ATTAC- Porto Alegre WSF

World Social Forum

Porto Alegre

25 January to 30 January 2001

Satellite Link between Porto Alegre and Davos (Sunday 28 January) Produced by ArticleZ

The 30' script + the videostream of the show aired on Arte Friday 02 February 2001: www.madmundo.tv

Porto Alegre, Brazil

"Hemingway said that the rich are different from you and me. How can anyone expect the people in Davos to understand the crisis that globalization has visited on the lives of people like those of us here in Porto Alegre?" That was going to be my opening line.

When I arrived at the university studio for the televised trans-Atlantic debate with George Soros, the financier, and other representatives of the global elite gathered in Davos, Switzerland, a visibly shaken Florian Rochat of the Swiss delegation was waiting for me. Swiss are known for being impassive, but Florian was visibly shaken. "They are arresting protestors in Davos and other places in Switzerland," he told me. "They're killing democracy in our country. Our friends there are asking you to support them in calling for the shutting down of the World Economic Forum."

That request drove out any lingering desire to be "nice" in the coming exchange, which had been billed by its producers as a "Dialogue between Davos and Porto Alegre." The ambitious, one-million dollar plus production involving four satellite hookups, aimed to explore if there was a common ground between the annual elite gathering in Davos and the newly launched World Social Forum (WSF) in this southern Brazilian city. Millions of people globally were waiting for the transmission.

Since I had been in Davos last year, the producers requested that I make the opening statement for the Porto Alegre side. I obliged with the following: "We would like to begin by condemning the arrests of peaceful demonstrators to shield the global elite at Davos from protests. We would also like to register our consternation that while we in Porto Alegre have painstakingly come up with a diverse panel of speakers, you in Davos have come up with four white males to face us. Butr perhaps you are trying to make a political statement.

"I was in Davos last year, and believe me, Davos is not worth a second visit. I am here in Porto Alegre this year, and let me say that Porto Alegre is the future while Davos is the past. Hemingway wrote that the rich are different from you and me, and indeed, we live on two different planets: Davos, the planet of the superrich, Porto Alegre, the planet of the poor, the marginalized, the concerned. Here in Porto Alegre, we are discussing how to save the planet. There in Davos, the global elite is discussing how to maintain its hegemony over the rest of us. In fact, the best gift that the 2000 corporate executives at Davos can give to the world is for them to board a spaceship and blast off for outer space. The rest of us will definitely be much better off without them."

The press termed the next 1-1/2 hours not as a debate but as an emotional exchange that, as the Financial Times put it, "sometimes degenerated into personal insults." But I and the other panelists-among them, Oded Grajew of Brazil's Instituto Ethos, Bernard Cassen of Le Monde Diplomatique, Diane Matte of Women's Global March, Njoki Njehu of 50 Years Is Enough, Rafael Alegria of Via Campesina, Aminata Traole, former Minister of Culture of Mali, Fred Azcarate of Jobs with Justice, Trevor Ngbane of South Africa, Francois Houtart of Belgium, and Hebe de Bonafini of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo-were simply reflecting the non-conciliatory mood towards the Davos crowd of most of the 12,000 people who flocked to Porto Alegre.

For this constituency, a significant number of whom watched the debate at a huge auditorium at the Catholic University, globalization was a deadly business, and many undoubtedly shared the feelings of Hebe de Bonafini when she screamed at Soros across the Atlantic divide, "Mr. Soros, you are a hypocrite. How many children's deaths have you been responsible for?" That Soros in the course of the debate made some utterances regarding the need to control the negative impacts of globalization hardly endeared him to this crowd, who saw him mainly as a finance speculator who had made billions of dollars at the expense of third world economies.

The holding of the week-long World Social Forum was nothing short of a miracle. Proposed by the Workers' Party of Brazil (PT) and a coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations, supported with significant funding by donors such as Novib, the Dutch agency, and provided with strong international support by the French monthly Le Monde Diplomatique and Attac, the European anti-globalization alliance, the event was put together in less than eight months' time. The idea of holding an alternative to the annual retreat of the global corporate elite in Davos simply took off. While there were some glitches here and there, the event was resoundingly successful, despite the massive challenge of coordinating 16 plenary sessions, over 400 workshops, and numerous side events.

A major reason for the WSF's success is that it had the organizational support of the government of the city of Porto Alegre and the government of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, both of which are controlled by the PT. Porto Alegre has, in fact, achieved the reputation of being a city that is run both efficiently and with sensitivity to social and environmental considerations. The city is said to be at the top of the quality of life index for Brazil.

The sharing in Porto Allegre focused not only on drawing up strategies of resistance to globalization but also on elaborating alternative paradigms of economic, ecological, and social development. Militant action was not absent, with Jose Bove, the celebrated French anti-McDonalds' activist, and the Brazilian MST (Movement of the Landless), leading the destruction of two hectares of land planted with transgenic soybean crops by the biotechnological firm Monsanto.

Porto Alegre achieved its goal of being a counterpoint to Davos. The combination of celebration, hard discussion, and militant solidarity that flowed from it contrasted with the negative images coming out of Davos. The Swiss town was the center of Switzerland's biggest security operation since the Second World War. The Swiss police pulled out all the stops to prevent protesters from reaching the Alpine resort, and fired water cannons and tear gas on demonstrators in Zurich, arresting many of them. Even conservative Swiss newspapers condemned the police operation as a threat to political liberties in Switzerland.

Perhaps the outcome of the duel between Davos and Porto Alegre was best summed up by George Soros: "The excessive precautions were a victory for those who wanted to disrupt Davos. It was an overreaction. It helped to radicalize the situation."

On his performance in the televised debate with Porto Alegre, Soros commented: "It showed it is not easy to dialogue.I don't particularly like to be abused. My masochism has its limits." Observed the Financial Times: "Such uncomfortable experiences seem temporarily to have scrambled his ability to deliver pithy soundbites."

But Soros was not alone in flubbing his lines. Soon after my opening statement, Bernard Cassen of Le Monde Diplomatique leaned over and told me: "Walden, it wasn't Hemingway who said the rich are different from you and me. It was Scott Fitzgerald."

*Dr. Walden Bello is executive director of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South and professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines.

Porto Alegre, Brazil -- That's the slogan of the World Social Forum underway here. Or, as they said in Seattle, "This is what democracy looks like."

While thousands chanted that slogan in Seattle, Washington D.C., Chiang Mai, Melbourne and Prague, they were being tear gassed, preemptively arrested, harassed and generally denied their rights by an enormous show of state force on behalf of undemocratic international institutions.

In Porto Alegre, this is what democracy looks like: During a march of thousands against neo-liberalism I counted 10 police officers. When 200 Brazilian anarchists broke off from the march to throw white paint on a McDonald's, about six police stood by.

The next day, an ex-cop explained it this way, "We police were instructed to form partnerships with the social movements." By comparison Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum is meeting this week, has become a fortress.

Porto Alegre is an appropriate setting for the World Social Forum, while authorities have shut down the roads to Davos, deported activists, and banned marches. In Porto Alegre, the Governor of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, gave the opening speech. In fact, his government was a major funder of the Forum.

In Porto Alegre, this is what democracy looks like: Hundreds of young people are camping nearby -- apparently without ever sleeping -- virtually without police presence.

This is what democracy looks like: Participatory budgeting. For 12 years, Porto Alegre"s budget has been decided made by hundreds of well-organized community and worker groups.

This is what democracy looks like: There is no corporate sponsorship of the World Social Forum. No ads telling us how sustainable Shell is, or how clean Dow is, or how concerned for the poor Philip Morris is. No Nike swooshes. Just a few banners for the national bank of Brazil, saying "It's better because it's ours." The most ubiquitous logo around is that of the Workers' Party, on flags everywhere.

In Porto Alegre, this is what democracy looks like: Lots of meetings and lots of talking. The humid rooms, over-packed with people, listening for the umpteenth hour to plans to stop new free trade agreements and models for local economic democracy.

This is what democracy looks like: There are lots of unionized workers present. The state of Rio Grande do Sul has twice as many union members as the national average.

This is what democracy looks like: The entire state of Rio Grande do Sul has been declared GMO-free, although some Roundup Ready soy has been smuggled in from Argentina, according to one knowledgeable government official from Brasilia. Two days ago activists traveled with French farmer/activist Jose Bove four hours out of Porto Alegre to tear up a few illegal acres of Monsanto's Roundup Ready Franken-soy.

The World Social Forum is the first significant post-Seattle gathering where the goal is not to disrupt the meetings of undemocratic institutions, in what has become a series of traveling protests. Rather it is a space for activists to think, talk and imagine another world -- a more just, democratic world.

The anti-corporate globalization movement has come to "an important stage in the counter-offensive that began in Seattle," says Walden Bello, Executive Director of Thailand-based Focus on the Global South.

Naturally, the rhetoric of democracy in Porto Alegre cannot be transferred everywhere, especially not to the U.S. In the opening ceremony, during introductions of the 120 countries represented by delegates, Cuba received the loudest ovation, while the U.S. and Israel got a smattering of boos. There is occasionally a flavor of old-style leftism that sounds irrelevant to most U.S. ears.

And, as one should expect in a gathering as large and diverse as this one, there are significant differences of opinion on policy and strategy. For example, some participants are working to incorporate social and environmental clauses into the WTO, others insist there must be no new round of the WTO.

Nevertheless, the overall feeling here is of fresh air coming into the debate over globalization, especially compared with the stale rhetoric in Davos. From Porto Alegre, the concept that a gathering of the rich and powerful is the answer for the poor and dispossessed, that the World Economic Forum has somehow transformed itself into a global poverty program, seems too absurd to bother debunking.

Yet neither is the Social Forum a poverty program. And that is one of most refreshing aspects of the gathering. It is not about money. It's not about growth, "sustainable" or otherwise. It's not even really about development -- a concept that has perhaps been hopelessly perverted by institutions like the World Economic Forum and the World Bank. Still, economic issues are prominent in the discussions here.

Rather the Forum is about democracy. Not the democracy that comes from more money and therefore more choices of things to buy, but rather the democracy of participation in local and society-wide economic decisions. This is the democracy that corporate globalization gazes so harshly on.

Even the most ardent supporters of the current form of globalization acknowledge that it is a web of powerful and unaccountable forces. They say the best we can do as individuals and as nations, is to prepare ourselves to flourish in this lightening-fast, hyper-competitive world, grabbing what we can for ourselves -- mobility, wealth, markets, computers.

The folks here would not be interested in this individualistic and competitive vision of society, even if the powerful institutions controlling globalization were to reduce the inequities and provide a safety net for those left out.

There are many challenges for the World Social Forum. Midway through the gathering, participants had not decided where, when and if there will be another one (it seems likely). Nor had they settled on producing a statement or manifesto (it seems unlikely). Activists must stay alert to the cooptation of our language and ideas by the World Economic Forum, by the WTO and World Bank. We must improve the democratic process within the Social Forum -- to include more students, more non-Brazilians, more indigenous people, and others. We must make sure to keep the momentum that started with the explosion in Seattle.

Seattle was the pivotal moment in the first plank of this complex movement -- protest and resistance. Porto Alegre will, I believe, come to be seen as an important step in moving forward the second part - innovation and alternatives.

It is important that many protestors have gone to Davos to continue to expose the injustice of the World Economic Forum. But I'm glad I came to Porto Alegre. As Walden Bello, a veteran of Davos meetings, says, "Davos is the past. Porto Alegre is the future."

And the present is a collective dream of the thousands gathered here: Um outro mundo Z poss'vel.

Kenny Bruno is a Corporate Watch Research Associate.

Social Justice Advocates Rip Soros, U.N. Officials in Bi-Continental Debate (50 Years Is Enough)

Sharply opposed visions of the future of the world clashed Sunday in a satellite broadcast of a debate pitting four participants in the annual World Economic Forum at the ski resort town of Davos, Switzerland against a panel of 12 activists selected from among those attending the World Social Forum, an unprecedented meeting of over ten thousand activists for economic, social, and environmental justice in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Financier and philanthropist George Soros, one of the debaters in Davos, where capitalist superstars met for the 31st annual forum to discuss the future was condemned as a cause of poverty and instability because of his legendary financial speculation.

Two United Nations officials -- Mark Malloch-Brown, head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and a representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan -- came under intense criticism for lending the U.N.'s credibility to the exclusive gathering of corporate executives and politicians in Switzerland. Njoki Njehũ, a Kenyan who directs the Washington-based 50 Years Is Enough Network, which advocates the profound transformation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, accused the U.N. of helping corporations like Shell Oil and Nike "bluewash" their dubious records of environmental devastation and low wages by pledging to abide by a set of responsible business practices under the "U.N. Global Compact."

"Such actions are a repudiation of the U.N.'s credibility," said Njehũ. "How impartial and open can the leading global institution be when its officials congratulate notorious corporate human rights abusers?" In response to the UNDP's Malloch-Brown, who protested that his institution was dedicated to finding new ideas for more successful and equitable economic development, Njehũ said, "Will Malloch-Brown commit the UNDP to supporting an immediate end to IMF/World Bank austerity programs, which have enriched corporations and caused increasing poverty for 20 years?" Malloch-Brown declined.

Another Porto Alegre debater, Fred Azcarate, Executive Director of Washington-based Jobs with Justice, a national campaign for workers' rights joining labor, religious, and community groups, responded to the Davos debaters' surprise at the wrath expressed in Brazil by saying they should recognize, and relay to their peers at the World Economic Forum, that the "righteous anger" glimpsed at demonstrations in Seattle, Washington DC, Bangkok, Melbourne, and Prague was "alive and well." "That anger is undiminished despite some glowing promises from business and political leaders, because it is obvious the economic elites like those gathered in Davos have refused to take seriously the many proposals for a just world like those being created in Porto Alegre."

Others involved in the debate included the chief executive of ABB, the European engineering and construction company, in Davos, and, in Porto Alegre, activists representing landless peasants in Latin America, Brazilian trade unionists, Argentina's Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, South Africa's anti-privatization campaigns, the World March of Women, and long-time economic justice campaigners from the Philippines, France, and Mali.