By Chico Whitaker

It has been nearly eleven years since the first World Social Forum happened, in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Seen as a light of hope - new and strong - in a locked horizon, this political initiative led the Le Monde Diplomatique newspaper's Director, Ignace Ramonet, to say, in its January editorial: "the new century begins in Porto Alegre".

"You can tear a flower but you can't stop spring from coming!" (An activist in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia)

Declaration of the Assembly on the Right to Communication, Dakar - February 11, 2011

We, actors in the field of alternative information as well as citizen activists who use communication as a tool for social transformation:

Note that, in a global context:

- information is held in a stranglehold by political, economic and industrial forces and is manipulated by the governments and States;

- freedom of expression is being denied, thwarted or repressed;

WSF 2011, February 10th, Dakar (Senegal)

As the Social Movements Assembly of the World Social Forum of Dakar, 2011, we are gathered here to affirm the fundamental contribution of Africa and its peoples in the construction of human civilisation. Together, the peoples of all the continents are struggling mightily to oppose the domination of capital, hidden behind illusory promises of economic progress and political stability. Complete decolonization for oppressed peoples remains for us, the social movements of the world, a challenge of the greatest importance.