The World Social Forum begins in Montreal today.
Unfortunately, I won’t be participating because I left my investigation of what’s happening too late.
There’s a website, but most of the events on it are marked “date and time to be determined” so I tried downloading the mobile app. That requires you to login to see anything. Since online registration ended on August 5, I have no password or user name, so I can’t login to figure out if there are events that interest me taking place when I’m available.
According the website, $40 event passes can still be picked up in person at the following kiosks:
- Village social mondial (Esplanade Clark): today, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., and tomorrow until Friday from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
- UQAM , Agora du pavillon Judith-Jasmin, 405, rue Sainte-Catherine Est: today, from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., and tomorrow until Friday from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
- Université McGill: tomorrow until Friday from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
- Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT), 1201 boul. Saint-Laurent: today, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and tomorrow until Friday from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m.
- Monument-National: tomorrow until Friday from 5 until 7 p.m.
- Concordia: today, 3 until 5 p.m., and tomorrow until Friday 5 until 7 p.m.
- Complexe Desjardins: tomorrow until Friday from 5 until 7 p.m.
- Creative gathering in front of the Parc La Fontaine walk, southwest corner of Cherrier and Parc La Fontaine Avenue: today from 2 until 5 p.m.
- Place des festivals: today from 6 until 11 p.m.
There will also be registration tables outside of each of the “Grand Conferences,” which are the big events like the Naomi Klein presentation.
I’m not sure if buying a pass gets you the ability to use the mobile app but the $40 is too much to pay for attending one or two events, so I’ll be sitting this one out.
It’s too bad, given that this is the first time that the World Social Forum has been held in a developed country, but I’m not the only one left out. Some out-of-country attendees didn’t get visas, even though they’ve already registered. Other participants have backed out because they don’t like some of the programming.
For an overview of the key issues this conference has raised, here are the stories I’ve read:
Ban on Israel
Basic income
Climate change
Fair Trade
North South Divide
Nuclear disarmament
Visa denials
