Abstract

The article is drawn from a project aimed at exploring the interplay between the representational power of new information and communica-tions technologies and the shaping of 21st century social movements. The focus is on contemporary transnational activism developed on the path-ways of the Internet. Addressing the World Social Forum as an on/off-line network of global mobilisation, this study aims to show how its de-centralized actors differently interpret their belonging to such a transna-tional process in terms of relational structures and ideological practices. Investigating a network of 222 social forum websites, the article exam-ines claims of horizontality in digital communication and global partici-patory forms in contemporary activism. Furthermore, the study displays how the Italian participation to the World Social Forum network shows particular features.