of the conference consists of talks on the mornings followed by workshops in the afternoon and cultural events in the evenings. There is a recognition of the different groups attending the conference making it as accessible to the community at large. For example there is a whole aspect of the conference dedicated to youth, which includes workshops and other events.

During one the talks a panelist mentioned that he felt the media interest lied in spectacle instead of informing their audience. In this case though there seems to be ample opportunity for alternative press coverage of the event given the presence of several alternative media organizations such as Indy media. For more info about the event and it's participants check out The World Social Forum website.