[I think this may be of interest to some of you - Artur]
OTHER WORDS PORTO ALEGRE 2002 SITE UPDATE NEWSLETTER -- NOVEMBER 6, 2001 --
Nº 14
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I INTERNATIONALISM, ANTIDOTE TO WAR
More than 50 social movements and organizations connected with the struggle
for social change open the second meeting of the International Council of
the World Social Forum (WSF), on October 29, in Dakar Senegal. Our editor,
Antonio Martins, who took part as the Brazilian representative of Attac,
brings some of the first day's debate. Full text at the end of this message.
II HIDING OUT IN QATAR
Our voice must be heard in Doha
Two years have gone by since Seattle, but it seems our leaders have learnt
nothing, complains Canadian researcher and activist, Maude Barlow,
referring to the lords of world trade. Barlow's concerns are set out in a
document that is fundamental to understanding the importance of the fourth
Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to take place in
Doha, Qatar, from November 9 to 13.
Barlow assesses the significance of each of the main points that will be on
the negotiating table in Doha, ready to be hacked about by the heavy hand
of capital.
Volunteer Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, an NGO with a membership
of over 100,000, Barlow throws light on the proposal to set up an
International Trade Court. Her figures show clearly who stands to gain most
from this move: of the 117 trade disputes before the WTO, the US has an
interest in 50 of them.
The WTO, which Barlow describes as the most powerful global institution of
our time, chose Qatar to host its meeting to preclude the kind of protests
that took place at its last attempt to reach a trade liberalization
agreement in Seattle. The climate this time, however, will only be slightly
different from the failed Millennium Round. Barlow warns that the lack of
consensus among the participants may be a far more potent force working for
the round to fail yet again.
This should be no comfort to activists though: it is more important than
ever that our work continue and our voices be heard. The risks to farmers
and workers have never been greater; theft of traditional crops is speeding
up as is the spread of western-style monoculture. Once again, we must
demand: No to the New Round
(<http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/NGingles/view.htm?user=reader&infoid=1735&editionsectionid=73>English).
How do you make the fish swallow the bait?
What can one offer underdeveloped countries so that, in exchange, they will
sign a treaty that is of no benefit to them? That seems to be the key of a
meeting held in September, in Mexico, between representatives of Canada,
US, Japan and the European Union, to define a common strategy for the WTO
ministerial conference.
The Mexico meeting was to be one of those closed encounters to try to fix
part of the planet's fate. ATTAC, however, managed to draft quite a
complete report of what was discussed there. It reveals that the four main
players in the WTO see developing countries' opposition on agricultural
issues as the main obstacle to approval of a new round. For a long time now
they have been calling for liberalization in farm products which they feel
would give them greater access to consumer markets at the capitalist centre.
Most likely, according to ATTAC, is that minor concessions will be made to
southern countries, providing the agreement does not restrict the
six-figure subsidies the developed countries grant to agricultural exports
(<http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/NGingles/view.htm?user=reader&infoid=1736&editionsectionid=73>French).
III ROUND THE WORLD
Rebuilding the planet from the classroom
Public education, together with social movements, has a central role to
play in building the world anew, asserts the Letter from Porto Alegre. That
document marked the culmination last Friday of the World Education Forum,
an event that brought together some 15,000 people in the state capital of
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This clearly humanist text stresses the
importance of public education in the battle for peace and to reassert
respect for differences: A special kind of endeavour is required for us to
understand that whatever their beliefs, ways of life, tastes, feelings,
(...) people are always human subjects of rights. Education, as a necessary
condition for peace, has a leading role to play in this struggle.
The Letter offers a substantial evaluation of the international situation:
it sees the present as a time of breakdown. That is why the cry that
another world is possible is finding an echo in all the continents across
the globe, and will be steadily amplified by forces, organizations and
sectors that understand the need for radical change in economic proposals
at the world level. Both the imbalance between North and South and the
growing gap between rich and poor, and the peril of violence sparked by the
irrationalities that threaten all forms of civilization have been thrown
into stark relief by the attacks of September 11, declares the Letter
(<http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/NGingles/view.htm?user=reader&infoid=1692&editionsectionid=122>Portuguese).
Another world means another journalism too
The main challenge facing communicators today is to coordinate existing
alternative and community media into a network capable of surmounting the
blockade imposed by the major information chains. That was the opinion of
participants in the Congress of Latin American and Caribbean Journalists
held this month in Havana.
The congress highlighted a number of specific tasks to that end: demanding
that governments ensure plural communication in their societies as a basic
right and introduce university programmes that afford journalists an
overall perspective, putting an end to the myth of the technical, impartial
reporter. These and other accounts are in a report by the Chilean
newspaper, El Siglo
(<http://www.portoalegre2002.org/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/NGingles/view.htm?user=reader&infoid=1665&editionsectionid=117>Spanish).
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Meeting of the International Council of the World Social Forum
This is the International Council's last meeting but one before the WSF in
Porto Alegre, which is to take place between January 31 and February 5,
2002. As expected, the event is marked by debate over the consequences of
the September 11 attacks and the war of retaliation unleashed by the United
States. From the very first day, there were signs of substantial unity
among those present. An ample majority of speakers concentrated on the
effort to rework global resistance to neoliberalism and to work for
alternatives in the difficult situation that has emerged since war broke
out. The other days of the meeting were to discuss in detail the
"architecture" of WSF 2002.
Some of the most outstanding personalities in the nascent global movement
against neoliberalism were present at the meeting. Bernard Cassen, chairman
of the group ATTAC in France, stressed that by its very internationalist
nature, the movement is an antidote to prejudice and ethnic hatred. "Here,
Arabs and Jews, blacks and whites, Latin Americans and North Americans,
Moslems and Christians coexist and work together for a world based on
solidarity".
Internationalism as an antidote to war
From the Philippines, Walden Bello, of Focus on the Global South, warned
that despite the military setbacks the US has suffered in recent days "we
should not underestimate the White House's long experience in war, nor its
ability to learn from past mistakes". He recalled that from the outset the
war's imperial aims were clear: "The World Trade Center was still in flames
when the US Secretary of Trade declared that the best way to combat terror
was to expand free trade". Bello also stated that, although great tactical
flexibility may be necessary after September 11, the movement should not
retreat from its strategic positions: "only by keeping alive the hope of a
new, de-mercantilized world, will we be able to present ourselves as an
alternative to the plans of the Empire".
From Belgiu, François Houtart, of the World Forum of Alternatives,
highlighted one of the main challenges for those fighting for
internationalism based on solidarity: "New movements must be built with
workers organizations that stand in direct opposition to capital. We have
to understand that there are different cultures of resistance, and that
therefore the task is not easy but continues indispensable".
Far more controversial was the proposal advanced by Francisco Whitaker, of
the Brazilian Peace and Justice Commission. He suggested that next year the
movements united around the World Social Forum should enter into dialogue
with the UN, IMF, World Bank and governments of several countries, with a
view to encountering ways to combat hunger and the risk of "world-wide
destruction". He saw the proposal as a way to retrieve the initiative and
regain visibility after September 11. This was contested by Eric Toussaint
(Belgium), of the Committee for the cancellation of the Third World Debt
(COCAD). "Entering into that dialogue now, when these people need t hide
behind high walls to hold their meetings, would be to restore unacceptable
legitimacy to them", said Toussaint.
50,000 against neo-liberalism in 2002
Debate on the multiple agenda for WSF 2002, which the organizers consider
the "architecture" of the event, started today and will continue tomorrow.
They face a "good problem": more than 50,000 people are expected at Porto
Alegre 2002, and they have to be afforded the opportunity to participate
actively in the debates.
The organizers' first response is to spread WSF 2002 right across the city
of Porto Alegre, and no longer just across the Catholic University campus.
The major meetings (conferences) will be held in amphitheatres with
capacity for at least 2,000 people. From 16, they will now number 26. The
workshops and seminars will also multiply, as will the major debates with
leading figures from opposition to global capitalism. That will be the
theme of the next Other Words.
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