The Cosmic Battle

There are two forums going on right now, and they couldn't be more different. Here is what they both are saying:

The World Economic Forum
Our Organization
World-Class Governance
The World Economic Forum is an independent, international organization incorporated as a Swiss not-for-profit foundation. We are striving towards a world-class corporate governance system where values are as important a basis as rules. Our motto is ‘entrepreneurship in the global public interest’. We believe that economic progress without social development is not sustainable, while social development without economic progress is not feasible.

Our vision for the World Economic Forum is threefold. It aims to be: the foremost organization which builds and energizes leading global communities; the creative force shaping global, regional and industry strategies; the catalyst of choice for its communities when undertaking global initiatives to improve the state the world.

We enjoy a unique global standing by recognizing and responding to two new developments:

The world’s key challenges cannot be met by governments, business or civil society alone. In a world characterized by complexity, fragility and ever greater synchronicity, strategic insights cannot be passively acquired. They are best developed through continuous interaction with peers and with the most knowledgeable people in the field.

To carry out its mission, the World Economic Forum has developed an integrated value chain by involving world leaders in communities, inspiring them with strategic insights and enabling them through initiatives.

The World Social Forum
The World Social Forum (WSF) is an opened space – plural, diverse, non-governmental and non-partisan – that stimulates the decentralized debate, reflection, proposals building, experiences exchange and alliances among movements and organizations engaged in concrete actions towards a more solidary, democratic and fair world.

The three first editions of WSF, as well as the fifth, happened in Porto Alegre (state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil), in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. In 2004, the global event happened for the first time outside Brasil, in India. In 2006, in a constant expansion movement, the WSF was decentralized and happened in three countries on different continents: Mali (Africa), Paquistan (Asia) and Venezuela (Americas). In 2007, it returned to a centralized format and happened in Kenya (Africa).

The World Social Forum shown the civil society mobilization capacity when organized in new ways of political action, based on diversity and co-responsibility. The success of the first edition resulted in the formation of the International Council, and it's first meeting a Charter of Principles was approved in order to guarantee the World Social Forum as a permanent space and process to build alternatives to neoliberalism. In the present time, there are local, regional and thematic Foruns all over the World following this Charter of Principles. In the year of 2008, to highlight this process, a Global Day of Action and Mobilization happened in January 26th.

They are different realities discussing the same events and future. Milton Friedman versus Lord Shiva. Cowboy and Indian stuff. Slavery and Freedom. Life and Death. To Be or Not To Be.