Re: role of Third World governments ...and Porto Alegre

Hello WSN people,
On the roll of peripheries, semi-p, core nations, and the 77 Group new 
progressive trends, there are other hopeful news that reinforce the task.
For example, from a znet article Draft of an Alternative Program for the 
Global Economy by Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello, and Brendan Smith (authors 
of book GLOBALIZATION FROM BELOW: THE POWER OF SOLIDARITY, Cambridge: South 
End Press, 2000. http://www.southendpress.org/books/global.shtml) there is a 
mention of this Newsweek statement about the Battle of Seattle:
"One of the most important lessons of Seattle is that there are now two 
visions of globalization on offer, one led by commerce, one by social 
activism."
Coming from Newsweek pro-commercial vision of life, it is a nice 
acknowledgement.
At the same time, the so called social activism will have a key meeting 
called Forum Social Mundial (World Social Forum) to be held at Porto Alegre, 
Brazil, during the end of this january. It will gather people from all 
continents, important social movements like MST (landless peasants of 
Brazil), workers, unions, women groups, ecologists, HHRR activists, utopists 
of new urban spaces, religious communities, socialists, anarkids, etc...UN's 
secretary declared he supports WSF.
Relevant figures that have worked for decades in their field for a better 
global society will be present. Among them:
Samir Amin, Eduardo Galeano, Vandana Shiva, Jose Saramago, , Alain Lipietz, 
Armand Mattelart, Ben Bella, Eric Toussaint, Graça Machel, Daniele 
Miterrand, Frei Beto, Ignácio Ramonet, José Bové, José Ramos Horta, Kalaysh 
Satyarti, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Maude Barlow, Susan George, Tariq Ali, 
Walden Bello, Yoko Kitazawa, Leonardo Boff, Joyce Pekane, Martin Khor, Diane 
Matte, Anuradha Mittal
etc, etc........

So this is an invitation for those interested. Those that can not go, like 
me, may help in different ways explained by organizers at web page (down).

OK. Just enough and thanks. Emilio


The manifest of the Forum says:
World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil
The World Social Forum will be a new international arena for the creation 
and exchange of social and economic projects that promote human rights, 
social justice and sustainable development. It will take place every year in 
the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, during the same period as the World 
Economic Forum, which happens in Davos, Switzerland, at the end of January. 
Since 1971, The World Economic Forum has played a key role in formulating 
economic policies throughout the world. It's sponsored by a Swiss 
organization that serves as a consultant to the United Nations and it's 
financed by more than one thousand corporations.
The World Social Forum will provide a space for building economic 
alternatives, for exchanging experiences and for strengthening South-North 
alliances between NGOs, unions and social movements. It will also be an 
opportunity for developing concrete projects, to educate the public, and to 
mobilize civil society internationally. The World Social Forum developed as 
a consequence of a growing international movement that advocates for greater 
participation of civil societies in international financial institutions 
such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World 
Trade Organization (WTO). For decades, these institutions have been making 
decisions that affect the lives of people all over the world, without a 
clear system for accountability and democratic participation.
Brazil is one of the countries that have been greatly affected by global 
economic policies. At the same time, different sectors of Brazilian society 
are crating economic alternatives in rural and urban areas, in shantytowns, 
factories, churches, schools, etc. The richness of Brazilian grassroots 
organizations represents a source of inspiration for the development of the 
World Social Forum. The Brazilian Organizing Committee is building alliances 
with organizations in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe to develop the 
World Social Forum.
This will be a broad coalition of organizations working on issues such as 
human rights, sustainable development, education, and environmental 
protection. The World Social Forum will discuss topics such as:
 building economic policies that promote human development;
 creating international strategies for grassroots organizing;
 building proposals to democratize international institutions, such 
as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank;
 the influence of multinational corporations in local communities;
 creating sustainable development proposals to eradicate poverty and 
hunger, and to protect the environment;
 organizing against gender and racial discrimination;
 the protection and preservation of indigenous land and culture.
**************
The webplace is at: http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br


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