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The World Social Forum confronts the difficult task of creating a new type of politics, and that ain’t no party  

by Rici Lake January 26, 2003

Two years ago, some eight thousand activists gathered in the quiet Brazilian city of Porto Alegre to express an alternate viewpoint, originating from the South, to the World Economic Forum being held in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos. They optimistically called the event the “World Social Forum.”

A year later, with the anti-globalization movement in full swing, some 50,000 people from all over the world descended on Porto Alegre to repeat the event. This year, the number has doubled again — more than 100,000 people were present to hear newly-elected Brazilian president Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva call the World Social Forum the “most important political event of the year.”

Lula was not exaggerating. The World Social Forum has displaced Davos from the front pages of this week’s world press. Brazilian cabinet ministers, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and everyone who is anyone in the world of international co-operation are present. An estimated three thousand journalists are jostling for space in the converted parking lot of the PUC, Porto Alegre’s university.

For Porto Alegre, the event is both an economic blessing — an estimated $26 million (U.S.) will be spent by participant and visitors — and a logistical nightmare. Over the course of the four-day event, diverse organizations are hosting more than three thousand workshops and cultural events, in addition to the main conference.

The event has overflowed the university and taken over every large venue the city has to offer, including improvised spaces in the historic waterfront warehouse district. Thirty-two brand new buses have been allocated to shuttling delegates back and forth between sites; a traffic jam of taxis is available for those on expense accounts or rushing to make a presentation.

Hotels are packed; a tent city has sprung up in the city’s main park; and, at all hours, ragged queues mark the entrances to the city’s restaurants.

The intense summer sun alternates with torrential downpours which temporarily relieve the heat, giving the event the feeling, as one Canadian delegate put it, of “a Canadian folk festival for activists.”

In three years, the WSF has moved from being a protest that created space for political debate into an attempt to organize the new global civil society. But the very success and size of the event threatens to frustrate the intent. The amorphousness and chaotic interconnectedness of the global movement is both its charm and its limitation.

This year, the official focus of the WSF is strategic — how to build the global struggle while remaining a “network of networks;” how to become even more inclusive and democratic while remaining effective; how to improve relationships between different segments of the movement: political parties and civil society; the “old institutions” and the “new movements;” the North and the South. And while the discussion in these workshops is (mostly) polite and forward-looking, there are strong disagreements just below the surface.

The example of the three-day World Parliamentary Forum, which started the day before the WSF.s official opening, is probably indicative. Delegates were able to achieve consensus on the Middle East (no to the war against Iraq; yes to Israel leaving Palestine), on international trade negotiations (no to GATS, TRIPS and FTAA; yes to the Tobin Tax), and various international issues (a negotiated peace in Colombia, support for Bolivian peasants, end the Cuban trade embargo, self-determination in the Sahel). But when confronted with the question of how to reconcile political parties and social movements, they could do no better than state that the debate is important and that the discussion during the forum “is offered as an element in that debate.”

At WSF sessions, deep suspicion has been expressed over the potential of traditional governments to effect real change.

Speaking at a Saturday afternoon session on “new dimensions of the democratic state,” U.S. anti-poverty activist, political essayist and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich suggested that the left, at least in her country, may need to rethink its historic strategy of calling on the government to provide more services. Despite right-wing rhetoric, she said, “the government is not getting smaller; only social programs are getting smaller. But the law enforcement, military and policing sector has continued to expand.”

“Morally we have no choice but to oppose a government which not only threatens the world but also its own women and children.”

Italian peace activist Lisa Clark expressed her sense of betrayal by the political left in her country. “There was a total cop-out of the political left,” she said. “We finally managed to elect a left-wing government and that government lead the country into war with Kosovo [in 1999].”

However, she said, the solution is not to abandon politics but rather to affirm it in its positive sense, as popular control rather than economic control. “We must put politics back in charge of the world.”

The Council of Canadians’ Maude Barlow, speaking yesterday evening at a different panel, also expressed caution about trusting governments. “It is heartening to be here [in Brazil] in the first year that Lula is president,” she said, “but it is disheartening to know that the Brazilian finance minister is willing to consider privatizing this country’s water.”

Long-time anti-globalization activist Susan George, speaking on the same panel, said that it would be a mistake for the WSF movement to attempt to turn itself into a political party in any country. It is necessary to work to elect progressive governments, she said, but it is also necessary to maintain an active civil society to keep those governments honest.

Rici Lake is a Canadian activist currently living in Perú where he works for an international NGO. Watch for more rabble in Brazil — voices from Porto Alegre, this week on rabble.

news.ft.com By Ed Crooks in Davos and Raymond Colitt in Porto Alegre Published: January 26 2003 21:56 | Last Updated: January 26 2003 22:27

Brazil's president on Sunday won a warm reception from business people and bankers at the World Economic Forum for a speech that mixed praise for free markets and trade with vows to attack poverty and hunger.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's address reflected his need to reassure financial markets spooked by his leftwing reputation, while sticking to his promises to help the 45m Brazilians living below the poverty line.

He repeated his call, made on Friday in a speech to anti-globalisation activists at the "anti-Davos", the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for a "new world economic order". He described agricultural land reform as "urgent", and said there was a need for "more discipline" in international capital flows. But he promised "an extraordinary effort to expand our trade, especially exports", and said foreign capital should be used to help finance infrastructure spending.

Mr Lula da Silva also proposed a new fund, backed by the Group of Seven rich countries, to tackle poverty in the developing world. It was greeted with scepticism, but demonstrated his ambition to give Brazil a bigger international role. "Brazil is a sleeping giant. We should awaken this giant so we should be respected all round the world," he said. He promised to put his experience as a trade unionist to use in a tough negotiating stance in world trade talks.

In spite of proposing a new economic order to an audience of some of the biggest beneficiaries of the existing one, his address was greeted with thunderous applause and scattered cheering. He was handed a T-shirt showing him as Asterix, the plucky Gaul holding out against the Roman empire.

On Friday, Mr Lula da Silva had defended his visit to Davos to thousands of social activists in Porto Alegre. "Many people in Davos don't like me without knowing me. So I make a point of going there to say the same thing I would tell anyone of you here," he said. His decision to go to Davos had triggered criticism among his more radical leftwing supporters; since its creation the Porto Alegre meeting has been backed by his Workers' party (PT).

Yet Mr Lula da Silva also told the activists that not all problems could be blamed on an inequitable world economic order. "We are poor. Part of the fault may lie with the rich nations. But partially the fault may lie with part of the South American elite," he said.

The president acknowledged the enormous expectations that his government had created not only at home but for Latin America's left and for Socialists around the world. He called on supporters to have patience. "A good coach is not one who begins winning but ends winning a game. I have four years to proceed calmly and cautiously."

This week Mr Lula da Silva will pursue his campaign for hearts and minds, meeting heads of government in Berlin and Paris.

Caio Koch-Weser, Germany's state secretary of finance, said Mr Lula da Silva had "a good message". "The key is that the reform momentum gets the benefit of the enormous credibility that the president brings, but it's a strong team and a strong start," he said. "So far, so good, and the market is already honouring what they have done: [interest rate] spreads are down, and the Real [the currency] is up."

By Ed Crooks in Davos and Raymond Colitt in Porto Alegre Published: January 26 2003 21:56 | Last Updated: January 26 2003 22:27

Brazil's president on Sunday won a warm reception from business people and bankers at the World Economic Forum for a speech that mixed praise for free markets and trade with vows to attack poverty and hunger.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's address reflected his need to reassure financial markets spooked by his leftwing reputation, while sticking to his promises to help the 45m Brazilians living below the poverty line.

He repeated his call, made on Friday in a speech to anti-globalisation activists at the "anti-Davos", the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for a "new world economic order". He described agricultural land reform as "urgent", and said there was a need for "more discipline" in international capital flows. But he promised "an extraordinary effort to expand our trade, especially exports", and said foreign capital should be used to help finance infrastructure spending.

Mr Lula da Silva also proposed a new fund, backed by the Group of Seven rich countries, to tackle poverty in the developing world. It was greeted with scepticism, but demonstrated his ambition to give Brazil a bigger international role. "Brazil is a sleeping giant. We should awaken this giant so we should be respected all round the world," he said. He promised to put his experience as a trade unionist to use in a tough negotiating stance in world trade talks.

In spite of proposing a new economic order to an audience of some of the biggest beneficiaries of the existing one, his address was greeted with thunderous applause and scattered cheering. He was handed a T-shirt showing him as Asterix, the plucky Gaul holding out against the Roman empire.

On Friday, Mr Lula da Silva had defended his visit to Davos to thousands of social activists in Porto Alegre. "Many people in Davos don't like me without knowing me. So I make a point of going there to say the same thing I would tell anyone of you here," he said. His decision to go to Davos had triggered criticism among his more radical leftwing supporters; since its creation the Porto Alegre meeting has been backed by his Workers' party (PT).

Yet Mr Lula da Silva also told the activists that not all problems could be blamed on an inequitable world economic order. "We are poor. Part of the fault may lie with the rich nations. But partially the fault may lie with part of the South American elite," he said.

The president acknowledged the enormous expectations that his government had created not only at home but for Latin America's left and for Socialists around the world. He called on supporters to have patience. "A good coach is not one who begins winning but ends winning a game. I have four years to proceed calmly and cautiously."

This week Mr Lula da Silva will pursue his campaign for hearts and minds, meeting heads of government in Berlin and Paris.

Caio Koch-Weser, Germany's state secretary of finance, said Mr Lula da Silva had "a good message". "The key is that the reform momentum gets the benefit of the enormous credibility that the president brings, but it's a strong team and a strong start," he said. "So far, so good, and the market is already honouring what they have done: [interest rate] spreads are down, and the Real [the currency] is up."

www.washingtonpost.com The Associated Press Sunday, January 26, 2003; 4:15 PM

SAO PAULO, Brazil –– Model Gisele Bundchen is donating $150,000 to help fight hunger in her native Brazil.

Bundchen will hand over the money – her fee for one show in Sao Paulo Fashion Week – to Brazilian first lady Marisa Silva, O Globo newspaper reported Sunday.

The fashion week starts Monday and Bundchen's appearance will be in a show by designer Ricardo Almeida, who also dresses President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Silva is initiating a "zero hunger" program that is expected to cost at least $700 million annually.

"The campaign is very important for the country," Bundchen told O Globo.

www.washingtonpost.com By Alan Clendenning Associated Press Writer Sunday, January 26, 2003; 4:38 PM

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil –– Actor Danny Glover showed up in Brazil on Sunday to mingle with activists at the World Social Forum talking about everything from women's rights to eliminating Third World debt and poverty.

Glover said he headed to Porto Alegre on his first trip to Brazil to draw attention to important social issues being overshadowed by talk of war.

"Even though my country, the United States, is engaged in a very intensive discussion about the possibility of war in Iraq, there are still other issues in the world that must be addressed," Glover said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Glover – best known for his role as conservative partner of action hero Mel Gibson in the "Lethal Weapon" movies – also was chairman of the TransAfrica Forum in 2001, the 25-year-old advocacy group best known for protesting apartheid. He has also criticized Hollywood for racial progress he called cosmetic.

Glover said he plans to meet with activists representing groups trying to improve conditions for youth, women and the environment, along with artists and writers. About 100,000 people are attending the six-day forum.

"I think there's a great deal we can all learn from each other," he said.

Glover also said he is impressed with the plans of Brazil's new leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to fight poverty in Brazil and pleased that Silva has appointed black Brazilians to top Cabinet posts.

"I'm hopeful that some of the programs he plans to initiate are ones that are embraced not only by the business community but those financial institutions which also dictate a great deal of what happens in this country," Glover said.