The World Social Forum (WSF) is an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action.
Click here to learn more about the WSF 2016 in Montreal.
As always, transform! will also participate in this year’s WSF. Our main identity in this forum is to be involved in linking movements and politics, and therefore we always propose seminars regarding the links between these fields.
The transform! seminars will be dedicated to the following topics:
- The Common as new political subject for an alternative?
- Social and political transformation
- Endless war. Is this the beginning of a third “World War”?
- How to converge the migration challenges by social justice?
- Production and the Commons
Please find the detailed programme of the transform! seminars on the right (pdf).
Contact and further information:
Chantal Delmas (WSF-responsible of transform! europe)
email: chantaldelmas1954@gmail.com
Programme
transform! seminars
Thursday, 11 August
9.00 – 11.30: The Common as new political subject for an alternative?
With:
- Chantal Delmas (transform! europe, Espaces Marx, France)
- Elisabetta Cangelosi (transform! Italia)
- Josef Baum (Party of the European Left, Austria)
- Theodora Kotsaka (Nicos Poulantzas Institue, Greece)
- Vittorio Agnoletto (MD, University Milan, former European deputy, Italy)
- Silke Helfrich (Commons Strategies Group ,Germany)
- Francine Mestrum (Global social justice)
Venue:
Espace Emancipation
Quebec University
Pavillon A (Local A-2580)
400 Rue Sainte Catherine
13.00 – 15.30: Social and political transformation
With:
- Chantal Delmas (Espaces Marx,transform!)
- Maite Mola (Party of the European Left, Spain)
- Natasa Theodorakopoulou (Party of the European Left, Greece)
- Fathi Chamk (MP Popular Front Tunisia)
- Gus Massiah (IPAM)
- Pierre Beaudet (editor of the Nouveaux Cahiers du socialisme)
- Christian Pilichowski (CGT, France, transform! europe)
- Phyllis Bennis (Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, USA)
Venue:
Université du Québec à Montréal – Pavillon DS (Local DS-M540)
320, rue Sainte-Catherine Est – Montréal
Friday, 12 August
9.00 – 11.30: Endless war. Is this the beginning of a third “World War”?
Workshop organized by the NCS and transform! europe
With:
- Gilbert Achcar (University of London)
- Fabio Alberti (transform! Italia)
- Phyllis Bennis (Institute for Policy Studies, Washington)
- Dominique Boisvert (Resource Center for Nonviolence, Quebec)
- Reiner Braun (International Peace Bureau, Zurich, Switzerland)
- Maite Mola (Party of the European Left , Spain)
- Martina Pignatti Morano (Un Ponte per Baghdad, Italy)
- Helmut Scholz (MEP and member of Die Linke, Germany)
- Michel Warschawski (Alternative Information Center, Jerusalem, Israel)
- Kamal Lahbib (Maghreb Social Forum, Casablanca. Morocco)
Venue:
Université McGill – Pavillon Bronfman (Local 151)
1001, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal
13.00 – 15.30: How to converge the migration challenges by social justice?
With:
- Samir Abi (Vision Solidaire, Togo)
- Christian Pilichowski (CGT, France)
- Bill Westerman (Researcher, USA)
- Judith Benda (Die Linke, Party of the EuropeanLeft, Germany)
- Natasa Theodorakopoulou (Syriza, Party of the European Left,Greece)
- Gregory Mauzé (transform! europe, Belgium)
- Vittorio Agnoletto (former European deputy, Italy )
Venue:
Espace Emancipation
Cégep du Vieux Montréal
Room 705
255 Ontario Street East
13.00 – 15.30: Production and the Commons
With:
- Chantal Delmas (transform! europe, Espaces Marx, France)
- Christian Pilichowski (CGT, France,transform! europe)
- Theodora Kotsaka (Nicos Poulantzas Institute,Greece)
- Kevin Flanagan (Ireland)
- Silke Helfrich (Commons Strategies Group)
- Josef Baum (Party of the European Left, Austria)
- Jason Nardi (RIPESS, Solidarity Economy network)
- Elisabetta Cangelosi (transform! Italia)
Venue:
Université du Québec à Montréal – Pavillon DS (Local DS-M560)
320, rue Sainte-Catherine Est, Montréal
Co-organised with other organisations and networks
Wednesday, 10 August
Discussion workshop
Humanity is facing the greatest and largely unpublished problems at global dimension, environmental (climate change, loss of biodiversity..), ethical (transhumanism projects, even posthuman, erasing protection of privacy …) and democratic (monitoring and impact human societies via an Internet exploitation and big data, power of multinational companies tend to supplant the States, …). Solving these problems requires a different conception of international trade, to end – if not sharply reduce – the imbalances between nations and regions of the world to rebuild international solidarity. A focus will be on education and research.
16.00: Convergence assembly
The idea of the Commons was often raised to talk about water, land, oceans, forests in the context of the multidimensional crisis of 2008. The WSF in Belem in 2009 took a clear anti-capitalist stance and also launched a “manifesto for the recovery of the commons”. In the years that followed what we now call simply “the commons” while it revives traditional practices, is also a new paradigm to build concrete alternatives here and now in areas such as economic and social organization and management at all levels, from the local (e.g. community garden) to the global (e.g. Wikipedia) in fields as diverse as agriculture, health, new technologies, education, alternative currencies, urban management, etc.
The convergence of the commons with the cooperative movement, the social and solidary economy, Degrowth, and Political Ecology is now putting forward proposals for post-capitalist transition that go beyond the concept of development. The postcapitalist transition convergence assembly aims to identify and discuss these proposals with key actors from different continents.
Thursday, 11 August
13.00 – 15.30: 4 bis – A right to Migrate with their rights
In collaboration with Secours Catholique – Caritas France
By creating three spaces, representing stages of the migration route (start – transit – arrival), we wish to denounce violations of migrants’ rights, while discovering projects implemented worldwide that enable them to access their fundamental rights. This reflection leads us to explore the need for a “right to migrate”.
Venue:
Cégep du Vieux Montréal (Local 4.82) A
255, rue Ontario E – Montréal