In preparation of WSF V
The methodology and content commissions of the International Council of the World Social Forum meet in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 13-15 November. Teivo Teivainen represents NIGD at the meeting.

Governing 'Good Governance' in Developing Countries?
At a seminar on 'Good Governance' on 9-11 November at the University of Tampere in Finland, Katarina Sehm-Patomäki spoke about 'Global Partnerships' - Promoting Good Governance or Global Democratization?

International Forum on Global Democracy, Lima, Peru
This first major event in Peru to ever focus on global democracy will take place on 8-9 November. Agustin Lao-Montes, Heikki Patomäki, and Teivo Teivainen will speak on democratization and globalisation during this event which is organised by the Program on Democracy and Global Transformation of the San Marcos University, NIGD, together with Peru's main trade union confederations, the main peasant confederation, feminist organizations, NGOs, radical democracy movement Raíz, indigenous peoples' organizations and others.

Tobin Tax Meetings in Kyoto and Tokyo
NIGD member Mikael Böök presents the global Currency Transactions Tax (CTT) campaign and the draft international CTT-treaty to an open meeting arranged by Attac Kyoto on Thursday 4 November. The meeting is a pre-event of the Kyoto Social Forum (11-12 December). The following day he lectures on the idea and feasiblity of the Tobin Tax proposal in professor Atsusi Fujioka's class on the political economy of peace at Kyoto's Ritsumeikan university. Mika Böök will also speak at a meeting arranged by Attac Japan in Tokyo 8 November.

Social movements in Latin America
Social movements in Latin America will be the subject of a talk held by Teivo Teivainen at the St Mary's University in Halifax, Canada, on 5 November 2004.

October

New York City Social Forum
The New York City Social Forum (NYC SF) Coordinating Committee is holding a two day event on Thursday October 28th and Friday October 29th, 2004 at the City University of New York Graduate School and the Community Church of New York. Petri Minkkinen is engaged with the organization of several sessions directly concerned with the construction of transnational civil society activity in North America.

Norway Social Forum
Thomas Ponniah discusses the process of the World Social Forum at the University of Oslo, and gives presentations on "Porto Alegre and Ecological Localism" and "What now for Lula's Brazil?" at the Norway Social Forum held in Oslo on 21-24 October.

What about the World Social Forum?
On Tuesday 19 October, Thomas Ponniah presents the World Social Forum for the Future Commission of the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation.

European Social Forum III
At the ESF in London on 14-17 October NIGD co-organises a preparatory seminar for the new global campaign on a Currency Transactions Tax (CTT). Other organisers include Attac Denmark, Attac Finland, and Attac Ireland. NIGD also forms part of the coalition of organisations coordinated by EURODAD that organises multiple events on the debt issue. Petri Minkkinen and Heikki Patomäki represent NIGD at the ESF.

Finland's conflicting globalization strategies?
On Friday, 15 October, NIGD Chairman Thomas Wallgren was invited to comment on the two recent and differing globalisation strategies of Finland at an event organised by Attac Finland in the Old Student House in Helsinki. Other discussants included Finnish President Tarja Halonen who co-chaired the ILO Commission on Social Dimensions on Globalization, among others.

The dilemmas of democratization at the World Social Forum
On 13 October 2004, Teivo Teivainen will hold a talk about the dilemmas of democratization at the World Social Forum at the Institute for Research on World-Systems, University of California at Riverside.

The World Social Forum in Peru
Teivo Teivainen will talk about the local impact of the World Social Forum, using the case of Peru, in the Latin American Studies Association meeting in Las Vegas on 8 October 2004.

September

Book Release: A Possible World
On 30 September Heikki Patomäki's and Teivo Teivainen's new book A Possible World - Democratic Transformations of Global Institutions will be released (Zed Books, London & New York).

Experts meeting on an establishment of a Fair and Transparent Arbitration Mechanism on Debt
Katarina Sehm Patomäki will speak at the meeting set up by AFRODAD and other civil society organisations on finalizing a proposal on setting up a Fair and Transparent Arbitration Mechanism on Debt. The meeting take place in Lusaka, Zambia, on 29-30 September.

UBUNTU Congress
Katarina Sehm Patomäki represents NIGD and chairs a session on trade regimes and WTO reform at the UBUNTU Congress in Barcelona on 23-24 September.

Global Democracy: Civil Society Visions and Strategies
The executive committee overseeing the policy planning of the conference G05: Global Democracy: Civil Society Visions and Strategies meets for the third time in Barcelona on 23 September. The conference takes place on 29 May - 1 June 2005 in Montréal, Canada. Katarina Sehm Patomäki represents NIGD in the committee and at the meeting.

Seminar at the Attac Finland In-House Discussion Day
Mika Böök, Heikki Patomäki, Katarina Sehm Patomäki and Thomas Wallgren discuss the preparations of the new global CTT campaign and the recent globalisation strategy policy papers of the Finnish Government on the invitation of Attac Finland on 18 September in Helsinki.

August

Globalisation Studies Network, GSN
The inaugural conference of the Globalistion Studies Network, GSN, takes place on 18-21 August at the University of Warwick at Coventry, UK. Heikki Patomäki represents NIGD and speaks on global civil society and social movements and on proposals of concrete projects on how to democratize globalisation.

July

Americas Social Forum
On 25-30 July the Americas Social Forum meets in Quito, Ecuador. Marc Becker and Teivo Teivainen take part in the forum and organise two seminars on the WSF itself and democratization.

Peru Social Forum
On 21-24 July the Tambogrande meeting of the Peru Social Forum process takes place in Tambogrande, North Peru. Roxana Crisologo and Teivo Teivainen take part in the meeting.

June

Unctad XI
NIGD was accredited to the civil society forum of the UNCTAD XI conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 13-17 June. NIGD co-organised several events on trade and development and alternative visions of globalisation at the forum. Three press releases were issued on Debt, UN reform and Global Democratization. NIGD was represented by Mika Rönkkö, Teivo Teivainen, and Ruby van der Wekken.

Launch of the consultative process of the World Social Forum V
Teivo Teivainen speaks at the official launch of the WSF V in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 14 June.

Radfest 2004: Midwest Social Forum
On 4-6 June, at the Midwest Social Forum, at the Lake Geneva Campus of Aurora University in Williams Bay, WI, USA, Marc Becker and Thomas Ponniah represented NIGD in the seminar Another World is Possible: The Social Forum Movement (with Marc Becker, Janet Conway, Corey Dolgon, Matt Nelson, and Thomas Ponniah). For more information, please see Marc's and Thomas' report on the forum.

Conference on the Tobin Tax in Copenhagen
On 3 June, the Tobin Tax theme group, Attac-Denmark, Youth of the Socialistic People's Party and the People's Movement against EU invited Heikki Patomäki to speak in the Danish Parliament on a Currency Transactions Tax.

May

New Constitutionalism and Social Reproduction
On May 28 and 29, Teivo Teivainen participated in a workshop on new constitutionalism and social reproduction organized by York University in Toronto.

Global Governance 2005
The executive committee overseeing the policy of the second conference on global governance organized by FIM in Montreal in May 2005 meets for the second time in Montreal on 27-28 May. Katarina Sehm-Patomäki takes part in this four-person committee chaired by Rajesh Tandon of PRIA.

SOS night seminar on well-being
Heikki Patomäki discussed the Irak war, the WSF, alternatives to globalization, creativity and visions on 25 May in Dipoli, Espoo, Finland, at a seminar organised by STAKES and chaired by Vappu Taipale.

Tobin tax day in Finland
On 15 May, in connection to the European Parliament election process, Heikki Patomäki speaks on the Tobin tax in Helsinki at a one-day seminar organised by Attac Finland.

Everything you wanted to know about the Tobin tax at the Swedish Parliament
On 14 May, Heikki Patomäki speaks in Stockholm at the Swedish Parliament on a tax on currency transactions at a session organised by the Green party and Attac Sweden.

NIGD and San Marcos University organise multiple events
On May 12-15, NIGD and the Program on Democracy and Global Transformation at the San Marcos University organize various seminars and public activities in Lima. Immanuel Wallerstein, invited by the Program for his first visit to Peru, will take part in the activities. Wallerstein is council member of the Program that was founded in 2003 at the initiative of NIGD's Regional Office in Lima.

Uppsala Social Forum
On 8 May, Leena Rikkilä speaks on global transformation, education and global democratisation and Katarina Sehm-Patomäki speaks on the "WSF itself" theme at seminars of the Uppsala Social Forum in Sweden (7-9 May).

"Market Square of Globalisation"
On 8 May, in Tampere, Finland, the Evangelican Lutheran Church, Mansetori of the University, Friends of the Earth and the worker's college organise a one-day event on globalisation. Marko Ulvila speaks on what globalisation is at the event.

Stockholm Social Forum
On 7 May, Katarina Sehm-Patomäki will speak on the WSF International Council and the WSF process at the Stockholm Social Forum (7-9 May).

April

International Forum on Globalisation
Teivo Teivainen gave a talk on global democratization at the seminar organized by International Forum on Globalization and Programa Cono Sur Sustentable in Santiago de Chile. The seminar took place on 14-17 April 2004.

The WSF and its International Council
Together with the Democracyforum VK, NIGD organises a mini-seminar on 21 April in Helsinki on the WSF in relation to the recent IC meeting in Italy. Katarina Sehm-Patomäki and Marko Ulvila speak at the event.

The International Council of the World Social Forum
On 4-7 April the International Council of the WSF meets in Passignano in the Umbria region of Italy. On 4 April, the six IC commissions meet. This time, NIGD is represented by Katarina Sehm-Patomäki and Teivo Teivainen.

Finnish Social Forum
On 3-4 April the third Finnish Social Forum took place in Helsinki, Finland. NIGD co-organised three events, one on the future of the World Social Forum process, one on the concept of "open space" at the WSF and a third seminar was entitled "Democracy. What about Globally?"

March

Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, SAK
On 22 March 2004, Heikki Patomäki spoke at a seminar on changing labour relations under the topic of "The Scope and Meaning of Democracy in a Globalising World".

20 March 2004
On 20 March, the day of international mobilization for peace on the first anniversary of the strikes on Iraq, mass demonstrations took place in many cities and towns. In Finland, Petri Minkkinen spoke in connection to the demonstrations in Helsinki and Heikki Patomäki at a seminar organised in connection to the demonstrations in Oulu. Heikki spoke at a peace matinee organised by the Oulu Peace Committee, on "The Long Downward Phase of the Capitalist World Economy and Future Wars and Crises: Three Scenarios of Transformation of Global Governance".

What is the World Social Forum?
On 17 March Teivo Teivainen spoke on the World Social Forum process at the International Studies Association in Montreal, Canada.

January 2004

10th meeting of the WSF IC
The 10th meeting of the International Council of the World Social Forum took place in Mumbai, India, on 15, 22 and 23 January. NIGD board members Vijay Pratap and Mika Rönkkö (NIGD Chair 2003) represented NIGD at the meeting and in the commissions on expansion and strategies.

The World Social Forum IV
World Social Forum IV took place on 16-21 January in Mumbai, India. NIGD was represented by a strong team of nine persons in Mumbai and (co-)organized a number of self-organized activities:
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Rendez-vous with NIGD in 2003