Reflections upon the reading of the article "Problèmes dans (et de) l’altermondialisme" by Pierre Khalfa:

Khalfa's article is reasonably clear and readable. There is nothing in the article which strikes me as particularly wrong  or mistaken.

On the other hand, the article does not contain any new ideas or thoughts.  It repeats what has been said in the previous discussions about the social forum.  Walden Bello, for instance,  wrote, after the Nairobi WSF, that the social forum stands at a crossroads. Now Pierre Khalfa repeats that "Le processus des Forums [est] à la croisée des chemins".  Bello and Khalfa may look at the
process of the social forum from  different perspectives, yet the problems and solutions which are being discussed are the same for both.

As said, there is nothing in particular I would like to polemize against in Khalfa's article.  However, having mentioned Walden Bello, I should add that Khalfa's analysis suffers from a certain narrowness of perspective. It is a bit trade-unionistic in its lack of analysis of the international politics and the strategic situation. (Walden Bello's writings, by contrast, present an ongoing
analysis of world economical and political trends.)

Khalfa mentions three possible orientations:

  1. Go on with the forums as hitherto, because the process is still growing  ("poursuivre sous la même forme le processus actuel des Forums avec l’argument, juste, que l’important est de maintenir la dynamique d’élargissement qui n’est pas allée à son terme.")
  2. Go on with the forums as hitherto even if one thinks that the really important alter-globalism happens elsewhere ("les Forums ont leur utilité et doivent donc se poursuivre sous leur forme actuelle. Mais elle considère que l’important est ailleurs")
  3. Try to use the forums to tackle the new problems, which alterglobalism is confronted with ("essayer de prendre les Forums comme point d’appui pour répondre aux problèmes nouveaux que doit affronter le mouvement altermondialiste.")


The two first orientations boil down to the debate between supporters of the concept of the open space on the one hand, and supporters of some kind of global political party on the other.  The visions of a global party are manifold. "The Bamako Appeal", which aimed at founding a new International, is one variety. "The Assemblies of the Social Movements" (ASM), which  are usually meeting during the last day of the social forums, is another. The ASM is an effort to turn the open space of the social forum into a deliberative "movement of movements", which decides on a common plan of action. The notion that a bloc of progressive national states (such as the current "leftist" governments of Latin America) could become the force that successfully changes the world  is yet one variant.

Khalfa's third orientation (of the social forum) is nothing more than a self-evidence. Obviously, the forums must strive to tackle all the pressing new problems of the alter-globalist movement!

In the article "On the documentation of the social forums" (which I wrote and posted a couple of days before the European Social Forum in malmö 17-21 September),  I am  looking for a solution  beyond the idea of a 'global political party'. This is because I remain convinced that the social forum is a political innovation of the first order, something that had to come at this point in the history of mankind, and which would have to be re-invented later on, if it would fail this first time.

In my view, "documentation" ought no longer to be seen as an activity of secondary importance. Certainly, one of the aims of the "documentation" of the social forum is to preserve its historical record for posterity, and to build a collective memory of the struggles and activities of the present altermondialisme.  But "documentation" ought also to be understood as a future-oriented activity, as the basis of the social information, which governs our actions.

It is a truism to say that the battle for the cultural and political hegemony is fought over the information and the documentation. However, the conditions under which this battle is fought have changed since 1945 - the year of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and of the beginning of the internet. Let's use our open spaces, the social forums and the internet, to create the common public library of information, which mankind needs in order to repeal the state propaganda and the corporate lies!

The Bibliothèque publique d'information  (BPI) in Paris,  which is also called centre Beaubourg, is a document of the age-old trend of humanity to build and improve its public libraries. However, with the internet mankind has entered a new epoch in the history of the libraries.  You are not in the BPI; the BPI is with you.