100,000 descend on Brazil to debate US-style capitalism

PORTO ALEGRE (Brazil) - Globalisation foes have flocked to Brazil for the World Social Forum (WSF), the third annual protest against the World Economic Forum (WEF) held simultaneously at a Swiss ski resort.

Pitching her tent at the World Social Forum in Brazil yesterday, Argentinian journalist Florencia Trincheri is one of those taking part in the yearly protest against the World Economic Forum. -- AP

The six-day event, expected to draw as many as 100,000 activists from countries like Egypt, India and the United States, began yesterday in the far southern city of Porto Alegre.

The forum features the new Brazilian President, Mr Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - the country's first elected leftist leader who will become the first government leader today to address the forum personally. In the past, government officials had been excluded.

Mr da Silva will then fly to Davos, Switzerland, to take part in the WEF.

A former radical union leader, his landslide victory in the October polls was seen as a rejection of the free-market policies of his predecessor, Mr Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

WSF delegates say their opposition to unfettered American-style capitalism should strike a responsive chord this time, after a year of unprecedented business scandals involving multi-national corporations, many of them based in the US.

Economist Mark Weisbrot, who co-directs the Centre for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, says: 'Washington always preaches to the developing world about eliminating corruption and the rule of law.

'Here you see the United States has experienced corruption that is worse than anything in developing countries.'

Participants will crowd into a soccer stadium and Porto Alegre's Catholic University for hundreds of panel discussions, debates and seminars on themes ranging from corporate misdeeds to the Third World's foreign debt.

They can also dance at a concert by Brazilian pop star Jorge Ben Jor and attend Japanese Noh theatre presentations.

Prominent activists attending the forum include actor Danny Glover, anarchist and linguistics professor Noam Chomsky, and Ms Aleida Guevara, the daughter of legendary guerilla leader Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.

Activists at the forum also hope to draw media attention to their opposition to a possible US-led war against Iraq. --AP

www.csmonitor.com from the January 24, 2003 edition

Six nations meet Friday in Washington aiming to end the seven-week strike.

By Phil Gunson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor CARACAS, VENEZUELA – A fresh effort to resolve Venezuela's political crisis gets its baptism Friday with a meeting in Washington of a six-nation task force. The "group of friends" was formed to step up the diplomatic pressure on the Venezuelan government and its opposition.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton has welcomed the group, joking that "nobody minds having an extra friend." But behind the banter lurks an uncomfortable truth: Some friends are friendlier than others.

The group's task will be to support the Organization of American States (OAS) secretary-general Cesar Gaviria, who has spent two months in Venezuela's capital attempting to produce a peaceful, electoral solution to the nation's year-old conflict. It was formed last week, at the urging of the United States, in the hope of ending a seven-week strike that has crippled the country's vital oil industry. But it includes fewer allies of leftist President Hugo Chávez than he would like.

"Enemies of the revolutionary process predominate" among the six members, according to Mr. Chávez's key ally Fidel Castro. Cuba, the only country in the hemisphere that is barred from the OAS, was among the candidates that Chávez proposed for the group, but was rejected.

The initiative acquired a more conservative aspect after the US decided to join. By agreement with the newly inaugurated leftist President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, regional heavyweights Mexico and Chile were added to the gathering, along with former colonial powers Spain and Portugal.

A bid by Chávez to include more - and friendlier - nations met with a firm rebuff from Mr. da Silva last weekend, despite his close ties to the Venezuelan leader.

The group was announced in Quito at the inauguration Jan. 17 of another potential Chávez ally, President Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador. But Chávez made no secret of his irritation, saying he had not been consulted. "In Quito, they were in too much of a hurry," he said in a nationwide address Wednesday night.

The Chávez government, which regards Mr. Gaviria and his mission with suspicion, has lately made a renewed effort to cast doubt on the validity of the talks he has been chairing. It has consistently rejected demands for an early referendum on Chávez's rule, which the opposition regards as incompetent and autocratic. On Wednesday, Venezuela's Supreme Court indefinitely postponed a Feb. 2 referendum on Chávez's presidency.

Insisting Gaviria is in Venezuela at the invitation of his government, rather than under an OAS mandate, Chávez has hinted the government might abandon the talks.

Chávez, a former army lieutenant-colonel who himself attempted a coup in 1992, insists that the international community recognize that he heads a legitimate elected government opposed by a "terrorist" opposition. He says the only electoral option is a recall referendum, available under the Constitution after the halfway point of his term.

There is some dispute, however, as to when that point falls, since the Supreme Court granted him an extra five months to his six-year term. "Chávez thought that with the group of friends, he'd be able to undermine Gaviria," said former foreign minister Simon Alberto Consalvi. "But his plan backfired."

Mr. Consalvi, who helped set up a similar, and successful, mechanism - known as the Contadora Group - during the Central American wars of the 1980s, is convinced that the group strengthens Gaviria's hand. "I believe [Chávez] will have to back down, finally," he says.

No one doubts that the "friends" need to move fast. The conflict has already cost some 50 lives, and will surely bring more violence if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached.

A visit this week by former US President Jimmy Carter, who has also been involved in facilitation efforts, failed to produce a shift in President Chávez's stance.

"Within the Constitution, everything," Chávez remarked on Wednesday. "Outside the Constitution, nothing."

But the hope is that, with some of the most powerful governments in the hemisphere involved, and backing from elsewhere, including the European Union, the group will have the leverage to succeed where Gaviria and Carter have so far failed.

"I think there's enough firepower there to push this hard enough" to achieve a settlement, said Peter Hakim of the Washington-based Interamerican Dialogue. "Though I'm by no means convinced that the Brazilians and the US will easily reach agreement on how to proceed."

Observers say the group may delegate two or three foreign ministers to pay a visit to Caracas and speak with both sides before making recommendations.

Clashes earlier this week between government and opposition demonstrators near the capital left one dead and over a dozen injured from gunfire. And a call by the National Guard (GN) leadership for Chávez to sack a particularly loyal GN general for conduct regarded as unbecoming - but endorsed by the president - was another reminder that the ostensibly loyal armed forces remain divided.

"I think we're headed inevitably for violence," said former minister Consalvi. "But when it does break out for real, the group of friends will step in." Venezuelans can only hope that - if that happens - the nations move swiftly and effectively.

"We've done our best to avoid violence," said Caracas Mayor Freddy Bernal, a Chávez ally regarded by the opposition as a hard-liner.

"So far, the train wreck hasn't happened. If it does, one side or the other may win - but Venezuela will be the loser."

www.upi.com By Carmen Gentile UPI Latin America Correspondent From the International Desk Published 1/23/2003 6:03 PM

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Brazil's president -- scheduled to attend both the World Social and Economic forums -- is to plead with world leaders on both opening days to see "that another world is possible," referring to his desire to close the gap between nations' rich and poor and an effort to eradicate hunger at home.

He will take that message to both forums, which he will attend during their respective six-day runs.

"It is inexcusable that at the beginning of the millennium there are still millions of human beings that don't have enough to eat," Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday, a day before he is scheduled to address an estimated 100,000 participants at the World Social Forum.

Though this year's event marks the third time anti-globalization delegates have will have met in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, Lula would be the first world leader to address the event.

Later this week, the Brazilian leader is also scheduled to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

According to Brazilian officials, Lula is expected to make the same address to both groups, emphasizing the need for world leaders to listen to counterpoints to globalization made by Porto Alegre participants, while pushing his message that "rich countries need to distribute the income across the planet."

"After participating for the third time in the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, I am going to Davos to show that another world is possible," he said. "In the same manner that a new social contract is necessary in Brazil, we need a world pact that diminishes the gap between rich countries and poor countries."

Lula -- a leftist who defeated his predecessor's moderate, handpicked successor -- has been steadily pushing Brazilian social reforms efforts, such as Zero Hunger, since his Jan. 1 inauguration.

The initiative was the first edict acted on by the fledging Lula administration and has been criticized by some officials -- even members of his own Workers' Party -- for being too large in scale, ill-managed and at too great a price.

It has, however, received international praise and contributions from the Inter-American Development Bank to the tune of $12 billion and a promise by the United States of between $6 billion to $10 billion over the next three years.

The latter could fall into jeopardy if Brazil doesn't get on board the U.S.-led effort to create a hemispheric free trade bloc known as Free Trade of the Americas.

Brazilian and U.S. officials are expected to discuss aspects of the proposed trade bloc to assess whether two of the hemisphere's leading economies can set the stage for further talks on the FTAA.

Entering a critical phase of negotiations later this year, the FTAA would attempt to eliminate barriers to trade and investment among 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere by 2005.

Since well before his October landslide victory, Lula has ardently opposed the FTAA, calling it "annexation politics" and has sworn that Brazil "won't be enclosed" by it.

He has called for Brazil to take a more aggressive stance in the upcoming negotiations and has said that the country would "not accept American impositions on trade."

Lula's address to both forums will reportedly touch on this notion, though maintain a tone of ambiguity in not directing a message specifically to the United States, which he hopes would drop trade barriers and tariffs on certain Brazilian goods before the Latin American nation embraces membership in the FTAA.

"I think that Brazil, today, can carry a new message for the world about the process of globalization and, on the plane of social exclusion, its consequences, which are very powerful in many developing countries," said Antonio Palocci, Brazil's minister of finance and Lula's economic confidant.

www.guardian.co.uk Thursday January 23, 2003 11:30 PM

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) - Anti-globalization activists banged drums, yelled anti-war slogans and danced the samba at the start of the World Social Forum on Thursday, the third annual summit of protests and talks on ways to limit the excesses of global capitalism.

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 red-shirted protesters gathered to open the event, waving banners decrying a possible U.S.-led war in Iraq and U.S. efforts to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas stretching from Alaska to Argentina by 2005.

No to Bush!'' they shouted, switching gears to sing samba and Cuba's well-known folk song, Guantanamera.''

Organizers predicted a turnout of 100,000 activists in this port city of 1.2 million in southern Brazil for the six-day forum, held as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum taking place simultaneously at the luxury Swiss ski resort of Davos.

At least 2,000 police were on hand to keep order. Military police captain Joao Carlos Gomes said no major disturbances were expected.

With lectures from globalization critics and more than 1,700 seminars and workshops, the forum seeks to change the perceived ills of capitalism, including foreign debt and unfair global trade that favor rich, industrialized nations and multinational corporations.

``Because of global poverty, the system does not recognize the right of every human being to succeed and have access to services and goods,'' said Riccardo Petrella, a business professor and globalization expert at the Catholic University at Louvain, Belgium.

Participants include intellectuals, celebrities and activists ranging from American anarchist and linguist Noam Chomsky and actor Danny Glover to Aleida Guevara, the Cuban daughter of legendary guerrilla leader Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara.

Jose Bove, a farmer who became famous in 1999 when he and nine others used farm equipment to dismantle a French McDonald's under construction, said he has no plans to disrupt the forum like he did in 2001 - with an invasion of a farm owned by Monsanto, the U.S. agricultural giant.

Also present is a faction of left-wing politicians from Spain, Italy and France - traditional skeptics of U.S.-inspired free market capitalism.

Italian biologist Umberto Pizzolato toted his bicycle to Porto Alegre and planned to ride it during the march to send a message of ``Less oil, more bicycles, less war.''

If you use a car, your country has to buy oil,'' he said. And with less oil, there would be fewer conflicts.''

President Bush is being criticized extensively because activists say he personifies their darkest fears - capitalism benefiting huge corporations and war with Iraq to guarantee developed countries get the oil they need.

The forum, which previously shunned government leaders, has a white knight in Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - Brazil's first elected leftist leader. Silva arrives in Porto Alegre Thursday night and will speak Friday. Embattled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is expected Sunday.

After speaking, Silva flies to Davos to participate in the economic forum.

Silva's decision to mingle with the rich and powerful in Davos has angered some activists here. They see his Switzerland trip as kowtowing to international financiers seeking reassurances Silva will maintain austere fiscal policies for South America's largest economy.

But Silva issued a statement Thursday saying he is going to Davos to ``show that another world is possible,'' quoting a popular phrase coined at the social forum.

Davos must listen to Porto Alegre,'' Silva said. In the same way that Brazil needs a new social contract, a new world contract is needed to reduce the gap between rich and poor nations.''

A worker taking orders for Big Macs at a Porto Alegre McDonald's Thursday wasn't worried about possible attacks by radical groups against one of America's biggest corporate symbols abroad.

Everything's calm,'' said Monica Gomes. There's been a lot of foreigners here for the forum ordering food.''

www.upi.com From the Business & Economics Desk Published 1/23/2003 7:30 PM View printer-friendly version

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The elite World Economic Forum Thursday kicked off its five-day meeting in Davos, Switzerland, attended by over 2,000 world business, economic and political leaders.

This famous forum returns to its traditional home in Davos this year, having held its annual meeting in New York City last year as a show of respect and solidarity with that city after the devastating terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Over the course of three decades, the Davos economic forum's annual meeting has become one of the world's foremost gathering of leaders from business, government, international organizations, academia, civil society and the media, with the gathering gaining particular acclaim during the Clinton era.

While still considered a key meeting of the world's elite, the glamour and overall attendance of the globe's powerful and famous has slightly declined.

But the event still holds much of its allure, with attendees this year including everyone from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Brazil's recently elected president -- Workers' Party leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The theme of this year's meeting is "Building Trust."

The 33rd annual meeting of the forum takes place during what event planners called "an extraordinary climate of global uncertainty and complexity."

"The past year witnessed the breakdown of trust in many sectors of society. Restoring confidence in the future is one of the most important leadership challenges today," event promotional materials said.

Planners hope that the 2003 meeting of the forum will be a rallying point for the international community to debate on five main themes: business, economics, geopolitics, global governance and values.

At the opening session, economists cautioned about the state of the world economy, noting that economic growth is stalled in many of the world's largest economies.

Gail Fosler, the chief economist for the influential U.S.-based Business Council, warned of the of the wild card economic effects a war in the Gulf would have on investor and consumer confidence, around the world.

Over the course of the five-day meeting, over 2,150 participants from 99 countries will gather at the Swiss ski-resort of Davos.

According to event planners, over one-fourth of attendees -- about 500 -- will come from developing countries.

Slightly more than 60 percent of attendees are business leaders, who are represent nearly 1,000 of the top revenue-producing companies around the world and across economic sectors.

Other major categories of participants include: 239 public figures, including 29 heads of state or government, 81 cabinet ministers, 46 ambassadors, 62 heads or senior officials of international organizations, 264 media and "opinion" leaders, 71 heads of non-governmental organizations, 14 union leaders, 37 religious leaders of different faiths and 172 persons from academic institutions and think tanks.

This year's attendance is down from a high of over 3,000 two years ago.

Event organizers declined to give an exact list of participant names. Also, media access was tightly controlled with only around 250 correspondents being given credentials to cover the forum.

The Swiss government is spending around $10 million on security for the Davos forum, with thousands of police and military being deployed to guard the event. In addition, the airspace over Davos will be closed for the next five days.