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Fora of Villages and Neighbourhoods of the World |
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Background of the Fora of Villages and Neighbourhoods of the World |
- In August 1997, on the initiative of the Group of Lisbon, the magazine Les périphériques vous parlent and the European Civic Forum, the founding meeting of the Fora of the Villages of the World took place in the south of France. The question that brought together participants from the whole world was the following : “how to be a citizen at a time when globalisation is causing exclusion ?”
- Over the three days of the meeting, we realised that a “citizen's future” was emerging throughout the world. Similarly, there were obvious advantages to discussion and exchange about extremely diverse practical experiences, all with the uniting theme of modes of citizenship and in particular involving populations usually excluded from all decision-making and even information processes. These different experiences had given rise to innovative alternatives in terms of economic and social organisation.
- All of the villages attending expressed their conviction that the Fora could be used to propagate and promote open centres and opportunities for meetings and discussion where the “villages and neighbourhoods of the world” could listen to each other's “ways of seeing and doing” while respecting each village's differences.
- The initiative adopted by the participants is twofold : the in-depth analysis of the characteristics and consequences of the current process of globalisation dominated by economic and financial strategies, and the identification of struggles and actions undertaken by groups of citizens throughout the world against the ideologies of the “single mindset”.
- The villages and neighbourhoods attending were diverse social groups, associative movements, universities, enterprises, and unions with extremely varied geographical, political and social origins. Their importance didn't rely on their size but on their position in relation to the processes, methods and constraints that globalisation imposes on society.
See the foundators' list
On may 7th to 11th 1999, the Fora of the Villages and Neighbourhoods of the World continue with the organisation of the first Fora in France.
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| Villages and Neighbourhoods of the World |
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Les périphériques vous parlent, last updated on october 5, 03 by TMTM
