The birth of the World Social Forum on Migrations (FSMM) in 2004 has had a long gestation. Its ancestors date back to the 2001 World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, organized by initiatives of social movements, non-governmental organizations, civil society activists, academics, social pastorals and other groups. Starting from the sentence "Another world is possible!", it has come to realize the need for a decentralized social articulation independent from States and International Organizations, defending the lives of the most vulnerable from the principles of diversity and horizontality, and in common aversion to the neoliberal structure that increasingly deepens the extremely exclusive world social-economic imbalance. Given some specific conditions of vulnerability, it was thought of the legal and social barriers faced by migrants on the move, strongly rising the need to turn international attention to the migration issue and thus resulting in the FSMM’s creation, with debates on the economic, political, social, gender, cultural and mobility dimmensions.

Therefore, this forum premises to consolidate a "globalization of solidarity" about the world migratory issue through collective analysis, thematic discussions and popular action on a large scale.

In the Latin America regional context, Brazil arises as the main country to receive new migratory flows and we consider that decisions on the policies to be adopted by Brazilian government will have direct consequences in the main countries of Latin America. Thus, the realization of the VII World Social Forum on Migrations in Sao Paulo is of great significance for the insertion of a new paradigm onto the local, national and continental migratory policies.

This year's six themes are:

1. Systemic crisis of the capitalist model and its consequences for migrations
2. Resistance and alternatives for migrants
3. Migrations, gender and body
4. Human rights, habitat, decent work, political participation and social movements
5. Migration, rights of Mother Earth, climate and the North-South dispute
6. Right to the city, social inclusion and migrants as citizens.

More info here.  

Environmental tematic axis here.