ABSTRACT
From the start, Brazilian labor activists played key roles in building the World Social Forum (WSF). Interest in the Social Forum process has grown over time within the international labor movement, attracting leaders of some of the largest international trade union federations, rank-and-file union activists, representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and workers’ centers. Surveys of WSF participants revealed that union affiliates made up as many as one-fifth of respondents in 2005 and about one-tenth of respondents in 2007 (Reese et al., Chapter 4). Here we examine their participation in the first United States Social Forum (USSF) in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007, which drew 12,000 to 15,000 participants.
