BILL MacKEITH gives his first impres sions from the World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 24-27th January 2003
Some 100,000 people were said to Soo coming to the Third Word
Social Forum in Porto Alegre, capital of Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. That's after 15,000 in 2001 and 40,000 in 2002. Apart from the impetus of increasing anti-globalisation actions and debate, extra interest this time round lay in the recent election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the first working-class president of Latin America's biggest country (population 170 million).
These impressions are those of a firsttime participant in the WSF who did not attend the European Social Forum last year and has in recent years heard more about Seattle than Porto Alegre. I went to contribute to discussions round migration that were being promoted by the Amsterdambased Trans National Institute (TNI), which paid for my fare and lodging.
In this city of a million-odd people with trees in bright flower, the hubbub of WSF discussions took place in disused warehouses alongside the Rio Guiaba, in the Gigantinho football stadium, in a former power station now a cultural centre, an open-air arena, the catholic university in the suburbs, a huge tented Quinta Sala, and among the tents, fires and open-air stages of the 20,000-strong international youth camp, also on the riverside.
Why Porto Alegre? Lula's Workers Party (PT), has for some years run the municipal and state governments (it has just lost conPorto Alegre: turnout even bigger than last year Network for Justice and Human Rights.
The participants were probably of the order of 65% Brazilians, another 25% other Latin Americans and 10% from other continents. The further away they lived from Porto Alegre the less likely the participant was to be a young person or rank and file trade unionist, the more likely to be from an NGO, or an academic — that is, financially better off or funded.
This is clearly a weakness in the nature of such an enterprise. A point I reiterated in discussions of migration was that it was the migrants who should be heard, whatever the special difficulties they might have in getting to the Forum.
A statement issued in Porto Alegre by No-Vox - an international network of "those who are voiceless" initiated in France by the DAL (right to housing) and including organisations of sans papiers, unemployed people, and the homeless -said the means must be provided for them to participate fully in the forums, and to ensure that the voices of those most adversely affected by globalisation are heard.
I spoke twice on immigration detention and anti-migrant policies in the UK and rest of Europe, once from the floor in a WSF executive-run main-event "panel" attended by some 200 people, and once on the university campus in a seminar run by TNI that was attended by some 40 people.
I also attended panels on imperialism and war (where the fifth speaker, Achin Vanaik ation of international anti-war work, from India complained that the previous four had not mentioned Palestine); against the "War on Drugs" US government-style and Plan Colombia; on open access to water, food and land; and on trade union rights and jobs-this one organised by the European TUC. Here a Jamaican sugar workers' representative denounced the free market for the closure of a plant with 300 jobs.
joint ICTU, GUFs, WCL, ETUC A statement sad that " globalisation
needs democratic and transparent governance" (a single quote necessarily caricatures). There were many events (over 500 meetings in the printed programme for the Sunday alone), lots of informal speeches, singing and dances. In debates the atmosphere seemed to me confident, constructive and (with reservations) inclusive.
I made good use of the time off and had fun meeting some locals and far-travelled internationalists and socialists. Yes, there were capirinhas drinks, and a two-hour break on the beach (on the lagoon, not the sea, as we realised after two hundred yards' wading brought the red water to our ankles).
Great music I heard included local singer/guitarists (they reminded me of Argentinian songs), Senegalese drummers, and a trio of Argentinian mulatto performers of socialist feminist rap lyrics.
The Forum began with a big official (WSF other activities already underway. In executive-supported) demonstration on the theme "Building Another Possible World, Against Militarisation and War"
It ended with another demonstration, called by trade unions and political parties including the PT, against the US-imposed Free Trade Agreement, against war on Iraq and in support of the Palestinians.
The PSTU (united socialist workers party) contingent, the largest on the demonstration, had people with roving mikes rapping out hip-hop style slogans over a truck speaker system, with marchers dancing to the accompaniment of a samba band ("Chega de bomba, Chega de ataque, Fora o imperialismo, Do Iraque", "O Palestino e meu amigo, Mexeu com ele, mexeu conmigo," etc).
I attended an early-evening open-air meeting addressed by Lula welcomed by a huge cheering and chanting crowd (am a worker, I will not let you down"-chants of "Lula, Lula") on the eve of his going to the so-called World Economic Forum in Davos.
By contrast, another "left" president, Chávez of Venezuela, was not given a big platform; he held press conference and walked around some of the venues.
Among many well-known speakers were Noam Chomsky and the writer and antidam campaigner Arundhati Roy, who addressed an enthusiatic crowd of thousands in an indoor stadium many of whom wore headphones or held radios to their ears sssfor the simultaneous translation.
Roy concluded: "Yes, another world is possible [the WSF theme]. And if you listen very carefully in the quiet of the morning, you can hear her breathing." (delay for interpretation, then more roars...)
It is difficult not to think so. However, the WSF is not the be-all and end-all of internationalism, and in any case itself needs to develop. Some discussion of this in Socialist Resistance would be useful.
The next World Social Forum is planned for next year in Kerala, south India. I would recommend you take part if you can get the fare together, or the backing to participate. be brought together again at another