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Other worlds are possible. 60 000 can´t be wrong?
Melanie Gillbank
The second coming of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, in Southern Brasil, has drawn 60 000 delegates from all over the world, a six fold increase from its inauguration last year. Under the banner of ?Another World is Possible? the forum opened four days ago on the 31st of January with a march attended by more than 60 000 people.
The WSF includes participants from a wide spectrum of political views within the left: from the reform agenda (all the world needs is more regulation and another global governance body), to abolitionists (nothing less than a process of ?deglobalisation? will do), and everything in between.
Renowned Professor of linguistics, philosopher and social commentator, Noam Chomsky received star billing in on the first day of seminars, urging the audience to challenge the commentators who dismiss the movements around the world as ?anti-globalisation?. Instead he said there was a need to define the movements as in favour of just, equitable and ecologically sustainable form of globalisation.
Bernard Cassen, who with Susan George was a founder of ATTAC, an international network of organisations campaigning for the introduction of the Tobin Tax, (of 1% on all international financial transactions), called for the ?the globalisation of peace.?
On the same panel as Cassen, Martin Khor, director of the Third World Network, stated that claimed that, neoliberal policies and the institutions that enforce them are in fact responsible for the ?deindustrialistion? of the poor countries, and was a direct form of colonisation. ?The World Trade Organisation and the World Bank are the two greatest mechanisms generating poverty in the world,? declared Khor.
Despite the WSF claim that ?Another World is Possible?, the majority of the presentations revolved around the identification of the problems and relatively little time was devoted to the discussion of alternatives and concrete strategies.
Some participants had come specifically to showcase alternative communities and ways of living. Indigenous participants, principally from the Americas, emphasised that their traditional lifestyles and relationships allowed them to live self sufficiently and sustainably. Jose Periera, a tribal leader from central Colombia said he had come to Porto Alegre to teach people ?the way?.
Author of ?When Corporations Rule the World?, David Korten, stated simply that we need to ?walk away from the suicide economy and to support many of these local initiatives and weave into being webs of relationships that emerge to become a new kind of economy.?
North American academic, Genevieve Vaughan, suggests one such alternative. She advocates a paradigmatic shift to a ?gift economy? in which transactions between people will develop into circles of giving which focus on providing directly for human needs.
Famous Indian scientist, ecofeminist and academic, Vandana Shiva, denounced the form of globalisation that is based on ?the principal of organised greed?. Instead, these ?unstable pyramids of power need to be transformed into concentric circles of compassion?, and that ?the world we build in the future needs to be built on women?s ways?.
Illustrating the distance that needs to be walked to realise this vision, Shiva was one of the few women who made it into the ranks of greying men on the plenary panels and seminar sections of the WSF.
A statement issued yesterday by a coalition of Brasilian unions claimed that the WSF was merely concerned with ?putting a human face on globalisation? and not tackling the root causes of environmental destruction, inequity and cultural colonisation around the world.
Many claim that this is a fair critique of the forum. Its sheer enormity and the bureaucratisation of its organisational structure have limited the forum to traditional modes of organisation and presentation.
Two of the principal supporters of the WSF are the local and state level governments of Rio Grande do Sul. In the lead up to the Brasilian national elections in November this year, conference venues, materials and merchandise provided constant reminders of their support. The Brasilian independent media web site claims that this has resulted in the cooption and watering down of the forums agenda.
On the flip side however, such a forum would not be possible without the massive levels of financial and infrastructural support which have been provided by the local and state governments. For this reason, no other countries are prepared enough to embark on this task for next year and the forum looks set to remain in Porto Alegre for 2003.
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