The Fourth Americas Social Forum. Credit: Marc Becker

Almost 10,000 activists gathered in Asunción, Paraguay in August for the Fourth Americas Social Forum (ASF). The meeting opened with a massive march that featured peasant and women’s issues. The forum ended with the reading of a declaration that pledged an ongoing struggle for equality, sovereignty, and integration based on the principle of solidarity between peoples.

The first World Social Forum (WSF) met in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001. It embraced the slogan "Another World is Possible" as a counter to claims that no alternative existed to a world based on militarism and neoliberal economic policies of the privatization of public resources. This model of organizing quickly spread, gaining force around the world including the United States Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit in June, 2010.

Previous Americas Social Forums have been held in Ecuador (2004), Venezuela (2006), and Guatemala (2008). Each forum draws heavily on the local population and, in turn, encourages local organizing efforts. In the case of Paraguay, the international farmers organization, “Vía Campesina,” brought a large delegation with many people speaking the local Guaraní language and drinking mate. Agrarian reform, food sovereignty, and the planting of transgenic soybeans became key issues for debate. Historically Paraguay has not had strong social movements, but the forum highlighted and encouraged their growing strength.

Militarism remained an important topic of conversation at the forum, particularly in light of last year's military coup in Honduras, the arrival of the Fourth Fleet off the coast of Latin America, and proposals to place US military bases in Panama, Costa Rica, and Colombia. The School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) described its efforts to close the US Army school at Fort Benning, Georgia, that is accused of training dictators and assassins. While Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay no longer send students, Colombia still contributes the largest number. One person warned that Colombia had begun to play a surrogate role in training security forces elsewhere in the region. Participants took steps toward organizing an international coalition against the construction of foreign military bases.

The World Social Forum was initially organized as a meeting of civil society, and explicitly excluded governments, and political parties. Since 2001, South America has turned significantly to the left, and many people now warmly welcome the new leftist governments to the forum. At the closing, presidents Evo Morales from Bolivia and José Mujica from Uruguay joined Paraguay president Fernando Lugo on the stage to the wild cheers of the participants. “Our America is on the march,” Lugo proclaimed, “but we have not yet arrived at our desired destination. We have a lot of work left to do,” he said, “and the Americas Social Forum is one of the torches that lights our path forward.”

[The author is with the Vancouver Media Group.]