http://www.wkrc.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=8B70B887-BB67-48B
8-BD00-EF3B1CF6E476
WKRC 12 Cincinnati -
Venezuela's Chavez hosts World Social Forum as leftist movements
unite against Bush
LAST UPDATE: 1/24/2006 12:45:06 AM
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez, reveling in his role
as leftist icon, is bringing together tens of thousands of activists
from across the world on Tuesday to promote Latin America's
fast-growing anti-globalization movement.
Leftist leaders are increasingly popular across Latin America, while
Chavez's own revolution for the poor has become an inspiration for
like-minded activists everywhere.
More than 60,000 had signed up for this week's World Social Forum in
Caracas as of Monday and tens of thousands more were expected,
organizers said. They include campaigners against U.S.-style free
trade, environmentalists, Indian leaders and human rights activists.
About half were expected to come from outside Venezuela.
Their views span a wide spectrum, but most participants appear united
by strong opposition to the U.S. government and the war in Iraq. The
forum will begin with an anti-imperialist march Tuesday through the
streets of Caracas, with protesters likely to aim their chants
against President Bush.
Venezuela has become an epicenter of change on the world level,
Chavez said Friday, referring to the event in a speech. That's why
(U.S.) imperialism wants to sweep us away, of course ... because they
say we are a bad example. But they haven't swept us away and they
won't.
The Venezuelan leader is expected to address activists on the
sidelines of the gathering, soaking up the spotlight as a leading
radical voice of the Latin American left.
Chavez has repeatedly accused U.S. officials of plotting to overthrow
his revolutionary government and warned that Venezuela, the world's
fifth-largest petroleum exporter, would cut off oil shipments to the
United States if it ever invades his country.
Chavez has used a windfall in oil profits to funnel millions of
dollars into programs for the poor while raising Venezuela's profile
internationally by extending preferential oil deals to countries from
China to Argentina in an effort to line up alternative trade partners
to the United States, the No. 1 buyer of Venezuelan oil.
The World Social Forum was first held in Brazil in 2001 and coincides
each year with the market-friendly World Economic Forum of political
and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
Those at the social forum, in contrast, traditionally criticize free
trade and denounce the evils of capitalism - stances that closely
mirror Chavez's socialist views.
The U.S. government, especially under the Bush administration, has
been trying to force its own economic polices on developing
countries, and I think all of us here agree that must stop, said
Jeff Monahan, a 32-year-old organic farmer from Battle Creek, Mich.
I'm sure there will be plenty of Bush-bashing when this gets under
way, said Monahan, who arrived early and was helping put up canopies
in a city park where thousands will camp out in tents.
Some 2,000 events - including seminars, speeches, concerts and craft
fairs - will be held across Caracas during this week's forum.
The world is changing, and I think leaders like Chavez can provide
interesting examples of what can be done to ensure it changes for the
better, said Moritz Lange, 24, who came from Bremen, Germany, to
help to organize the forum.
Others expected to attend include Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano,
Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel and U.S.
anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004
and who set up a protest camp near Bush's Texas ranch last year.
It was not clear whether other leftist leaders from Latin America
would come. Some activists said they hoped to see Presidents Evo
Morales of Bolivia or Fidel Castro of Cuba. Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva initially was expected, but then said he would not come.
The recent rise of left-leaning governments in Bolivia, Argentina,
Uruguay and Chile makes the event a timely forum to exchange ideas,
said Miguel Tinker Salas, a Latin American studies professor at
Pomona College in Claremont, Calif.
It's an opportune moment, given what's happening in Latin America
and the fact that it brings together these various political forces
on the left, Tinker Salas said in a telephone interview.
This year's social forum is being held in three spots around the
world, including one ending Monday in Bamako, Mali, and another two
months from now in Karachi, Pakistan. The Venezuela forum is the main
event and the smaller forums are meant to make it more accessible to
people in other regions.
©2006 Associated Press.
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