Poor man's summit

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