Activists are raising questions about both the composition of the World Social Forum and the direction in which it is headed. Read more.

Interview with Tony Negri on the WSF.

World Social Forum kicks off with marches, celebrations, some rancor.

About 50,000 people are converging in Porto, Alegre, Brazil for the second World Social Forum.

The second World Social Forum began in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on Thursday with a massive march through the center of the city that brought together tens of thousands of people from around the world.

Two marches actually began separately in the afternoon and converged in the center of the city, one organized by radical youth and the other by the official WSF organizing body. About 50,000 people participated in the march by its end, which culminated with a large concert and fireworks in the local park.

During the next five days, Porto Alegre will be the center of a giant experiment to examine how groups and individuals can develop alternatives to capitalism.

The World Social Forum is a smorgasboard of activity, as delegates and participants to the official events are gathering for meetings and conferences while thousands more are pouring into town for radical organizing, direct action and plain old hardcore partying.

The slogan for this year's forum is "Another world is possible," but the challenges behind turning that slogan into a reality were evident on the first day.

For example, the youth march was organized in opposition to the official World Social Forum. One person reported that some people in the youth march were pushed and hit by people from the offical march when the two marches converged.

The police escorted protestors through town and there were no reports of police aggression. The police were expected to behave, however, because the city's government -- the Worker's Party (PT) -- is sponsoring the World Social Forum.

At one point during the youth march, a contingent of people separated and seized an abandon house in order to give it to the landless. According to activists, the police immediately came to the house, prompting the activists to set up barricades. However, the activists determined the house was in such poor condition that it was not worth keeping and left. Other direct actions are now being planned throughout the weekend.

An alternative forum organized by youth, communists and anarchists is also being held to oppose the official World Social Forum. Participants in the alternative forum say the official one is becoming institutionalized and is not radical enough.

Most delegates and participants to the official events are staying in hotels or private homes throughout the city. But about 10,000 people are camping at a youth camp near downtown. The youth camp is where the alternative forum will be held and has its own media center and FM radio program. The camp is alive with activity all day and night, as people stay awake playing music, singing and partying. The Worker's Party is sponsoring the youth camp.

The youth camp is already in full gear, but the workshops and conferences for the official World Social Forum begin on Friday (today).

Total Cost of The W$F.

16,000 commission agents
40,000 participants
6,000 credential entities
2,500 accreditated journalists
402 vehicles of the press, from 39 countries
150 represented countries
107 mayors
A thousand parliamentarians
A thousand workshops and seminaries
16,000 busy hotel-owners
3,000 people in the bracket teams
1,800 volunteers
12,000 devices of simultaneous translation

315 translators
$2.3 million invested for the city government
$818,000 invested by the city hall
$23 million income generated by the State

February 3, 2002
Anti - Globalist Forum Bashes Bush
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:00 p.m. ET


PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) -- Anti-globalization activists at the World Social Forum took aim at the Bush administration Sunday, accusing Washington of seeking to spread war across the globe in the name of fighting terrorism.

In what has been a recurring theme at the five-day conference -- a counter-summit to the World Economic Forum of global capitalism's elite in New York -- delegates strongly criticized post-Sept. 11 U.S. policy.

``It is now clear the Bush administration wants to control the petroleum of all the world, in the Middle East and the Caspian Sea,'' said Emily Naffa of the Jordanian Arab Women's Organization. ``We must all fight together against monopolies, against the corporations, against the militarization of globalization.''

In another session, Naomi Klein, the Canadian author of ``No Logo,'' a best-selling book that has become this year's anti-globalization bible, said it was wrong for Bush to try to force countries ``to be with us or to be with terrorism.''

``This is a deadly multiple choice exam and the only possible answer is 'none of the above','' Klein said. ``There are many more than two choices available.''

She said people around the world were becoming impatient because promises that globalization would mean a better, safer world had been broken. ``Instead of the global village, they offer us global fortresses,'' she said.

The Social Forum has attracted some 40,000 people this year, more than double last year's attendance. Most participants oppose global capitalism outright, or at least want it reined in.

Many contend the shock of Sept. 11 that lined up the vast majority of Americans behind Bush has been exploited by the president to strengthen his -- and America's -- hand.

By threatening a new war on terror and dividing the world into countries that support the United States and countries that don't, Bush is seen here as striving to stamp out dissent against U.S. policy in general, not just on terrorism.

One of the Social Forum's organizers, Sergio Haddad, said before the alternative summit opened Thursday that ``after Sept. 11, there has been a growing (global) discord led by the North Americans, and delegates here are bound to refer to that in their analyses.''

Another organizer, Carlos Tiburcio of ATTAC, a group that wants an international tax to stem cross-border capital speculation, said at a news conference that the U.S. war on terrorism is ``an attempt to impose a single line of thought throughout the world.''

``That line of thought, one that criminalizes anyone who opposes neoliberal globalization, will not stand,'' he said. ``It will be shattered right here in Porto Alegre.''

If Women Counted
Peasants' Forums
People's Tribunal on Global Debt
"Todos Somos Delegados": Militants for Peace.
SAND IN THE WHEELS (WSF LIVE)
ATTAC newsletter live from Porto Alegre
Saturday 03/02/02

You can find articles, photos and interviews on  http://attac.org/fsm2002


1- ARTICLES

A) If women counted

By Philippe Merlant (Transversales Science Culture)

Translated by Chris Arden, volunteer translator  coorditrad@attac.org

The first day of the seminar organised on the theme of wealth indicators highlighted to what extent this issue is inextricably linked to that of recognition of the place of women in our societies.

"Reconsidering wealth'. That was the title of the interim report submitted by Patrick Viveret, philosopher and referential counsellor at France s national audit office the 'Cour des comptes', within the framework of the mission 'the new factors of wealth' which he was assigned by Guy Hascoët, France s Secretary of State for Economic Solidarity. This was also the title of the seminar organised by the Cedal (1) and La Vie magazine (2), in partnership with Transversales Science Culture (3) and Place Publique (4), during two days (1st and 2nd February, from 2 to 6 p.m.), at Porto Alegre.

The first working afternoon showed to what extent this question of wealth, a central issue if one wants to break out of our 'market societies' which only value commerce and financial exchange, is inextricably linked to the question of recognising the place of women in society.

Marilyn Waring s struggle for "counting in a different way ".

This seminar opened with extracts of the film 'Who s Counting?', inspired by the book 'If Women Counted' by Marilyn Waring, who at the age of 22 became New Zealand s first woman deputy. Apparently with no understanding of the economy, of its specialised jargon and conventions, Marilyn adopted the technique of 'naïve questions in order to highlight the absurdities of the way in which wealth was measured in accounting'. When she later became president of the New Zealand parliament s accounts commission she showed to what extent women and especially so-called 'inactive women' were the main victims of these entirely arbitrary conventions. Whilst our accounting systems consider as wealth everything which generates monetary flows, including road accidents or catastrophes such as the sinking of the Erika or the explosion at the AZF factory in Toulouse, they don t see any creation of wealth in women s work within the home or in voluntary activity within associations. At first she was convinc ed that this must be an absurdity typical of New Zealand but over time Marilyn Waring discovered that all National Accounting Systems, internationally normalised under the aegis of the United Nations after World War II, reflect this same point of view regarding what contributes to the creation of wealth and to its destruction. Since then she has waged her struggle internationally, seeking to mobilise women across all continents. She has garnered the support of the great American economist John Kenneth Galbraith in her attempts to criticise the official accounting systems and indicators.

The mobilisation of Brazilian Women

Echoing what Marilyn Waring said, Guacira Cesar de Oliveira who is the co-ordinator of a representative committee of Brazilian women set up in 1994 (and which includes both women from workers neighbourhoods and rural workers wives) explained how the question of unpaid women s work has become one of their key issues. Unfortunately, due to the lack of political support, they have had to give up their project to show and put figures on the wealth created by these activities (5). However, with the structural adjustment policies imposed on Brazil by the IMF. (International Monetary Fund), women are increasingly overburdened with all the tasks which are no longer accomplished by the social system. 'The reduction in spending on health care and education, for example, means that vital needs in these areas, even more than in the past, are carried out by women', Guacira Cesar de Oliveira explained. The militant feminist underlined to what extent this issue was difficult to get across, even t o the Brazilian left wing. 'Last year, for the first World Social Forum, we asked for track 1, initially entitled 'wealth production', to be called 'wealth production and social reproduction. The organisers didn t understand what we wanted to talk about!' Guacira added that, in many Brazilian towns and cities, women participating in participatory budget meetings were still very much in a minority.

Militants for 'another possible world', can you try harder?

(1) Centre for Studies on Latino-American Development (Centre d études sur le développement de l Amérique latine) ( cedal@globenet.org).

(2) For this occasion, La Vie published a 36 page document, in French, Portuguese, Spanish and English, devoted to this question of 'new wealth', of which 5 000 copies were distributed at Porto Alegre.

(3) Transversales (+331 40 58 12 37;  transversales@globenet.org) published a special issue devoted to Patrick Viveret s interim report "Reconsidering wealth ", and to the debates raised by this issue, particularly within community associations.

(4) Place Publique is hosting on its web site (www.place-publique.fr) the debate around Patrick Viveret s mission.

(5) In France, two researchers at Insee (the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) have carried out a monetary evaluation of work in the home: their calculations show that this amounts to between 60% and 120% of the GNP.


B) Peasant Chronicle

by Julie Pagis

Translated by Gordon Southam, volunteer translator  coorditrad@attac.org

The 31st was the day of all opening ceremonies: it is the peasants of the Via Campesina that are followed throughout this article, from the big demonstration of the 31st in which they occupied the first ranks, to the inauguration of their camping ground in the evening, after the official inauguration of the Social Forum.

The meeting for the departure of the grand demonstration that preceded the opening of the WSF 2002 was set for 16h30 at the market place. The peasants of the Via Campesina left from their camping ground to join some 100 000 people downtown Porto Alegre. About 2000 peasants, carrying the green flags of the Via Campesina, that take the head of the marchu. They are many, colourful, and sing songs of the Movement of the Landless (MST). The MST is indeed very present, and their place at the head of the demonstration becomes all the more symbolic when two dozen children come out of the crowd to lead the walk, shouting, singing songs learnt in the MST schools and raising their left fist to the rally of "venceremos".

Once we arrive at the grand amphitheatre Do Sul, the little green flags disperse, everybody mingles to the sound of music to witness the official opening of the WSF. Then towards eight o clock, I see a green wave forming, and, following it, I discover that the day isn t over for the peasants of the Via Campesina...

The V.C. truck then guides us to the Tishurina gymnasium, asking us to form three lines and follow it: the green catepillar, a few hundred meters long, begins the march again, always to a background of Latin music. It is late when we arrive at the gymnasium, everybody is hungry, and it is by small groups of 4 to 5 that we are welcomed into the many tents where men and women peasants had prepared food for all!

Our group of five is greeted by peasants from a brazilian movement that is fighting for water and against hydroelectrical dams. They offer us rice accompanied by raw onion in a salad, and a little glass of "Cachasa" (the alcohol from here, made from sugar cane). They explain to us that they are fighting alongside the WSF and other monements, the only difference being that some are fighting to have some land and others not to loose it (whatever little they may have).

Back to the gymnasium, and the ceremony begins, to a musical background about a hundred military trot in and take position around the gymnasium, gun in hand, while spectators like ourselves are above in the seats. Then enters a character all clad in black, wearing a top hat with the american colours: he is greeted by boos coming from the rafters, the room is heating up, and this is just the begining! Follow speeches (in portuguese, not translated...) from which I remember the greats names mentioned, and for each of whom a banner with their portrait is lowered to reach the heart of the room. So we have Emilio Zapata, Tupac Amaru, Simon Bolivar, Che Guevara, and Martin Luther King down there, surrounded by the military! But not for long, because the organisers then call all the peasants from all the countries, naming their organisations, to descend into the middle to break the circle of imperialism.

The peasants from Argentina, Belize, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, the United States, the Phillipines, from France,Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Fishermen from India, Madagascar, Indonesia, and Colombia and of course the Brazilians invade little by little the stage, moving the military aside as they do . ..

The message is clear, and this theatrical staging is quite moving; the animated room responds to the speeches by lifting their left fist and exclaming "venceremos" and many other slogans in portuguese.

It is Rafael Alegria who makes the last speech to expose their propositions for
- an agrarian reform without latifundios
- a fight for life and not for death
- natural and genetic ressources without trade marks
- a fair trade
- and to fight this injust system

He finished by emphasising the importance of Porto Alegre and to fight with non peasant movements, and to show the world that if there are 2000 peasants this year it is because they haven t yet been squashed and may the struggle continue "La lucha Sigue!"

Their slogan this year, sung by all at the end of this opening ceremony, is a fitting response to what many call globalisation: "Globalicemos la lucha".


C) International people s tribunal on debt launched at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre 'We have come to hear the evidence of sufffering, exploitation but also resistance presented by peoples from the Third World on account of the payment of a debt that they and we consider illegitimate and immoral', said Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, 1980 Nobel Prize recipient and a Tribunal Juror.

Bringing together 50 witness and jurors from that many nations, the International Tribunal constitutes the largest international public forum on debt ever convened. The Tribunal is being held on February 1-2 as part of the Second World Social Forum.

According to Beverly Keene, Jubilee South regional coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, ' the Tribunal is a forceful manner of highlighting and building worldwide support around the continuing need for the cancellation and repudiation of illegitimate debt, a central lynchpin of the neoliberal system of domination'.

Founded in Johannesburg in 1999, Jubilee South is a network of dozens of anti-debt campaigns, organizations and social movement in 34 countries, including the Brazil Jubilee South Campaign one of the cosponsors of the Tribunal. The Tribunal represents the launching of Jubilee South s global campaing on the illegitimacy of debt and for the reparation of the social, historicial and ecological debts owed by the North to nationls of the South.

'The tribunal is an ethical and political exercise more than a juridical one' said Lidy Nacpil, Jubilee South coordinator for Asia and the Pacific. Through testimony which includes dance and poetry, witnesses drawn from all sectors of society will illustrate and educate about the illegitimate nature, dynamics and consequences of debt domination. It is intended to sharpen general understanding of the place of debt in the unjust global corporate dominated order.

Jurors will consider the evidence presented, in conjunction with their own understanding of debt illegitimacy and global injustice, in order to arrive at a verdict that gives the specific names of culprits and points the way to the other world that is possible free from debt and economic subjugation.

Servicio Informativo "Alai-amlatina"
Agencia Latinoamericana de Informacion
 info@alai.ecuanex.net.ec
URL:  http://alainet.org


D) Somos todos delegados

By Claudio Jampaglia of ATTAC Italy

Translated by Chris Arden, volunteer translator

After some negotiation to gain entrance to the meeting room without forcing past the security services and the reception desk, every man and woman invaded the space reserved for national elected representatives. This was a symbolic action full of meaning.

February 1st, 2002

'Somos todos delegados', was how the protest by the Italian and Argentine delegations began, soon joined by the Brazilians during this first day of the Parliamentarians Forum. After some negotiation to gain entrance to the meeting room without forcing past the security services and the reception desk, every man and woman invaded the space reserved for national elected representatives. This was a symbolic action full of meaning. Many party political representatives had gathered in front of the press and the general media, having sought to refresh their image by coming to Porto Alegre this year. It was therefore necessary that there should be a public display and reaction against this, at least momentarily.

That was why at least 300 militants occupied the stage of the parliamentarians conference without having been invited and, for about half an hour, chanted and explained the reasons for their protest. There are essentially two reasons, oft repeated and even more often conveniently ignored. For the movements present there are only two criteria for participating in this movement of movements: opposition to liberalism and opposition to the war. However, amongst the parliamentarians present were some who, in Europe, voted for the war and some who, in America, voted for the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), an accord which is a good example of the political slide towards liberalism. In their own countries they are ready to accept any consensus, to allow any privatisation, they are in favour of bombing Afghanistan. Here in Porto Alegre they re believers in democracy, open, against such horrors and evil. More precisely, without even underlining the way in which they turn round dependi ng on which way the wind is blowing, one can see how they argue in favour of participative democracy and citizens governance as if it were merely a matter of training management, administrators and local civil servants, using this opportunity to indulge in loud rhetoric when in reach of the microphones. One only has to observe the press conferences given by French ministers and the leaders of European political parties to see how they behave like eulogists of humanity here in Porto Alegre though they did nothing about detention centres for migrants back home.

There was a breath of fresh air and a sense of relief when all the militants started chanting 'Forum, yes! War, no!'.

It s not by chance that the largest delegations were from Italy and Argentina: this is part of their political history, linked to recent mass mobilisations. Onstage there were three quick speeches, interspersed with numerous chants, slogans and a real desire both to affirm democracy and to remind the elected representatives of what solidarity means. First there was Patricia Walsh, the deputy for Izquierda Unida in Argentina, daughter of the journalist Rodolfo Walsh who was killed by the military in 1978. 'We are here to fight for a fairer world for everyone, for a world of peace, we can t accept the presence of parliamentarians who are in favour of war. We are also on-stage because we have a duty to remember those who died, including in our demonstrations, starting with Carlo Giuliani killed in Genoa'. The list goes on with the 27 who died in the clashes in Argentina last December. Everyone chants: 'Argentina la lucha no termìna'.

At this point Blanca Algranati from the Argentine movement explains, calmly and clearly, why voting for the FTAA today is even worse than in the past, a real crime whose effects on her country, she explains by listing them, are numerous and dramatic. Marco Bersani, from ATTAC Italy, closes by explaining the reasons for the protest: 'we reckon that it is a success for our movement that many parliamentarians are here. This bears witness to an ability to speak and dialogue at every level, but we cannot accept that those who voted for the war and for the FTAA try to change their image by coming to the Social Forum'. The delegations then left in a procession through the PUC (the university in which most of the activities are held). Everyone then went on to attend the seminars and conferences as if nothing had happened, even though something did in fact happen: a reminder of the fundamental principles of this movement: 'regaining possession of our world'.



2- PHOTOS

A) The tribunal of the debt
 http://attac.org/fsm2002/0302/photo/album02.htm

B) Crowds.
These pictures were taken during an hour between 03:00pm and 04:00pm in one
of the conference centers in Porto Alegre. Several tens of thousand people
are attending conferences, waiting in lines, walking, chatting, meeting.
 http://attac.org/fsm2002/0302/photo/photos01.htm


--
"Quelle Connerie la guerre" (J. Prevert)
Défendre les libertés démocratiques:  http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/loi-sec

Francois Sauterey
Tel: +33 01 40 33 68 46 mailto: Francois@sauterey.eu.org


____________________________________________________________

This weekly newsletter was put together by the « Sand in the Wheels »
team of volunteers.

Other worlds are possible. 60 000 can´t be wrong?

The WSF provided a snapshot of the full spectrum of environmental and social justice movements around the world

Melanie Gillbank

The second coming of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, in Southern Brasil, has drawn 60 000 delegates from all over the world, a six fold increase from its inauguration last year. Under the banner of ?Another World is Possible? the forum opened four days ago on the 31st of January with a march attended by more than 60 000 people.

The WSF includes participants from a wide spectrum of political views within the left: from the reform agenda (all the world needs is more regulation and another global governance body), to abolitionists (nothing less than a process of ?deglobalisation? will do), and everything in between.

Renowned Professor of linguistics, philosopher and social commentator, Noam Chomsky received star billing in on the first day of seminars, urging the audience to challenge the commentators who dismiss the movements around the world as ?anti-globalisation?. Instead he said there was a need to define the movements as in favour of just, equitable and ecologically sustainable form of globalisation.

Bernard Cassen, who with Susan George was a founder of ATTAC, an international network of organisations campaigning for the introduction of the Tobin Tax, (of 1% on all international financial transactions), called for the ?the globalisation of peace.?

On the same panel as Cassen, Martin Khor, director of the Third World Network, stated that claimed that, neoliberal policies and the institutions that enforce them are in fact responsible for the ?deindustrialistion? of the poor countries, and was a direct form of colonisation. ?The World Trade Organisation and the World Bank are the two greatest mechanisms generating poverty in the world,? declared Khor.

Despite the WSF claim that ?Another World is Possible?, the majority of the presentations revolved around the identification of the problems and relatively little time was devoted to the discussion of alternatives and concrete strategies.

Some participants had come specifically to showcase alternative communities and ways of living. Indigenous participants, principally from the Americas, emphasised that their traditional lifestyles and relationships allowed them to live self sufficiently and sustainably. Jose Periera, a tribal leader from central Colombia said he had come to Porto Alegre to teach people ?the way?.

Author of ?When Corporations Rule the World?, David Korten, stated simply that we need to ?walk away from the suicide economy and to support many of these local initiatives and weave into being webs of relationships that emerge to become a new kind of economy.?

North American academic, Genevieve Vaughan, suggests one such alternative. She advocates a paradigmatic shift to a ?gift economy? in which transactions between people will develop into circles of giving which focus on providing directly for human needs.

Famous Indian scientist, ecofeminist and academic, Vandana Shiva, denounced the form of globalisation that is based on ?the principal of organised greed?. Instead, these ?unstable pyramids of power need to be transformed into concentric circles of compassion?, and that ?the world we build in the future needs to be built on women?s ways?.

Illustrating the distance that needs to be walked to realise this vision, Shiva was one of the few women who made it into the ranks of greying men on the plenary panels and seminar sections of the WSF.

A statement issued yesterday by a coalition of Brasilian unions claimed that the WSF was merely concerned with ?putting a human face on globalisation? and not tackling the root causes of environmental destruction, inequity and cultural colonisation around the world.

Many claim that this is a fair critique of the forum. Its sheer enormity and the bureaucratisation of its organisational structure have limited the forum to traditional modes of organisation and presentation.

Two of the principal supporters of the WSF are the local and state level governments of Rio Grande do Sul. In the lead up to the Brasilian national elections in November this year, conference venues, materials and merchandise provided constant reminders of their support. The Brasilian independent media web site claims that this has resulted in the cooption and watering down of the forums agenda.

On the flip side however, such a forum would not be possible without the massive levels of financial and infrastructural support which have been provided by the local and state governments. For this reason, no other countries are prepared enough to embark on this task for next year and the forum looks set to remain in Porto Alegre for 2003.

 http://www.ciranda.net/publique/cgi/public/cgilua.exe/web/templates/htm/0ingles/view.htm?editionsectionid=3&user=reader&infoid=447

20,000 confront the rich, 70,000 plan a new world

YOU WOULDN'T have known it from the news in Britain, but some 90,000 people took part in protests last weekend against capitalism. Some 20,000 hit the streets against the World Economic Forum in New York, while 70,000 gathered in Porto Alegre in Brazil to debate an alternative.

ALEX CALLINICOS and MIKE GONZALEZ report from the Porto Alegre.


THE MOVEMENT against capitalist globalisation is alive, growing and truly global. Some 70,000 people here in Porto Alegre, Brazil's southernmost state, are giving the lie to Clare Short's dismissal of the movement as well meaning white middle class people who have no support in the Third World. The World Social Forum first met in Porto Alegre a year ago. Then, between 15,000 and 20,000 people took part.

The numbers at this second forum are three or four times as big. 15,000 young people from all over Latin America and the rest of the world are staying in the Youth Camp alone. The opening day of the forum proper on Friday last week saw over 3,000 people, mainly Brazilians, listening intently to an hour-long lecture by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky was given a rapturous welcome when he addressed a teach-in last Friday on the theme of "A world without wars."

To enthusiastic cheers he told his audience, "If one looked at the official definition of terrorism, it would be identical to the official definition of US foreign policy." Chomsky's unremitting but often very lonely fight against US imperialism over the past generation has made him one of the great symbols of the new movement. He acts as both a source of information and analysis, and as a model of political integrity.

In his speech Chomsky was very clear in his recognition of the movement's significance, calling it an "unprecedented" challenge to the capitalist "masters of the universe", and "the most exciting opportunity for the workers' movement and the left to build a real internationalism". Chomsky argued that the movement was not against globalisation as such: "We want globalisation in the interests of the world population. They want globalisation to be their particular form of corporate globalisation." The forum has mainly taken the form of conferences, seminars and over 1,000 workshops.

It started with a demonstration. On Thursday of last week 50,000 people marched through Porto Alegre. Like earlier anti-capitalist mobilisations in Europe and the US, the march was dominated by local organisations. The banners and slogans of the Brazilian Workers Party (PT), the left trade union federation CUT, and the landless labourers' movement the MST were everywhere.

But if most demonstrators came from all over this country, their consciousness was global. Banners connected the fight against neo-liberalism with the struggles in Argentina and Palestine. The official sound truck constantly blared out slogans denouncing imperialism and war. The mood of militancy, determination and celebration recalled the atmosphere at the great demonstration of 300,000 against the G8 summit at Genoa on 21 July last year. The popular rising against neo-liberalism in Argentina has captured the imagination of the movement throughout Latin America, and indeed the world.

It was completely unanticipated when the forum was planned, but Argentina brings into focus many key issues facing the movement. Around 2,000 Argentinians came to Porto Alegre, along with many others from the rest of the Americas-for example 400 from Uruguay, which lies between Brazil and Argentina. But there are also many from far further afield. 1,500 came from Italy, reflecting the enormous radicalisation produced by Genoa.

The speakers' panels reflect the global nature of the forum. Alex Callinicos shared a panel with speakers from Argentina, France, Italy, Pakistan and the Philippines. The mood at the forum is one of both celebration and struggle. Both during the breaks and even while meetings are in session impromptu demonstrations-about Palestine, abortion, the rights of the disabled-compete for space with Brazilian popular bands and dance groups.

Minar, from Focus on the Global South in India, said, "I am here to basically show that there is an alternative to the globalism which has been done, which has been forced on people today. "What I expect from all of us is to build good solidarity to counter locally, regionally and globally the effects of capitalism, and to create a people's alternative system of governance and economics."

Which way for the movement?

By Alex Callinicos and Mike Gonzalez

THE DEBATES at the World Social Forum have underlined the polarisation that is beginning to develop within the anti-capitalist movement. Undoubtedly Porto Alegre has witnessed a determined effort to co-opt the movement.

When Noam Chomsky spoke, sitting next to him was Olivio Dutra, governor of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Both Rio Grande do Sul and Porto Alegre, its capital, are controlled by the Workers Party (PT). Lula, the national leader of the PT, stands a good chance of winning Brazil's presidential elections later this year. Association with the global movement represented at Porto Alegre won't hurt the PT's electoral chances. Brazil's election isn't the only presidential election in which the forum is a factor.

The Parisian daily Le Monde-which devoted an eight-page supplement to Porto Alegre-said the French presidential election had begun there. Six ministers belonging to Lionel Jospin's "plural left" government have come to Porto Alegre. Even Jacques Chirac, the right wing incumbent, sent a member of his staff. This official attempt at co-option isn't entirely unwelcome to one wing of the anti-capitalist movement.

Bernard Cassen, a key figure in ATTAC, the French movement against financial speculation, is close to Jean-Pierre Chevenement, a former minister under Jospin. Chevenement is running for president on a platform of defending "national sovereignty". Some other leading figures in ATTAC are increasingly hostile to mass mobilisation.

Susan George, speaking last Saturday, repeated her claim that the violence of the anarchist Black Bloc at Genoa threatened to wreck the movement by making future demonstrations impossible. Others have echoed the same argument. The Filipino writer and activist Walden Bello has in several meetings portrayed the movement as "struggling to regain the initiative" since Genoa and 11 September.

This analysis completely ignores the radicalising impact that Genoa had in Italy, Britain and Greece-the three countries in Europe that have seen the strongest anti-war movements develop. Where the movement has confronted the issue of the war it has grown. In France, by contrast, the ATTAC leadership formally opposed the war but did not make any real effort to mobilise against it.

For Bello and George the struggle against neo-liberal economic policies belongs in a separate compartment from the struggle against militarism and war. But many activists understand the connections between the military and economic faces of capitalist globalisation. Not surprisingly, the strongest challenge to efforts to co-opt the movement has come from Italy.

On Friday of last week the Genoa Social Forum mounted a demonstration against the MPs in Porto Alegre who had supported the war. The MPs were forced to pass a resolution condemning neo-liberalism and war. Vittorio Agnoletto, chair of the Genoa Social Forum, attacked the MPs trying to ride two horses, saying, "There are only two choices-to be with the World Bank or with the people of Porto Alegre."

Other voices have been raised against the reformist wing of the movement. Naomi Klein in a session last Sunday denounced "doubletalk and co-option". Susan George's obsession with violence was challenged by Petros Constantinou from the Greek Genoa 2001 campaign and the Russian socialist Boris Kagarlitsky. The movement at Porto Alegre is much more radical than many of its leaders. There is a desire for real debate that often does not find expression, especially in the larger sessions that offer few opportunities for discussion from the floor.

None of the arguments within the anti-capitalist movement will be settled here at Porto Alegre. But the forum here has done two things. First, alongside the demonstrations against the World Economic Forum in New York, it has removed any doubts over whether the movement is still in business. Second, Porto Alegre has brought into focus some of the strategic issues that anti-capitalists will have to address to make real the "other world" for which we are all fighting.