The Third World Social Forum, Puerto Alegre, 23-28 January 2003

different world is possible

Saso Klekovski

What is a World Social Forum

The World Social Forum is an open space for meetings and reflections, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free sharing of experiences and networking for efficient action of civil society groups and movements that oppose to the neo-liberalism and the world dominated by money and any form of imperialism, and are dedicated to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relation between people and between people and the Earth. The WSF is a permanent process in search of building alternatives that cannot be reduced to the events that support them. WSF is a world process. WSF brings together and mutually relates not only the civil society organizations and movements from all countries in the world, but it does not tend to be a body that represents the world civil society. The WSF meetings are not WSF meetings as a body and therefore no one has a right to express attitudes, claiming that those are the attitudes of all participants. The attitudes declared by one group or by a group of organizations, WSF will distribute without censure or restriction as attitudes to that or those organizations.
From 23 to 28 January 2003, a number of World Social Forum (WSF) civil society organizations and movements gathered for the third time in the southern Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul in the city of Puerto Alegre.
The World Social Forum provides open space for ten thousand and more participants and delegates to hundreds of debates, seminars, workshops, etc.
I believe that my participation at the WSF was not the first only for the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation and me, but also the first participation of a Macedonian representative. When the MCIC partner, the Dutch ICCO invited me, I knew very little about the Forum. Now that I gained all those impressions there, I would like to share them and introduce this important event to Macedonian civic organizations.

Solidarity march

The Forum began on 23 January with a solidarity march. The March itself began in the city square in front of the Puerto Alegre municipality building. Participants marched for about eight kilometers to the grand open space where the opening was taking place.
About 150 000 people took part in the march. Different groups presented their causes with banners, chants, and singing or in a Brazilian style with masks and dances. There was everything. Some right-wing politicians, like Pangalos, call it "Stalinists, gays, and Slavo-Macedonian". In fact, there were a lot of left-wing groups and trade unions, anti-war associations from South America, Korea, Israel, etc, church organizations, women and feminist groups, groups for sexual diversity, abused minorities of which most obvious were the Palestinian groups for support.
The march caused a traffic blockage in the city. Drivers and pedestrians were patiently waiting for the march to end. The police presence was discrete. Despite the presence of so many different groups, I did not notice any incident or trouble.

The Forum

The Forum was taking place in several locations in the city. The conferences were taking place at the Gigantino stadium (that could seat 15.000 people). Most of the debates and workshops were taking place at the Public Catholic University in Puerto Alegre. Besides that, there were several warehouses at the city port made into meeting halls. The main plateau where the grand opening took place and where the Brazilian Presidents Lula spoke to the present, had a capacity for about 200 000 people. Participants were accommodated in hotels 200 km away from Puerto Alegre. Participants at the World Youth Forum were camping in a specially built camp for that purpose. The city had provided free bus lines, which enabled an easy transport to the various locations of the Forum.
From 24 to 27 January hundreds of conferences, debates, round tables, workshops, etc. took place.
Conferences are the biggest events and they are aimed for the broader public at the Forum. There is at least one conference for each thematic area. Conferences take place at the Gigantino stadium (basketball stadium for about 15.000 people). Some of the themes were: fundamentalism and intolerance, Media and the globalization, Cinema and politics: against homogenization of the imagination, etc. One of the most impressive was the conference "How to stand up the Empire". The main facilitator at the panel discussion was Noahm Comski from the USA. At the full hall, in front of 15.000 people, Noahm Comski analyzed the relation between the war and the international trade with weapons. Through the examples of Turkey and Columbia, the former and the present first importer of weapons from the United States, established a clear bond between the mass violation of human rights and the trade with weapons.
Most events, except the conferences, are decentralized in the responsibility of both the proposing-organization and the organizer.
In the variety of events, one could find a number of events dedicated to the trade and corruption. The resistance to the way in which the trade liberalization is done by the World Trade Organization, as well as the profit distribution in the international trade, is considerable. Large space was left to the corruption in all spheres. For example, Le Monde organization organized a panel called "Ethics and the transparency in the information".
The events were mostly translated in English; however, the outside communication was a problem. Most of the participants spoke in Portuguese, Spanish and French and the local population speaks Portuguese, with a little understanding of Roman group of languages.

Solidarity globalization

The World Social Forum declares the conviction that "a different world is possible". The alternatives that are suggested at the WSF are in opposition to the process of globalization under the command of large multinational corporations and the governments and international institutions subordinated to these corporation interests. The alternatives should provide that the "solidarity globalization" becomes a new period in the world history. It should be based on respect for human rights and all citizens - man and women - all nations and the environment.
Most obvious are the left-wing groups, including extreme groups and Marxists. Publications, T-shirts and badges with Che Guevara or the Brazilian Labor Party were everywhere. However, the most influential at the Forum were the Christian movements and agencies, such as the left-wing catholic movements from South America or the protestant solidarity groups from Europe. Although at times, the anti-imperialistic performances gained an open anti-American tone, the Forum was supported by organizations from the USA (for example, the Ford Foundation), and the participants from the United States were among the most prestigious ones.

The Forum and Macedonia

The Forum passed almost unnoted among the Macedonian civic organizations and media. This year, the WSF was covered by 4.094 journalists from 1.423 editions from 51 countries.
To claim that the WSF is not relevant for us is very difficult. It is absurd to claim that discussions about WTO and the world trade are irrelevant for Macedonia, in times when our country has signed the WTO membership agreement. These debates are important for gaining experience of the countries and groups, such as farmers who feel the consequences of the trade liberalization.
It is probably very important for Macedonia to hear the opinions and experiences of those who do not agree that WTO, IMF, WB, etc. are the only roads possible.
The relevancy of the subjects is only part of the needs. I, as many other participants from Eastern Europe, who live in countries where there is little hope in "different world", get an important inspiration and encouragement.
Therefore, I hope that in future, Macedonian civic organization will find ways to follow the regional, European and global trends and events.

WSF versus WEF

The World Social Forum (WSF) gathers for the first time Puerto Alegre, federal unit Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, from 25 to 30 January 2001. The goal is to oppose the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. From 1971, the World Economic Forum plays a strategic role in the formulation of ideas and thoughts that promote and represent the neo-liberal politics in the whole world. From an organizational point of view, the WEF is a Swiss foundation, which operates as a counseling body of the United Nations Organization and is financed by more than 1.000 multinational corporations.

The WSF methodology

The WSF works on the following five thematic fields:
- Democratic sustainable development;
- Principles and values, human rights, diversity and equality;
- Media, culture and anti-hegemony;
- Political force, civil society and democracy;
- Democratic world order, fight against militarization and promotion of peace.
WSF includes: conferences, panel-debates, testimonies, dialogue, round tables on controversial issues, seminars and workshops.
Thematic and regional forums are held, such as the European Social Forum.
Events parallel to the III WSF were the III Local Authorities Forum, the III World Parliamentary Forum, the World Education Forum, The World Judges Forum, the II World Trade Unions Forum, The World Youth Forum, The Sexual Diversity Forum - Rainbow Planet.

Organization and partners (supporters) to the WSF

The WSF organizer is the International Committee and the Brazilian Organizational Committee.
Partners (supporters) to the WSF are:
- several well-known agencies such as EED (Germany), ICCO and Novib (Holland), the Ford Foundation (USA), CCFD (France), Oxfam (Great Britain);
- Brazilian institutions such as the Rio Grande do Sul Governor (Brazil), Puerto Alegre Municipality and the Ministry of Ore and Oil;
- media institutions such as Le Monde Diplomatic, RITS.

WSF through statistics

FirstWSF         SecondWSF             ThirdWSF                                                            2001                    2002                          2003

Participants (approx.)                   20.000                  50.000                     125.000

Delegates                                         4.702                  12.274                       20.763

Participating organizations               -                        4.909                         5.717

Countries                                            117                       123                            156

Journalists                                       1.870                           5                         4.094

Debates, workshops, etc                  420                       745                             -