The World Social Forum of Transformative Economies is an international meeting that will be held between 25th and 28th of June 2020 in Barcelona. It includes projects form around the world, based on economies that are an alternative to capitalism, and that show that another world is possible. The event is inspired on the World Social Forum, that has been celebrated in different parts of the world since 2001.
Transformative economies have the will to propose an alternative to capitalism. While capitalism is based on productivity and profit, and subdues people and the environment to get a better economic performance, transformative economies have people and environment at the center of its activity.
In the case of WSFTE, transformative economies are based on four movements:
- feminist economies, that put caring, life and all the porcesses that make it possible at the center of the system;
- agroecologic movements, that rethinks the food producing model and aims to ensure food sovereignty;
- the commons movement, that proposes a community management of goods and resources, as an alternative to both public and private management;
- social and solidarity economy, that includes fair trade and ethical financing, based on cooperativism to build a solidarity market, self management and economy democratization
Besides these movements, there are another two that affect them: education and research, and the building pf public policies. Both are oriented to impulse transformative economies.
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
WSFTE is not an event that only lasts a few days, nor a showroom for international speakers. Its main aim is to serve as a process for grassroots movements and transformative economies initiatives, to help them converge and collaborate in the long term. The goal is to bring these movements closer, these movements that share the will to put people and the environment in the center of the economy to finish with an economy based on extractivism, growth, competitivity and markets. So WSFTE has to bring space to make these alternative models to capitalism walk together towards collaborative and resilient societies, and to build up and strengthen alliances an strategic actions by working together.
Connection
We want the Forum to be an space for mmeting, exchanging and debating, and we want it to last in the long term, creating connections between different networks, organizations and initiatives that work on transformative economies around the world.
Collaborative process
We want the Forum to be built thanks to coordinated work in different commissions: logistics, content, communication, virtual mobilization... It is inspired by ideas, experiences and knowledge from all people who participate in the process, and aims to become a plural space, where diverse people and movements can be included.
Get to know
We propose that WSFTE becomes an space to get to know different proposals, alternative to capitalism, taht are already working, to be more conscious of this "another possible world", that is not just a concept, but a tangible reality.
Territorial organization
We want the process to expand in different territories, and to seve as an excuse to link movements and initiatives that are already working in the territories.
Why this is important
We need that the Forum reaches the maximum number or people as possible. On a first stage, we address people that are already involved in any aspect of transformative economies, so they can help us by spreading the message and economically supporting the process through its contacts with another organizations and projects.
Later we intend to reach all those people who, although not being related to transformative economies, have interest on participating in these projects from different realities and territories.
Team and experience
El Foro Social Mundial de las Economías Transformadoras se basa en los Foros Sociales Mundiales (FSM) que se organizan desde el año 2001 en diferentes ciudades del mundo. En 2016, en el Foro Social Mundial de Quebec, se decidió impulsar un Foro Social Mundial temático sobre economías alternativas al capitalismo, mientras que en 2018, durante el Foro Social Mundial de Salvador de Bahía, se comunicó que la sede de este Foro sería Barcelona.
La decisión de emprender este proceso en Barcelona no es casual: Catalunya es un referente mundial del cooperativismo y la economía solidaria, con una historia marcada por las luchas sociales. Una vez más, el país destacará en la escena mundial por su compromiso social y su voluntad de construir un mundo mejor.
Para activar este proceso, desde 2018 se pusieron en marcha diferentes grupos locales de trabajo hacia el FSMET, con el apoyo inicial de tres organizaciones impulsoras: la Xarxa d’Economia Solidaria de Catalunya (XES), la Red de Redes de la Economía Alternativa y Solidaria (REAS) y la Red Intercontinental de Promoción de la Economía Social y Solidaria (Ripess).
A medida que ha ido creciendo el proceso, también ha aumentado el número de personas implicadas: hoy son ya 23 las redes y organizaciones internacionales que coordinan el proceso, conjuntamente con el grupo local de Barcelona, que será la sede del evento.
En paralelo, ha crecido además el equipo humano que trabaja cada día para hacer del FSMET una realidad. Hoy está integrado por 10 personas que se encargan de tareas de movilización (a escala local, internacional y virtual), logística (con planificación, logística y producción), comunicación (con tareas de gestión de prensa y comunicación) y gestión económica (coordinación de financiación y administración).