Becoming a global activist through local social forum participation, or how to learn to ‘speak global politics’

ABSTRACT

The literature on social forum activists’ gatherings takes for granted the fact that participants are engaged in global struggles. By comparing ten local social forums (LSFs) in France and Quebec, we show that whether one becomes a ‘global activist’ is an empirical question. More specifically, the article argues that the way LSFs are practised either facilitates or limits the process of becoming a global activist. More specifically, it shows that (1) the topography of events is important to ensure moments of non-planned meeting among participants and the possibilities of building a shared sense of belonging and (2) the formats of events vary in their explicit will to encourage talking (global) politics.

KEYWORDS:

• Local social forums
• global activism
• direct observation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The research team was composed of one principal investigator and two research assistants. In the case of the FSQP, we conducted six interviews with people who were close to the organizing process and actively involved in the event but not in charge of it. When ‘we’ is used in the article, it refers to the work of the team (and not only that of the principal investigator).

2. For the FSMP and FS Forez, we relied on interviews with the person in charge of the organizational process, on two focus groups within the organizational committee (eight to ten people in each case), and on five interviews with participants after the event. We also documented the event using the written and audio resources available (photos, videos, and website).

3. For example, in FSQP and FS Montréal-Nord, the explicit struggles were not against global capitalism but against structural racism at work in the community or society.

4. With the chosen methodology, we rely on participants’ discourse and interviews with organisers to gain a sense of the existence of this global framework during forums. It is not an objective measure.