BRAZIL: PORTO ALEGRE HOSTS SECOND WORLD SOCIAL FORUM.

By Matthew Flynn

[The author writes for the International Weekly Edition of the Gazeta Mercantil, a Sao Paulo-based financial newspaper.]

Nobel prize laureates, representatives from nongovernmental organizations, students, and other progressives returned to Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to discuss alternatives to corporate- driven globalization.

The number of people attending the second World Social Forum (WSF), which coincided with the World Economic Forum or Davos club of the rich and powerful taking place in New York City this year, tripled from the year before. More than 40,000 participants, including 15,000 delegates representing 5,000 organizations from close to 150 countries, came to Porto Alegre to exchange ideas and improve collective actions to promote a more inclusive form of globalization.

"The forum is a space for discussion, where various social organizations from around the world exchange information and experiences, make contacts, and leave strengthened," said Chico Whitaker, president of the Comissao Brasileira de Justica e Paz, an association linked to the Conferencia Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil (CNBB) and one of the sponsoring organizations of the event.

With such a politically active population present, a number of politicians from several countries were attracted to the event, but the organizing committee did not give them any special attention and even dissuaded a few from coming.

"The WSF is not a place for political parties to campaign, rather an event in which social progressives can learn how to better influence governments and parties," said Oded Grajew, president of Instituto Ethos and a member of the WSF organizing committee.

When asked why Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, known for his conservative views, and a representative of the World Bank were not allowed to speak at the event, Grajew said that they did not register in time. "I can't just go to a World Bank meeting and demand that I be allowed to speak," he said.

This year, the WSF did not have a video-conference debate with members of the World Economic Forum. Last year, an event intended to build bridges between the opposing groups ended in a yelling contest.

PT receives much of the political-party spotlight

One political group that did receive a lot of attention and was allowed to voice its views was Brazil's Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). Critics said that Brazil's strongest opposition party was using the event to push its political agenda. And even rival PT politicians from Rio Grande do Sul bickered about who got more air time from the state-controlled television network.

But city and state governments, both controlled by the PT, financed the event with US$1.35 million in public funds. The investment is expected to bring a return of US$10 million from the participants.

One of the biggest attractions at the WSF was a democratic innovation instituted by the PT at both local and state levels. The "participative budget" allows citizens to decide how to spend public resources. Organizers of the WSF even simulated the participative budget at the global level by holding a World Parliament. Attendees could vote on how they would reallocate the US$600 billion that annually goes to buy armaments.

Calls for peace dominate the event

Because of the Sept. 11 attacks on the US and the recent bombing campaign in Afghanistan, debates concerning peace and security dominated much of the forum. A march of 40,000 people, shouting "a world without war is possible," kicked off the six-day event.

In seminars and plenary sessions, participants discussed politically volatile areas around the world and the impact of the US war on terrorism.

"The concept that the US uses to define the war on terrorism describes US actions in other parts of the world," said Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and long-time critic of US foreign policy.

Besides the stronger emphasis on peace and security issues at this year's WSF compared to the year before, the meetings in Porto Alegre also allowed activists to re-emerge after the attacks.

"The Sept. 11 attacks temporarily stopped the anti- globalization movement but also that of the pro-globalizers," said John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. "The social movement has continued but off the camera."

Most leading anti-globalization advocates stressed that campaigns and protests would continue, especially with another round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) talks underway.

A place for organizing campaigns, not for direct actions

This year WSF organizers wanted to avoid any criminal acts of protest. Last year, the forum's organizers and the state of Rio Grande do Sul were put in a difficult situation when Jose Bove, the French peasant activist, joined the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST) in a protest invasion of a farm owned by US-based biotech giant Monsanto, which tests genetically modified seeds (see NotiSur, 2001-02- 02).

"I only joined the MST action because they invited me," explained Bove, who was present at the forum this year. "I believe all direct-action protests should be carried out locally."

This year Bove only visited striking factory workers and a building invaded by the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto (Homeless Workers Movement).

Along with strengthening their campaigns against global economic organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the WTO, participants strategized on fighting for debt forgiveness of the poorest countries and promoting a tax on foreign-currency speculation. The activists are also promising a new wave of campaigns aimed at multinational corporations. The collapse of Enron has energized activists to work toward curbing the power and unaccountability of corporations.

"There is such a wealth of corporate targets," Gerd Leipold, executive director of Greenpeace International, told participants. "Exxon is the biggest corporate target. It is going to be a tough nut, and we will not be successful unless many of your organizations join in."

Old divisions within the left resurface at Porto Alegre

While making progress toward increased networking among individuals, groups, and organizations fighting to make another world possible, the WSF was not without disagreements and divisions. The organizers emphasized the plurality of people and philosophies who can come together and discuss the issues facing progressives, but more radical elements also voiced their dismay with what they considered the reformist thrust of the forum.

"We are against the forum and believe that capitalism needs to be abolished through violent means," said a representative from the Troskyist student organization from Argentina.

While extremist positions will always be present, divisions among the more representative social movements are of more concern as they could hamper the construction of a powerful global social movement. Union leaders, for example, argue that reforms such as the Tobin tax (see NotiSur, 2002- 02-01) on speculative flows of capital do not go far enough to attack the problems of global capitalism.

"Capitalist globalization has destroyed nations, democracies, and the sovereignty of poor peoples. It cannot be 'humanized,'" read a letter signed by 20 union leaders who decided to boycott all the panels, workshops, and official sessions of the WSF.

Peter Evans, a sociologist from the University of California, Berkeley, nevertheless believes that "the next challenge and obstacle for the progressive forces to become a stronger political force will be the rebirth of a labor movement between the North and South." He said that the WSF was the place in which the seeds of such a new international labor organization were sown.

Despite the challenge of constructing unity without unanimity, the participants at the WSF demonstrated the growing awareness of a need to change the current path the world is on.

While the forum did not produce any binding statements, organizers and participants defined themselves as "a global solidarity movement, united in our determination to fight against the concentration of wealth, the proliferation of poverty and inequalities, and the destruction of our Earth."

Although an effort was made to move the forum to another location next year, organizers and participants agreed to hold it in Porto Alegre again because of time constraints. In following years, the WSF will be held in Asia and Africa.