Dear companions in the Brazilian facilitation committee and the IC of FSM2018,

We are writing to reaffirm the commitment of Caritas Internationalis to the construction of the WSF process, at this moment Caritas, a Confederation with presence in a network in more than 165 countries of the World, will be represented by Luiz Cláudio Mandela, Director of Cáritas Brasileira e by Pierre, Volunteer for the Caritas Internationalis for WSF process

We believe that the practical experience of participation in and facilitation of events of the WSF since 2001 and 2003 respectively, can contribute to the construction of the current edition of the WSF. They are also in charge of guiding and concretizing the contribution of the Caritas network to the meetings of the WSF IC, the care and facilitation of the WSF process, and the preparation and facilitation of the WSF2018 event.

We would like to put forward some proposals that we can deepen during the next face-to-face meeting of the WSF IC in Salvador - BA:

1/ Share some ideas about the WSF process in general;

2/ Present some methodological and practical suggestions for the process in general and for the preparation and organization of the WSF2018 event

We think that these suggestions can help us to think how to better meet the realistic expectations that participants in the WSF 2018 can have in Brazil and in the world

Greetings
Mandela and Pierre

1. About the vision of the WSF process.

The WSF, as defined by its Charter of Principles, seems to us to be a long-term process of horizontal intercommunication between participants that have a series of values ​​and objectives that are explicitly mentioned in the Charter.

The WSF process, and the event process WSF2018, can be seen as a "common good" that requires collective care, and IC WSF and CFB WSF 2018 can be important places for this care.

Throughout our participation and contribution since 2001 in it, we have gained the conviction that this WSF process is an innovative, decentralized and horizontal format with counter-hegemonic potential not yet consolidated, which remains relevant today. We do not see a generic alternative identified to this process, and there is still a lot to do with its "form of implementation", in the social forum events, and outside those events

In our opinion, the frustration and anguish that can be felt in the face of the situation in the world and is reflected in the IC discussions should not lead us to think of "renewing the WSF" by questioning the "general form of the WSF". Rather they do stimulate us to deepen our practice of this generic form, to improve its existing "forms of implementation," and to initiate new forms that are also in accordance with the Charter, and to maintain and expand the WSF space-process around the world.

Within the broad ideological framework of values ​​and goals of the participants, defined by the Charter of principles, the diversity of themes and views of participants in the WSF is real, even though much has been gained in 15 years to create the capacity to care for and use this process together. Cooperating to take care of the process does not imply converging politically.

We think that, through the quality of self-organized intercommunication, made through "activities placed in the WSF process of intercommunication", developed persistently in time, and not giving immediate results, small or broader public action initiatives, performed outside the process of intercommunication du WSF "can grow or emerge.

These initiatives are clearly undertaken on behalf of those entities, and there may be many, who promote them. If they grow large, they can come to be perceived as factors of change and significant strength in the life of societies.

These good growth initiatives are expected by a good number of participants in the WSF process, along with other results of participation in it, such as finding ideas, contacts and cooperation.

In this vision, we would like to contribute so that the member organizations in IC and CFB 2018 can increasingly cooperate to take care of the process

I. Consider clearly that  the "production of content and identification of objectives" in the space of the WSF in general, is a task for the experienced and persevering efforts of self-organization and articulation of the participants, including among them, without preeminent status,.self-organized action of some IC and CFB 2018member entities

"It is worth remembering that each entity that places an intercommunication activity or presents an initiative in the space of the WSF, may be asked to publicly announce that it considers itself participant of the WSF process, as described by the charter of principles." This is a basic element of broad ideological coherence in the forum space. An example, among many other possible, of such an effort within the space of the WSF is a development project by certain entities of a self-organized permanent process of a "World Assembly of Movements / Struggles" where "initiatives" supported by many organizations can emerge.

II. Bear in mind the goals for “care for process”, such as those outlined in the letter reaffirming the adhesion of the Caritas network to the WSF IC "contributing to make this" space-process WSF space "increasingly accessible, friendly, relevant and appropriate for people and entities that, across the world and in their diversity, believe that another world is possible, and strive to build it, or are at the stage of wondering if and how that other world may be possible. " 

III. To adopt, for our common task of caring for the process and the Salvador event, a more" formal" vision"of the WSF process / event, focused on their "forms of implementation", and on a general communication about what the process is, and how it works. So we can focus and cooperate  better on our common responsibility to take care of space and make it attractive and relevant.

IV. Taking care of maintaining a diversity of implementations so as to keep the WSF space-process decentralized in its expression - just as there is today a diversity of forums-events, can have a diversity of other forms of implementation of the process

In this perspective we would like to comment on two ways of implementing the process that seem to us promising for the dynamics of the WSF process, and can be implemented at the occasion of the WSF 2018 event

V. In the goal of contributing to making the WSF process more accessible and quotidian, it seems relevant to promote the formal notion of "extension dynamics in the WSF", both "autonomous extension dynamics" and event related extension dynamics ". Both are aimed at making participation in the WSF process a more voluntary, more common, more widely accessible, and less hampered by the inequalities of access to exceptional resources (visa - time - money) that are needed for "face - to - face" participation in a major event located far from where one lives.

This form of extension dynamics can also allow people and entities that have already participated in a face to face event to spread the idea of the WSF around them

VI. In the goal of contributing to make the process more relevant it seems to us fundamental to promote the use of the formal notion of "initiatives" as a basic element of methodology / vocabulary for the complementary process of well-established notion of activities.

We propose that the use of the form / word of "initiative" (ie "presentation in the WSF space of a" public action for social and ecological change "that is performed in the public space of societies, i-e outside the WSF space") be developed in the WSF process and in the event of WSF 2018, in addition to the form / word "activity" (that is, proposition for a "moment of intercommunication" in the "space of the WSF"). 

In the case of an event, or of an extension dynamics that are macro-forms of implementation of the WSF intercommunication process, this visibility of the notion of "initiatives" in the WSF methodology and websites, together with a didactic effort directed at the participants, allows to collect and visualize "Horizontally" the initiatives promoted by the participants.

This can be done in the same way that the activities in the WSF program are collected and displayed : horizontally. It allows to make their diversity and wealth publicly visible in websites, in the same way that the diversity of "activities" proposed by them is visible in the "program" of an event or a dynamic of extension

This collection then allows the committees facilitating an event and an extension dynamic, to visualize and propose the form of implementation of the "calendar of initiatives", as a basic element of methodology along with the "program of activities", as a way to make reflexive space-process of the WSF "more friendly to action" in full consistency with Articles 6 and 7 of the Charter.

These two notions, initiatives and dynamics of extension, were mentioned in CI Porto Alegre in January of this year, in the document proposed for discussion in the section of the agenda called "CI dynamics

http://openfsm.net/projects/ic-extended/ci-portoalegre-201701-notas-21manana-dinamica-ci 

They are mentioned in proposal 8 related to this document

http://openfsm.net/projects/transitionci/transicionci-porto-alegre-agenda-3-groups-17-proposals-for-dynamics-of-ic/#P

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To be concrete and consistent with this vision, CB / CI intend to continue to contribute, together with other organizations, to sustain a "dynamic of permanent extension in the WSF", among other possible ones, that began on the occasion of Montreal 2016 and is under way, with 400 activities placed in it so far,

This form of implementation in the WSF process includes the placement by participants of activities taking place throughout the year and in all parts of the world, and may also include the placement of initiatives.

 

Now, we propose to consider these generic notions of initiatives and extension in the context of preparation and methodology of the WSF 2018 event itself.

2. On the preparation and methodology of the WSF 2018 event

Here are our suggestions and corresponding contributions, about different facets of creation and structuring of the event

"Promoting participation in the WSF on the occasion of WSF2018"

The dynamic of extension in the WSF that we are contributing to facilitate now (part 1 above) offers the formal possibility for the participants to “place” in the WSF process activities around the world and to open them for remote participation, among which:

1 / activities "on the way to Salvador" preparing for participation in Salvador, including assemblies, including IC international seminar in October

2 / activities around mobilization dates in / around Bon COP23, in / around Buenos Aires WTO, and around Davos..This is consistent with the discussion and consensus held in Porto Alegre http://openfsm.net/projects/ic-extended/ci-portoalegre-201701-notas-21tarde/#181

These activities allow to contribute to the mobilization around the dates, and at the same time to make visible the specificity of the WSF process, with its generic space-process format of intercommunication "next to / combined with" other spaces / specific processes of mobilization or struggles. This gives visibility to the reality of the WSF process in addition to the presence of people and groups in Bonn and Buenos Aires

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On the other hand, as the other members of CFB CI, Caritas CB / CI will stimulate participation in the WSF 2018 in its worldwide network, in two ways that can be combined: trips of delegations to Salvador and placement of activities in the dynamics of extension "towards / connected with Salvador"

Declaring Salvador 2018 an event  " friendly to remote participation" between March 13 and 17

 We suggest that the facilitation committee declare FSM2018 an extended event and initiate an "extension team for  Salvador 2018" that may

-Stimulat the organizations that prepare activities in Salvador, (including assemblies), to open these activities for remote participation through the Internet and to help them do this

- Open "common moments" for remote participation: opening march, final moment, etc.

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CB / CI are ready to contribute to this Salvador extension team

Announcement of initiatives on WSF2018 event website

We suggest that participants registered on the FSM2018 website, who have the possibility to register proposals for activities, be given also, starting at least three months before the event, and until the last day, the possibility of announcing "initiatives" describing:

- what they do or intend to do by contributing to resist and build,

- three dates in its action plan and the list of organizations promoting the initiative / action campaign struggle etc

- in what activity they will present it (which in some way requires informal consultation of those of the organizers of this activity if they are not among the promoters of the initiative)

Caritas can convey, together as the organizing committees of the corresponding events, two experiences accumulated in this sense: Montreal2016, where a form to announce initiatives was placed on the website, although only a few weeks before the event https://fsm2016.org/en/participer/initiatives/  and the one of the Panamazonia 2017 where a methodology of initiatives was defined and published also shortly before the event http://www.forosocialpanamazonico.com/iniciativas-de-cambio/

General Structuring of Time in WSF 2018:

Consistent with the vision of the WSF as an intercommunication process, it is important to offer time for this intercommunication where people have the opportunity to speak and listen i-e dialogue, which needs time. Dialoguing in the context of the WSF and its diversity, is a factor for “dignification”, education and personal transformation that allows the creation of conditions for cooperation and joint initiatives

Therefore, our recommendation is to have at least 3 complete days for intercommunication days  march 14 15 16, with self-organized activities, including self-organized assemblies. The proportion of time dedicated by participants to activities other than assemblies, being at least twice the time devoted to assemblies ..

An activity can be presented as an "assembly" by a criterion of form: for example, if it has a minimum of 5 co- organizers; They can be placed randomly in the program, or have a dedicated "moment": at night of each day, as done in Montreal.

Relevant to remember that until WSF Belem, in the WSF events we had 4 full days of intercommunication, plus one final day that in Belem was of morning assemblies, and “assembly of assemblies” in the afternoon.

Now we have only three days. Perhaps this can be offset by the "intercommunicative effectiveness" of an Agora of initiatives on March 17, where multiple decentralized interactions are invited. Let us move to this

 3 / Final moment in FSM2018: (see also Caritas answer to question 3 consult fsm2018 - point 5)

So far, on the final moment of a WSF forum event, there is a big difference between expectations and achievement.

It is necessary to find a way of implementation in full coherence with two articles of the letter: Article 6 ("no one expresses himself or proposes statements" in the name of the WSF ") and article 7 (" the organizers undertake to disseminate the decisions of the participants")

In the input http://openfsm.net/projects/wsfic_fsmci/salvador17-input1/#ES  part 3, this challenge was placed in a historical perspective of almost ten years since Belem WSF

Based on this long and laborious experience since 2009, in which CI has contributed, our recommendation for FSM2018 is to have a "final moment" in an "open space called" Agora of initiatives".The space would be able to host several thousands WSF participants with a badge and maybe also inhabitants of Salvador without a badge

Agora of initiatives is an invitation for all the participants to an active "intercommunication experience", without "taking the florr" with clear methodology and great visibility. And possibly very motivating, as well as festive 

Here comes a proposal “narrative” for this day

During the first part of the day,

• - the promoters of each initiative (perhaps 100 or more) have a "place" in the Agora , with a physical space allocation taking into account the number of organizations that co-promote it ,  making the articulation visible. It is important to remember here that declarations from"assemblies" made on days 14 15 16 are considered as initiatives.
• - Participants are invited to move between "places" of each initiative, as they wish, according to their interests, and meet with promoters of the initiative and express their support or involvement in the initiative.

Promoters of an initiative can do among themselves and with interested participants

• 1 / strategic meetings dealing with "who does what when where after Salvador in relation to this initiative,
• 2 / collective photos short videos of invitation to action motivators on their initiative, for dissemination in Internet,
• 3 / preparation of 3 large posters illustrating the 3 dates / steps of the initiatives, to be visible elements of the afternoon physical calendar of initiatives

In the middle of the day, during the lunch break, which can be on the spot with food to take away provided by solidarity economy, places in the open space of Agora are reorganized to be ordered "by dates."

That is to say that the sequence of places in the Agora space is physically presenting the sequence of dates in  the "calendar of initiatives" which  is the collective result of FSM2018, showing over time the various dates of the various initiatives, each with its poster prepared in the morning, and accompanied by at least one person involved in it, or many more depending on the size and attractiveness of the initiative,

In the second part of the day, participants and promoters of initiatives can “populate” a date of an initiative in the human calendar chain (formed during the lunch break by re-location according to chronological date From march 2018 to say end of 2019.) and / or continue circulating throughout the Calendar of the dates.

They can make

• 1 / more contacts, including with their "neighbors" in the calendar, which may stimulate unexepected articulations, Walking along the Calendar is an occasion to discover more struggles that the participants did not have time to find
• 2 / interview with the media
• 3 / motivational photos and videos "by date", including “flashmob” calling more people  to joinfor a short time in the afternoon
• 4 / joint identification/ coordination of " tasks by date for their initiative before returning home". 

The "size" and “energy” of each initiative is visible in many ways in the Agora

• 1 / by the number of organizations mentioned in the initiative
• 2 / by the number of people who promote it in their place in the morning, or promote one of its three dates in the afternoon in the physical calendar,
• 3 / by the number of people who visit  it during the day, and the number of support expression collected at the end of the day in a format common paper collected by the WSF 2018 organizers / facilitators with physical copies made to the promoters
• 4 / by the number of requests from the media present in Agora
• ( 5 / by the number of supports that will be collected online after the event)

During the Agora , in several smaller, relatively low-sounding stages scattered in the open space of Agora, the WSF2018 facilitation committee could propose,

• 1 / generic announcements about "the numbers in FSM2018" (number of activities of participants of initiatives etc),
• 2/ symbolic testimonies of WSF participants about their experience at FSM2018,
• 3 / cultural performances of all kinds, which may include active participation of "spectators" around the stage.

Then, the final moment in Salvador 2018

- would not be a long sequence of verbal statements, which is "disempowering" the participants summoned to listen and do nothing else on that last day of the event, during a time precious for them, since they are together with other likeminded people with whom they probably have much to talk and do together. (In this situation many participants may end up leaving the place before end of the sequence.)

- would be an "Agora" in the proper sense, with many interactions happening simultaneously. Each participant would have a lot of time to make the best of his last day in WSF2018, according to his/her own goals, and meet with whom he / she is interested, to participate and act in the coming months on the initiatives that interest him/her etc.

In addition, throughout the afternoon, the "calendar of initiatives" can be presented to the media as a "concrete and visible collective outcome of the forum event". and the media can conduct many interviews with initiative promoters "in the motiving context of Agora ." It is a common calendar of projects campaigns struggles of all types.

Important to note that having a common calendar linked to the event ( not the process) does not mean that all participants in WSF event and process  is supporting each and every date /initiatives in it .

Communication team of WSF2018 could also film the calendar - by land or by above to visibilize its original and impressive human form and size

The full name could be "Calendar of initiatives in WSF 2018 Salvador". The "in" clearly shows that each participant is not necessarily supporting all the initiatives placed on the calendar.

This would then be a format in full coherence with two articles of the Charter: Article 6 ("no one expresses himself or proposes statements to the name of the WSF") and article 7 ("the organizers of the event undertake to disseminate the decisions of the participants" )

 

Update of the "calendar of initiatives at the FSM2018 in Salvador" after the event

In order to give depth to Salvador's event, a "calendar accompanying committee" could be formed, with some anticipation before the event, to commit to updating the "calendar of initiatives in Salvador" for about a year, until March 2019 with versions of initiatives that will mature as time goes by.

This committee would be doing "follow-up," contacting initiatives promoters after the event in the process of consolidating the emerging initiatives at WSF2018 or energizing the existing initiatives strengthened in WSF 2018, and when the dates in calendar that they announced come close in time. The committee would be asking them to update content of their initiatives on the FSM2018 to keep the Calendar alive and informative.

Thus, the Calendar can remain on the website a living source of information and an identification factor with the forum process

In addition, the committee can publish online forms at the WSF 2018 site to continue to collect support for the initiatives for some time (several months).

It can give resulting information about on line supporters to the respective promoters of the initiative and can also continue to welcome and include these new supporters as participants in the WSF process.

This allows to work on a challenge identified in the history of the WSF that the networks that grow around initiatives placed in the WSF are also feeding the general dynamics of the process

This task of the committee can be complemented by stimulation of self-documentation of  activities by their organizers collecting and placing links to documentation on the pages of their activities and initiatives in the web site fsm2018

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CB / CI is ready to contribute to the preparation / facilitation of this final moment in Salvador and in the calendar accompanying  group in Salvador

History of the problematic of the final moment since 2008

It is worth here to put this final moment theme in a historical perspective of almost ten years.

Since it was agreed at the end of 2008 in IC Copenhagen to have a simultaneous variety of "convergence assemblies for action" at the WSF event, which was first implemented in Belém, Caritas contributes to finding a way to implement a more relevant "final moment" for the participants than an "assembly of assemblies" as those organized in Belém and Dakar, because it is a format that obliges many people to just listen to a long series of statements. And they get tired of just listening and not be doing much of their time.

It is worth noting that because of the dysfunction / defocalization of IC since after Dakar, the subject of these "final moment formula" has not been discussed in depth and with practical progress in IC since 2011 until now, although there is a widely shared opinion that so far we have not found a way that is both consensual and effective/motivating.

In Tunis 2013 and 2015, after being addressed quickly in the preparatory IC meetings, there were two sketches of an "open space where each assembly could come and present its results on the main avenue of the city for WSF participants and the population."

Because of their closeness to the annual public march of the Palestinian Land, these spaces were both invisible   due to lack of time, communication and space, even security considerations in 2015.

It is worth noting that this public march on Palestine was indeed an important bet for the organizers, who had scheduled the forum to end just that day of the Land, and were in visibility competence, in the same march, with the Tunisian Islamists. It is a singular case in the history of the WSF events.

Montreal 2016 had a hybrid final moment, name " Agora of initiatives"; although eventually still in the form of "assemblies of assemblies", with a sequence of declarations all afternoon, although it did allow at the end the placement of "initiatives" in a "calendar of initiatives" with 80 initiatives and 120 dates

https://fsm2016.org/en/actions    

In Tarapoto 2017 the Pan Amazon forum, and for the first time in practice, there was a part of the final moment that lasted an hour and a half, with open space (under a big marquee) where several hundred participants circulated among around 20 paper posts presenting "initiatives" of groups of entities, where they could talk to promoters of these and leave their contacts if they are interested

 http://openfsm.net/projects/cif/cif-galeria-de-papelotes-iniciativas-en-fospa-tarapoto .

This moment of empowerment of the participants was well perceived understood by the organizers, and the international committee of the Panamazonian social forum now includes in its process facilitation agenda a group of "follow-up" to accompany the development of these self-organized initiatives, towards the next pan-Amazon event in Colombia in 2019.