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February
15, 2002
Phillip
Cryan
Underwriting
the
Colombian War
Mokhiber/Weissman
Resisting
the Assassins
February
14, 2002
Levy and
Easton
Ante
Pavelic
Real Butcher of the Balkans
Joan Claybrook
Dear
Jeb Bush,
About You and Enron
John Chuckman
Time
for a Woman Prez
Alexander
Cockburn
Banning
the Koran
February
13, 2002
Sen. Russ
Feingold
War
Powers and
the War on Terror
Tom Turnipseed
Bush's
Folly
George
Monbiot
American
Imperialism
February
12, 2002
Uri Avnery
The
Great Game:
Oil, Sharon and Iran
Tommy
Ates
Black
Land Loss
February
11, 2002
Walt Brasch
The
Synergizing of America
John Troyer
Enron's
Deep Throat?
February
9, 2002
John Blair
Criticize
Cheney, Go to Jail
February
8, 2002
CounterPunch
Wire
Ashcroft
the Bigot
Molly
Secours
Racism
and Real Estate
Wole Akande
World
Economic Forum:
The Aftermath
Cockburn/St.
Clair
Dita
Sari Tells Reebok
to "Shove It"
February
7, 2002
Patrick
Cockburn
Taliban's
War on Chess
John Chuckman
Howdee,
Dick!
Tariq
Ali
Mullahs
and Heretics
February
6, 2002
Amira
Hass
On
the Edge of the
Non-Violent Demonstrations
Vivian
Berger
Sentenced
to Rape
Vladimir Georgiyev
Russian Intelligence:
War on Iraq Begins in Sept.
Tom Turnipseed
"Axis
of Evil" a Cover for Corporate Corruption?
David
Vest
The
Enron Creature
February
5, 2002
Norman
Madarasz
Dispatch
from Pôrto Alegre
Tom Malinowski
What
to do with
Our "Detainees"?
Dita Sari
Why
I Rejected the
Reebok Human Rights Award
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
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bin Laden and Bush
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Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
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The New Crusade:
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February 15,
2002
The View from Porto Alegre
By Robert O'Brien
The world's business and governmental elite held
their annual meeting last month in New York City. More than 50,000
people gathered to focus on social justice at a "shadow
event" in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Not a chain-link fence was
in sight and police presence was minimal.
Although overshadowed in the media by
the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New York, the Porto Alegre
meeting was equally significant. The second World Social Forum
(WSF) met from Jan. 31 to Feb. 5, hosting delegates from almost
5,000 organizations. The largest numbers came from Brazil, Italy,
Argentina, France, the United States and Spain.
The first WSF took place in Porto Alegre
in 2001. It was created to provide a counterweight to the well
established WEF which had met annually in Davos, Switzerland.
The WEF had grown from a meeting of European industrialists to
a yearly gathering of business and governmental elite. Whereas
the economic forums are dominated by corporate and business elites
discussing wealth creation, the social forum is populated by
civic associations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) stressing
social justice. The environment in which the WSF takes place
is in stark contrast with the meetings of international economic
institutions that attract street protests. The WSF is supported
by the city of Porto Alegre and the state government of Rio Grande
do Sul. The downtown area is not surrounded by a large chain-link
fence in the way that Quebec City was barricaded during the Summit
of the Americas. Although the forum began with a large public
march, the police presence was minimal throughout the week. The
Porto Alegre meetings indicate that large gatherings of social
activists need not lead to heavy-handed security.
Activists, politicians, journalists,
social commentators and academics flocked to Brazil to consider
the WSF's main theme, Another World is Possible. The other world
they seek is one less dominated by the power of corporations,
more equal in its distribution of resources and life chances,
more respectful of the environment and more dedicated to the
peaceful resolution of conflicts.
The forum contains a number of elements
that sometimes complement each other and are sometimes in tension.
One element resembles a national meeting of Brazilian NGOs. They
are the largest number of delegates and their sessions are conducted
in Portuguese, which excludes most of the other delegates. Running
alongside these meetings are sessions in English, Spanish or
French which have a more international dimension and are closer
to being part of a world forum.
A second dividing line is between the
forum of the star personalities and the forum of the ordinary
activists. The stars address large crowds in auditoriums and
gyms. Prominent stars this year included Walden Bello from Focus
on the Global South in Thailand, Martin Khor from the Third World
Network, Noam Chomsky from the United States delivering his antiwar
message, and Susan George from the French group ATTAC (Association
for the Taxation of financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens).
Two Canadian stars of the activist circuit also attended: Maude
Barlow from the Council of Canadians and journalist Naomi Klein.
These sessions give activists a chance to hear some of the leading
thinkers of the field expound their views.
Alongside these larger meetings were
hundreds of workshops where smaller groups of activists met to
share experiences and discuss strategies. The program of events
runs over 130 pages and provides a dizzying choice of topics
for discussion. An interesting example was a session discussing
the campaign to Boycott World Bank Bonds. Approximately 20 people
gathered in a room to listen to activists from the United States,
Haiti and Africa recount how they have launched a campaign to
pressure the World Bank by encouraging public agencies to stop
buying World Bank Bonds. Participants left with an inspiring
story and contact names to help them spread the boycott to their
own universities, trade unions and local governments.
In addition to the large conferences,
seminars and workshops, the forum contained numerous other events.
Elected officials participated in a Parliamentary Forum. Mayors,
city councillors and urban planners participated in the Local
Authority Forum. Trade unions held a Unions Confederation Forum
and tried to forge a consensus among competing international
union groups. A mock trial was held to condemn the debt burden
strangling the economies and peoples of many developing countries.
A youth forum was held for young people and a large and diverse
cultural program entertained and informed participants at all
the events.
The WSF brings together many of the groups
that have been active in street protests against the World Trade
Organization and International Monetary Fund with other civil
society activists concerned about social justice and growing
economic inequality. The forum complements the more visible street
protests by creating a space where activists can develop concrete
proposals for change. The WSF has become a central meeting place
for social activists to exchange ideas, consult with each other
and build the relationships necessary to support campaigns across
borders.
Activists also used the forum as a place
to plan strategy for future international meetings. For example,
strategy sessions were held for the United Nations Summit for
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September and the
Financing for Development Conference to be held in Mexico in
March.
The forum is so vast and proposals for
change so numerous that it is difficult to do justice to the
diversity of the debate. Discussion was focused around four key
themes: production of wealth; access to wealth and sustainability;
civil society and the public realm; power politics and ethics.
Several proposals are notable. A large
player in the forum is ATTAC, which started in France, but has
opened up chapters in many countries. Its primary purpose is
to lobby for mechanisms that will slow the movement of speculative
capital. They propose taxing large, rapid foreign exchange transactions
which undermine economic stability. Such steps might prevent
financial crises like the ones that have hit Mexico, Asia and
Russia in the 1990s.
Environmental issues also loomed large
at the forum. These ranged from aboriginal groups lobbying for
protection of the rainforest to a global initiative to keep water
away from private enterprise and in the realm of public service
and public good.
Beyond supporting a more just global
community, there was no consensus in Porto Alegre about the detailed
structure of what another world should look like. Agreement is
not possible when so many types of groups from so many different
backgrounds gather in one place. For example, one issue debated
at the forum was whether the groups of people gathered there
should be referred to as the antiglobalization movement or as
the global justice movement. The first term indicates a reaction
against the activity of corporations in extending their influence
around the world while the second suggests a program of positive
steps to improve social justice in a wide range of areas.
The WSF faces many challenges. One is
size. It has grown from 20,000 to more than 50,000 participants
in only two years. This creates large logistical hurdles for
the organizers and any host city. A second challenge is to keep
the forum open to as many groups as possible while fostering
tolerance for diverse perspectives. A third challenge is for
the participating groups to move from discussion at the WSF to
action in their own states and in the international realm. While
the obstacles are large, the extensive participation in Porto
Alegre indicates that people concerned with a more equal global
economy have moved from primarily engaging in protests at institutions
to also providing alternative proposals for action.
Robert O'Brien
is an associate professor of political science at McMaster University.
He attended the WSF as a representative of McMaster's Institute
on Globalization and the Human Condition.
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