Editorial:
A New Vision: Disability at the World Social Forum
Dr Anita Ghai
Dr Vandana Madan

The World Social Forum is not an organisation, not a united front platform, but "...an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo- liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a society centered on the human person". (From the WSF Charter of Principles).

The world social forum held in Mumbai in January 2004 was anticipated as a arena for free speech and expression of concerns central to social life and the necessary idea of a civil society that as citizens we seek within the chaos and conflicts that define our lives all over the world today.