------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- From: "Jay Moore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 19:33:18 -0500 The proceedings at Porto Alegre -- including an online "library of alternatives" with commentaries by heavy hitters on the Left like Eduardo Galleano, Samir Amin, Michel Lowy, Noam Chomsky -- can be followed at http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br and http://brasil.indymedia.org/ The demonstrations at Davos can be followed at http://switzerland.indymedia.org/ jay http://www.neravt.com/left/ ********* Brazil's rival "Davos" forum blasts globalization, capitalism PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Jan 26 (AFP) - As the world's business and political elite gathered in Davos, Switzerland for their annual summit, leading activists at an alternative forum here Friday blasted the effects of globalization and capitalism. "Globalization is a new phase of the imperialist expansion of capital, a fig leaf to hide imperialism itself," said the director of the Third World Forum, Egyptian economist Samir Amin. "To say that there is no alternative to globalism is false," said Amin, a proponent of global socialism, to the applause of some of the 3,000 people attending Porto Alegre's alternative to Davos. Representatives from grassroots organizations, labor unions and political parties worldwide joined international economists and sociologists in this southern Brazilian city for five days of discussion. On the agenda are issues including developing countries' debt, child workers, feminism, racism, genetically modified food, and -- above all -- what participants claim is the negative impact of economic "globalization." In the chic Swiss ski resort of Davos -- under heavy security after last year's disruptions by demonstrators -- heads of government and corporate chiefs met at the World Economic Forum to discuss the direction of key interest rates, foreign exchange markets and possible fallout from slowing US economic growth. Porto Alegre's rival World Social Forum meeting, where speakers and participants were dressed in jeans and symbolic red scarves, claims to speak for those bearing the brunt of macroeconomic trends. While astonishing revelations were few, the forum's organizers say it will be more than soap-box pitches, drawing on a new kind of activism propagated by the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization in Seattle in 1999. Participants called for the direct involvement of citizens in both national-level economic decisions through local referendums and international accords through the participation of local representatives. Failing that, former Algerian president Ahmed Ben Bella called on participants Friday to take up arms and reclaim democracy by force. "We are here to reclaim democracy, but if the way is blocked, as in Colombia, Palestine or Algeria, then taking up arms is a sacred right," he said. The Porto Alegre forum, he added, "can move things forward, it's a start." Other star speakers here are French trade unionist Jose Bove, who is due to speak on land reform. The 47-year-old sheep farmer, who became an international media star after his Farmers Confederation stormed a MacDonald's restaurant in rural France, said the forum would continue the spirit of Seattle, but with a more international flavor. According to its organizers, some 3,000 delegates attended the forum Friday, hosted by Luiz Inacio da Silva ("Lula"), leader of Brazil's leftist Workers' Party (PT) and a former presidential candidate. This port city of 1.3 million people, capital of Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, is a natural setting for the meeting. Since 1998, its PT-controlled city government has experimented with a brand of participative democracy which aims to involve the public directly in how public funds are spent. Brazil's president, social democrat Fernando Henrique Cardoso, on Wednesday criticized the forum as naive, questioning why the Rio Grande do Sul state government, also PT-controlled, saw fit to fund it to the tune of 600,000 dollars. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addressed a letter Thursday to Rio Grande do Sul governor Olivio Dutra agreeing that "globalization" has disparate effects on different groups and the "international community" should take urgent action for improved living standards around the world. _______________________________________________ Crashlist website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
