Australian participants at the World Social Forum, Mumbai 2004

From the archive record

Mumbai, 2004, and the World Social Forum has drawn participants from across the world to sit, work, and talk together on the ground. An Australian delegate sits cross-legged among the crowd, working a piece of purple fabric by hand — stitching, folding, absorbed in it — a cardboard box of assorted cloth pieces open beside her. Around her, other participants are similarly occupied, bent over their own tasks on mats spread across the venue. It's an unposed moment from an event otherwise defined by speeches, marches and panel discussions — the quieter, hands-on side of a gathering built around solidarity and shared work as much as debate. The World Social Forum, held annually as an alternative gathering to the World Economic Forum, brought activists, NGOs, unions and ordinary participants tog