The World and U.S. Social Forums: A Better World Is Possible and Necessary

In this edited volume, Blau and Karides bring together a plurality of voices to offer a fresh perspective on the Wsf/Ussf as both an organization and as a force for social and political change. It is a useful resource for those familiar with the organization and an essential guide for those who wish to participate.

Patrick Bond is Professor of Political Economy at the Wits School of Governance, and Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has also previously taught at Johns Hopkins University, and worked at the NGOs Planact and the National Institute for Economic Policy. His previous books include Looting Africa (Zed 2006) and Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa (2014).

Michal Osterweil is Teaching Associate Professor in Global Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. She is also a radical homemaker and community actionist. Her main areas of interest are social movements, new theories/imaginaries of social change and the intersection of knowledge production, epistemology and change work.

Stellan Vinthagen is Associate Professor in Sociology and Senior Lecturer in Peace and Development Studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is also a Council Member of War Resisters International, academic advisor to the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), and co-founder of the Resistance Studies Network (www.resistancestudies.org). He has since 1980 been an educator, organizer and activist, and has participated in more than 30 nonviolent civil disobedience actions, for which he has served in total more than one year in prison.

Peter Waterman is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Social Studies and hosts the Global Solidarity Website from the Hague, Netherlands.