Battle Plans Emerging From
'De-Globalization' Conference
Letter From Pôrto Alegre
by MARC COOPER
Saturday Afternoon, February 2
PÔRTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL--With three
full days still left to go here,
anticorporate globalization plans for the
post-9/11 period are beginning to
emerge. Though there will not, should
not and could not be a unified strategic
blueprint surfacing from the literally
hundreds of seminars and workshops
that make up the World Social Forum,
there does seem to be, nevertheless,
some broad consensus on how to move
the fight forward.
Here's a quick review of where there are areas of general agreement:
FOR INSTEAD OF AGAINST: A general recognition that the time has
come to reposition the movement in positive, affirmative terms--a
need to move from purely exposing and protesting to proposing and
solving. Calling the movement "antiglobal" only plays into the hands
of the corporate elites. "Better we say what we are for," says Lori
Wallach of Public Citizen. "We are for democracy, diversity and
equity, while they are for the same old system that doesn't work."
There's also recognition that post 9/11 the movement is operating in
different psychopolitical topography and that there must be more
clarity regarding the principles of nonviolence.
WTO: SHRINK IT OR SINK IT: Agreement that the Ministerial Meeting of
the WTO last fall in Doha was a clear defeat for the global south--in
spite of rhetorical nods made by the G-7 countries toward issues of
equity and justice. The newly launched but tenuous trade round will
attempt to expand WTO authority into even more aspects of world
commerce and culture. Against that backdrop, the fight is now
officially on to shrink--or sink--the WTO. Its crisis of legitimacy
generated by the Battle of Seattle was only temporarily mitigated by
9/11. It's time to resume the offensive against the WTO, say the
activists.
STOP THE FTAA: At least in the Western Hemisphere, the frontlines of
the fight over the next year is certain to be around the White House
push to approve the thirty-four-country Free Trade of the Americas
(FTAA). The Brazilians find themselves among those who have most
to lose from the pact. Multinational corporations are salivating not
only over the Amazonian resources but also over the relatively large
state economic sector that still exists here. There's crackling energy
around this issue and some big-time continent-wide strategizing is
taking place over this weekend. The goal: Stop Fast Track in the US
Congress (where in different forms it will still have to pass through
three more hoops) and definitively block the one-size-fits-all global
model imposed by the FTAA. Confidence is high on this issue among
US and Latin American organizers.
ENVISION AND ARTICULATE AN ALTERNATIVE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
ARCHITECTURE: If the WTO and IMF/World Bank--the so-called
Bretton Woods Institutions--do not work, then they must be replaced
by ones that do. A couple of leading NGOs, like the International
Forum on Globalization, have been working at fever pace to sketch
out such international alternatives. "It won't do to replace a
neoliberal ethic among the IMF and World Bank with a more social
democratic one," says economist Walden Bello. "We need new
institutions that express the principles of what we should be calling
'deglobalization.'" The IFG is preparing a detailed report on these
alternatives, and you should drop in at their website
(http://www.ifg.org). How's that for a minimum menu of things to do
in the next year? Not enough? Not to worry. There's still 400 more
workshops to be held before this World Social Forum wraps up next
Tuesday.
***
Friday evening, February 1
American Delegates Show The Flag At Pôrto Alegre Forum
PÔRTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL--In its first full day of formal sessions, the
World Social Forum unfolded as an intellectually bewitching
kaleidoscope of panels, speeches and workshops. Seven major
plenary sessions ran simultaneously this morning, several drawing
more than 1,500 participants each.
I went to the four-hour panel discussion on world trade and heard
rather brilliant presentations by Lori Wallach of Public Citizen and
Martin Khor of Malaysia's Third World Network, among many others.
The atmosphere was serious, and all down to business as the debate
centered not only on what's wrong with corporate globalization but
how a new world financial and trade architecture might be
constructed.
The conference ran on strictly professional lines. Logistics ticked like
clockwork and more than 300 translators fanned out across the city
to provide simultaneous interpretation of most major events in three,
four and sometimes five languages. Truly staggering in its
complexity.
Throughout the afternoon, literally scores of other workshops on a
wide range of social and economic topics flared throughout this
leftist-administered port city of 1.3 million people. I spent most of
the afternoon at yet another panel jointly organized by the Institute
for Policy Studies and the International Forum on Globalization.
Philippine economist Walden Bello offered a spellbinding analysis of
the ups and down of the "de-globalization" movement and spoke of
the urgent need to conceive of new models of development that
"avoid both of the catastrophic failures of the last fifty years:
centralized socialism and corporate globalization."
From there it was off to the Plaza Pôrto Alegre Hotel for a press
reception with a part of the US delegation attending the forum. Last
year, at the first-ever World Social Forum, Americans barely had a
presence here. This time around, the gringos are the fifth-largest
delegation here--about 400 credentialed reps out of a total of 12,000.
Jobs With Justice (JWJ), working with other American NGOs, put
together a special delegation--about forty Americans calling
themselves New Voices. "The idea was to bring down a group of real,
front-line activists and organizers from the US," JWJ executive
director Fred Azarcate said at the press reception. "The idea is to link
them up in the broader, global activities and at the same time to give
the world a more accurate picture of who's doing the work in the
US."
Among the New Voices participants, I found SEIU healthcare
organizers from Florida, living-wage activists from LA and
environmentalists from New Mexico. All seemed pretty cranked up to
be in Pôrto Alegre where spirits are still buoyed from last night's
outdoor opening ceremony that drew tens of thousands from around
the world.
Some forum organizers are still hoping that this week's confab will
be able to come up with at least some sort of minimal program. I
think it will be a miracle if that occurs. There's so much going on
every hour in so many places I can't even imagine how the 50,000 or
people here would be brought together to approve any such plan.
But we'll see. On tomorrow's early morning schedule is a
hemispheric-wide pow-wow on how to kibosh Dubya's plans for a
Free Trade Area of the Americas. Let's see if the plans get beyond
the talking stage.
***
Thursday, February 1, MIDNIGHT
50,000 Celebrate Official Opening of the World Social
Forum
PÔRTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL--Flanked by swaying palms and under a
sky streaked with flaming orange and pink, more than 50,000
people from around the world filled a water-side amphitheater and,
singing "Another World Is Possible," celebrated the official opening of
the second World Social Forum.
The state's elected governor, Olivio Dutra--decked out in traditional
"gaucho" cowpunching garb, welcomed and thrilled the crowd with a
fiery, radical speech that condemned what he called the "profound
dehumanization and systematic banalization of civilization" wrought
by a global economy driven by market ethics. "We are among
millions of other people," he said, "who now proclaim that humanity
is not for sale!"
An infectious optimism rippled through the crowd, and the evening
was punctuated when an Internet video hookup broadcast live
greetings from AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, who was among
those protesting in New York City against the corporate World
Economic Forum.
Earlier in the day, MIT professor Noam Chomsky--one of the forum's
big draws--said he had hopes that the Pôrto Alegre conference would
become "a new International" for global social justice movements.
The real work of the WSF begins on Friday. Literally hundreds of
seminars, workshops, panels and presentations are scheduled to
take place throughout the city for the next five days. The
tabloid-sized program of the forum runs a fat 151 pages and boggles
the mind in its variety of topics.
Some organizers of the event are hoping that the forum will conclude
next week with at least a set of broad strategic blueprints pointing
the way for the movement in the post-9/11 world. Other attendees
are content just to have gotten here and to have the chance to hear
and learn and share with so many others. I'll have more reports from
the actual workshops tomorrow.
In the meantime, one of the hot topics here is just what constitutes a
proper diet. Indeed, among the many attractions here is something
called "The Healthy Feeding Area." Such a space sends shivers of
fear up the back of practicing carnivores, its very name evoking
images of bland and chewy tofu burgers and soy-based hot dogs.
But it seems the Brazilians have come up with the perfect way to
unite vegetarians and meat-eaters. The most common sort of
restaurant here is the so-called Churrasqueria. You pay a flat
fee--about the equivalent of $10--and first you wade over to what
seems like an endless salad bar. Perfect fare for the celery-chompers.
But then squadrons of waiters pass by your table holding saberlike
spits in their hands, each one with a different chunk of charred
meat: beef filet, ribs and flank steaks. Then come the sausages,
chicken, giblets, pork roasts. If you can take it, get ready for the
lamb and goat. You merely sit and wait and, like in a dim sum
house, the waiter will keep piling the cuts on your plate until you
say "when."
A good friend calls these restaurants Bovine Eradication Units. I
bit--literally and otherwise. And now, as a committed carnivore, I can
chow down guilt-free. As one more slab of ribeye fell into our plates,
my friend chuckled. "Back in the 1960s when volunteers went to
Cuba to cut sugarcane, they would say every machete cut is a blow
against US imperialism," he said, in between big chews. "But I think
this is more comfortable. And now I can say 'Every slash of the knife
is another blow for vegetarianism!' At this rate, cows will be extinct
by the end of the decade."
Pass the horseradish.
***
Thursday, January 31, NOON
Leftist Leader & Presidential Candidate "Lula" Opens
Forum Activities & Promises to Resist FTAA
Meeting a crowd of international reporters this morning, Luis Ignacio
"Lula" Da Silva, leader of the leftist Workers Party (PT) and a top
presidential candidate in this fall's election, spoke of what he hopes
will come from this week's World Social Forum. "Peace," he said. "No
fight is more important in this century than peace."
Small and stocky, now with a graying beard, the former Metal
Workers Union leader attracted rock-star attention as he strolled into
the local Sheraton Hotel this morning, site of his press conference.
Finishing second in the last three presidential elections, Lula is now
leading the polls for the October election. But victory will still be an
uphill fight, as he is likely to become victim of a last-minute,
well-financed right-wing media blitz--the sort of scare campaign that
has stunted his previous runs.
"Never before in the history of Latin America has a government
sponsored a citizens' event of such magnitude," he said proudly,
referring to the underwriting that the city government of Porto
Alegre and the state of the Rio Grande do Sul have given to the
forum. Both administrations are controlled by his party and
represent a major leftist electoral stronghold here in Brazil.
Lula promised that one of the central issues he will be working on
during this week's gathering is the fight against the proposed Free
Trade Area of the Americas. Pushed aggressively by the Bush
Administration, FTAA would be a sort of super-NAFTA, bringing all
thirty-three countries of Latin America into one unified market. "The
problem with FTAA," Lula said, "is that it isn't really a free-trade
policy. In reality, it is a policy of annexation of Latin America by the
United States."
Lula's nonprofit group, the Citizenship Institute, along with
numerous trade unions and other hemispheric groups--including
the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies--will be
conducting several workshops, seminars and strategy sessions this
week all aimed at defeating the corporate-driven Americas-wide pact.
More about that as it develops.
And later tonight: a report and review of local restaurants. I call them
Massive Bovine Eradication Units, and they fulfill a valuable social
function for vegetarians and carnivores alike.
***
Wednesday, 6 PM
The Perks of State Power
PÔRTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL--Don't get me wrong. It's nice to have even
a little piece of state power. Rolling into this seaside, heavily
industrialized but quite elegant town, you know you are a long, long
way from Seattle, Quebec, DC or Genoa. The Workers Party city and
state governments have rolled out the red carpets, so to speak, for
the expected 70,000 Forum attendees.
Before you leave the baggage check area of the airport, Forum staff
have tables, maps and programs ready. As you taxi through town to
the hotel, the streets are lined with colorful billboards put up by the
city and by the CUT, the Central Workers
Union--indeed--proclaiming "another world is possible."
The Forum doesn't open up until Thursday night, but already,
thirty-six hours early, there are several thousand delegates,
journalists and panelists thronging the grounds of the central
conference site, The Catholic University.
And talk about the perks of state power--I open the 100-page
tabloid-sized program (about as thick as a large weekly newspaper!)
and I see that several workshops, including those on working for
peace, are slated to be held in the local Army Gymnasium. Try that
in Seattle!
***
Wednesday, January 30 NOON
Is Another World Really Possible?
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL--I'm laid over in the International Airport
waiting for the local connecting flight that will take me south to Pôrto
Alegre--site of the second annual World Social Forum--and I needn't
look any further than the news-rack to measure the challenges
ahead.
As many as 70,000 of the most varied folks from around the planet
are expected to jam the WSF this week, in a sort of anti-globalization
theoretical/activist summit. And all under the fuzzy slogan of
"Another World is Possible."
But is it?
It's tough enough to get so many fragmented movements to agree on
a joint manifesto, or a statement of principles, or a common plan of
alternative routes to development and equality (all on the wish list of
many who will attend the WSF this week.) But that's a cakewalk
compared to actually achieving, or implementing any of the above.
For that you need political power.
Which brings me back to the airport newsstand. The magazines and
tabloids beaming from the racks luridly drip red with blood. From
where I sit, I can see three covers with a bloody corpse on it. Another
sports a smoking AK-47. Yet another screams with a headline: "A
NATION IN SHOCK." The tab next to it reads "Brazil: A Nation of
Impunity."
For the second time in just a handful of weeks, an elected mayor has
been bloodily assassinated. In both cases, the mayors were members
of the Workers Party (PT), a uniquely Brazilian creation that is part
social democratic, part Marxist, part populist, but--in the
end--something that most analysts agree is what modern, post
cold-war socialism might look like.
The same Workers Party governs both the city of Porto Alegre
(population 1.3 million) and the state that surrounds it. And that
leftist administration offers itself as gracious host, promoter and
partial underwriter of this weeks WSF.
During last year's first-ever Forum, delegates came away mightily
impressed by the grassroots democratic reforms initiated by the PT.
Local and state budgets, spending priorities, development plans are
all approved in genuinely democratic community meetings and town
halls. It might not be exactly Socialism in One City--but PT
government in this southern corner of Brazil at least offered a
glimpse of some other possible world. Especially considering
that--once again--PT leader Ignacio "Lula" Da Silva is expected to run
for President of Brazil, and once again he's not to be counted out.
Lula's national prominence, and the pockets of already existing
Workers Party local government, have come only after much political
suffering by Brazil. The military dictatorship that took power here in
the mid-60s and that lasted more than a decade, became the model
of ruthlessness that soon swept the entire continent. Armed
guerrilla resistance to the regime collapsed in costly failure.
Transition back to democratic rule was hesitant, arduous and erratic.
Three decades of political and social turmoil finally laid the
foundations for the emergence, over the last ten years, of a
mass-based, leftist opposition party that could operate peacefully
and legally and effectively compete for power in a relatively
democratic system.
But PT mayors, as you can read in today's papers, are gunned down.
And their killers run free.
Another world is certainly possible. But even as it slowly emerges, its
enemies fight back with all at hand.
This meditation is not one of pessimism. But merely a reminder
that what before is--as Susan George writes in this week's
Nation--serious business. The joyfulness that has accented the
organizing against corporate globalization is bracing and inspiring.
And we should never eschew it.
But after all the workshops, plenaries and debates are concluded,
even if people figure out what they want, they're still going to have to
take very seriously the question of how they are going to get it. It's
never handed to you.
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