The "future of the WSF"- less of its events and most of the process born from it - is a recurring theme in World Social Forums. From 2004 in all its editions there are at least a workshop to debate it. It seems to become more afflicting as time passes, organizers become tired, the number of participants in world events and meetings of its International Council decreases, the interest of large organizations and movements diminishes.

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".

By Chico Whitaker (*)

SAO PAOLO, JuL (IPS) The World Social Form (WSF), which turned ten in January, is holding a series of forums throughout the year inspired by its well-known motto, "Another World is Possible".

In its creation of a series of "open spaces" and civil society networks from the grass-roots to the planetary level, the WSF process is working at three levels.