UniAlter

par Michael Ramirez*  et Orion Cruz *

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As hundreds of prominent figures in the global financial and political sectors convened in Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual gala, beginning on January 27, over 100,000 individuals traveled to Belém, Brazil for the rival eighth annual World Social Forum (WSF). The overlap is not coincidental; the WSF was founded on policies that could not contrast more with the traditional neo-liberal agenda fueling the World Economic Forum.

The WSF provided its participants with the opportunity to engage in reflective thinking, and a democratic exchange of ideas. These activities were all aimed at formulating proposals to address what the attendees believed to be the inherent flaws afflicting the current capitalist system, that many present believed birthed the current world economic crisis. Numerous Latin American leaders accepted the invitation to participate in the summit. The resulting discussions provided an ample forum to scrutinize such issues as the “Criminalization of Social Movements and Human Rights Defenders” and “Joint Strategies around Impacts of Extractive Industries on Development in Latin America.” Their purpose was to promote the safeguarding of human rights, and the fulfillment of a commitment to build a sustainable society that is attuned to a more thoughtful relationship between humankind and the Earth.

The World Social Forum: The Gathering of the Distressed

In 2001, the inaugural WSF commenced in Porto Alegre, Brazil. According to an Inter Press Service interview with Portuguese Nobel literature laureate José Saramago, skeptics had speculated that a successful forum, one which was able to transform ideas and dialogue into tangible results, would ultimately fail to take place due to the lack of clear overall objectives.

Fortunately, the preliminary WSF in 2001 proved to be a significant first step in fulfilling the forum’s purpose to “make another world possible,” as it fused the voices of various civil society organizations and developed a stronger outreach. The result was one that was larger in scope and which was forged in international advocacy. Nonetheless, in order to maintain a creative, yet broadly inspired and successful opportunity for engagement, the forum’s founders developed a Charter of Principles. This document declared the purpose and orientation of the WSF, as well as welcomed the participation of individual movements and organizations devoted to social improvements.

Also, the WSF Charter is explicit in classifying the body as an open assembly, which rebuts the misperception that it is an intellectually homogenous regional organization pursuing its own interests. The WSF’s set of fourteen fundamental principles is a means to sustain its peaceful initiative while facilitating the forum in a respectful, objective, and effective manner, so as not to tarnish its original intention.

Participatory democracy researcher and past forum attendee Josh Lerner observed that the “speeches, personal testimonies, and mass rallies” delivered “feelings of solidarity and excitement.” The WSF has contributed to the rise of prominent leaders such as Evo Morales, who began his own presidential campaign in Bolivia after gaining support for the concept of sovereignty and autonomy of his own, as well as the region’s other indigenous peoples during an earlier WSF conference. As the case of Morales demonstrates, WSF has achieved what it was meant to accomplish. It has succeeded in becoming a motivational conclave which inspires onlookers to continue their efforts to achieve universal parity in social justice, a doctrine they believe that Western capitalism now largely ignores.

A Return to Brazil

Considering Belém’s stature as a major commercial center located in the vast Amazon River basin, the city strives to be seen as the cultural and economic heart of northern Brazil. Its 1.4 million inhabitants lent their support to the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE), a primary organizer of the WSF, to draft the facilities of Belém’s two large universities as the centerpiece for the 2009 conference, said IBASE Director-General Candido Grzybowski. However, it could be argued that holding the WSF in Belém actually may have turned out to be a poor decision.

If so, this was primarily due to the inadequate infrastructure existing in the city, which proved just barely sufficient to accommodate such a large influx of visitors. This flaw in the composition of the forum became apparent right from the start when many participants were unable to attend a number of the events due to the inadequacy of the transportation grid. More often than not, the roads leading to the forum could be found swamped with massive amounts of traffic that prevented buses and taxis from moving at bearable speeds. Moreover, once participants arrived, they found it quite challenging to make it to the lecture hall for which they were searching, because there were so many being used and the campuses are situated a good distance from one another. The result of this was that accompanying the excitement of the WSF were equal degrees of frustration, tardiness, and absence, not only on the part of the crowds, but also, on occasion, key lecturers and organizers.

Nevertheless, following the decision by the forum’s founding organizations at the 2007 WSF in Nairobi, to transition from an annual conference to a biennial event, the 2009 forum was momentous in that it coincided with the worst global economic crisis in history, a circumstance previous WSF conferences claimed to foresee.

Belém was also chosen, in part, for its unique geography. Serving as the eastern gateway to the Amazon, the city symbolizes the forum’s tenacious efforts at greater conservation initiatives aimed at preserving the world’s natural resources. Indeed, this WSF enormously stressed the importance of the Amazonian biosphere. Perhaps imprudently, however, there were very few efforts made to demonstrate that aside from the physical location of the gathering, this was supposedly a “green” event. Trash was everywhere, and recycling efforts were barely discernable after the forum’s inaugural festivities were held.

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*Les auteurs sont des chercheurs au COHA

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