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Abstract

Have the Social Forums that have taken place in southern Africa between 2003 and 2005 provided a useful forum for the region's social movements to improve their understanding of, and response to, the impact of global neo-liberal capitalism? The global Social Forum movement remains biased towards Western activists and agendas. Interviews with participants in southern African Social Forums, suggest that while the influence of Africans on the global social justice movement remains limited, southern African social movements are utilizing the Social Forum model to strengthen their own struggles.

Keywords

civil society protest Social Forum social movements southern Africa

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References

African Social Forum (2003) Addis Ababa Consensus, ‘Another Africa is Possible!’. Available at: http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000167/P163_ASF_consensus.pdf. Accessed 9 October 2006.

Alexander, Amanda and Mandisa Mbali (2005) ‘Have the Slaves Left the Master's House? A Report on the Africa Social Forum’ , Journal of Asian and African Studies 39(5): 407–416 .

Deve, Thomas (2004) ‘Africa in Search of a Deeper Dialogue Beyond Addis and Bamako: Reflections on Africa and the Mumbai 2004 World Social Forum’. Available at: http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000699/WSF_Deve.pdf.

Larmer, Miles (2005) ‘Reaction and Resistance to Neo-Liberalism in Zambia’ , Review of African Political Economy 32: 103–103 .

Mkandawire, Thomas (1999) ‘Crisis Management and the Making of “Choiceless Democracies” in Africa’, in R. Joseph (ed.) State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers .

Van der Wekken, Ruby (2005) ‘A Picture of the African Social Forum Process’. Available at: http://www.nigd.org/docs/PictureAfricanSocialForumProcess.pdf.

‘More Fire’ Next Time?

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