SERIOUS IDEAS BEHIND PORTO ALEGRE THEATRICS. Critics of the anti-globalization movement casually observing the World Social Forum (WSF), which ends in the Brazilian port city of Porto Alegre today, could easily conclude the event was little more than a socially aware carnival, an open fair for vendors, artists and politicians to sell their products and ideas, says the Financial Times (p.8) in a report. Yet in many ways the forum was a success for its organizers and the movement as a whole.
For one thing, the strong turnout showed the movement had regained some of the momentum it lost after the terrorist attacks in the US last September. "Anti-globalization is not dead," said Christophe Aguiton of ATTAC. And the forum was largely peaceful, most participants distancing themselves publicly from the violence and vandalism that overshadowed demonstrations in Seattle and Genoa and tarnished the movement's image. "The anti-globalization movement is not just a bunch of anarchists throwing rocks," said Soren Ambrose of the 50 Years Is Enough network.
Behind the theatrical expressions of protest, the WSF was marked by a serious exchange of ideas and proposals, such as reforms of the WTO's intellectual property rights agreements. Most participants noted that they were not against globalization but for a more equitable form of it, with a broader international participation in decision-making.
Adding to the WSF's legitimacy were World Bank and UN officials who privately met with many groups to learn and debate. The participation of delegates from increasingly diverse interest groups not only in Europe, Latin America and the US but also Africa and Asia also underscored the movement's growth in size and scope. The intention to hold several regional forums and move the WSF to India in 2004 is likely to reinforce the movement's trend towards more internationalization and diversity. A poll released last week shows that many protesting organizations enjoy a high level of public trust they may yet tap into.
The forum does not endorse a common declaration, but numerous groups signed a statement of principles and demands. Yet objectives vary widely from incremental reform to abolition of multilateral agencies. In a separate report, the FT (p.8) notes that some of the forum's proposals were: debt forgiveness for the poorest nations; tariff exemption for products of the poorest nations; an increase in development aid to 0.7 percent of wealthy countries' GDP; access to basic drugs-especially for AIDS and malaria-at the lowest possible price; a larger reduction in carbon emissions by industrialized nations; the implementation of rights laid out by the ILO, including the right to unions and the prohibition of child and forced labor; and the creation of taxes on global financial transactions and the abolition of tax havens.