A friend's view on WSF and the translation of an article

I left WSN quite a while ago since I am not interested in reading e-mails 
from RKM, Marguierite (sp?), Bagelhole and the like, in the volumes they were 
prior to I left the list. There is too much to read already and, 
unfortunatelly, I have limited time to spend for reading and otherwise during 
my short visit of this thing called life. 

It was nice to read Elson' s analyses though and I think even that much 
compansated for the pain I endured during my stay at WSN. I also enjoyed 
reading many a posts from Alan, Khaldoun, Ismail and Warren. (Warren, please 
be more optimistic!)

Although I figured that you can post to WSN without being a member of the 
list (Marguierite did that as I recall) I am not sure if this e-mail will 
reach WSN. But if it does, this mail is about the World Social Forum in Porto 
Alegre. The rest of this post consists of two interludes from a long time 
online Brazilian friend, Leo, and his translation of an article from 
portuguese into english and the original of that article.

As you can easily figure out yourselves, my dear friend Leo is a 
"libertarian" and somehow I remembered the first chapter of Wallerstein's 
"Utopistics" after reading Leo' s comments.

Best,
Sabri
 
=============
Leo' s first post:

The article below (The Global Absurdity) talks about the World Social Forum. 
It was written by the main personality of the brazilian Green Party. Despite 
this it is a good article. At least he doesn't have the old marxist views (of 
social democrats, trotskists, stalinists, maoists, etc.) of the forum 
organizers and of the majority of its public.

In the article the author says how is "out of step" (i would say stupid 
perhaps) in a Forum that proposes to discuss an alternative to neoliberalism 
or capitalism being full of cuban flags, Lenin's pictures, and a lot of kind 
of demonstrations just like the soviet union style.

For those who don't know, the World Social Forum was organized mainly by 
ATTAC and the PT, the major brazilian left party. It was organized in a city 
and in a state ruled by PT for more or less ten years. To me (from my 
experience with parties and that kind of marxists) was an attempt of those 
people and organizations to take a 'leadership' in the so called 
"anti-globalization" movement. By the way, it was a spotlight to many 
politicians. For those who know the brazilian left it is no surprise the 
forum would be full of trotskists, leninists and all kind of old fashion 
'comunists', those who seek power and when are there are red dictators or 
social democrats (or a mix of both).

leo

============

Leo' s second post:

Here goes a translation of the article i sent before. Three paragraphs are 
missing. I don't agree with much of the author's view. I think the article 
serves to people ha an idea of how is the left and the majority of 
"anti-capitalist" youth of brazila nd of the WSF at all.

Fernando Gabeira was the Green Party president candidate for some times in 
brazil. He is most known in brazil as a politician for fighting to legalize 
marijuana. But i think the brazilian Green Party is much less radical and 
alternative the the Green Party of usa, for example (if we can use the words 
alternative and radical to parties).

I hope you can undestand the translation.

Leo

===========

Leo' s translation

The Global Absurdity

Fernando Gabeira (too much free translation by Leo)

[ 26.Jan ] PORTO ALEGRE – Davos and Porto Alegre. Judging by the media, are 
dark the perspectives of social change. In Davos, the appealing of tecnology, 
coming by Internet a phrase written with laser: keep the dialogue. In Porto 
Alegre, the return to the primitive fire burnt a president Fernando Henrique 
Cardosos’ puppet in th middle of street.

Appealing versus youth rebellion. Theorically, we can turn off the TV, 
because there are no doubts about the winner of the game. The Porto Alegre 
World Social Forum, therefore, is much more complex than appears in the 
newspaper pages, gathering experiences and propositions of people from all 
over the world.

The fact of taking place in Porto Alegre, a kind of sanctuary of the latin 
america left, gives a wrong view of its political space. The number of 
international delegates is very small compared with the huge mass of local 
militants. This resulted, for instance, in a consecratory acclamation of the 
Cuba’s delegation when was anounced the opening of the event. Nobody could 
claim that the warm of that audience expressed o global position.

Merely the divulgation of those symbolic positions makes us thinking that in 
Davos exist a globalizing position that has the USA as model and, in Porto 
Alegre, a resistance that looks Cuba as a commom perspective.

It is not na accident that Le Monde Diplomatique had chosen the PT (main 
brazilian left party, that runs Porto Alegre for more or less ten years) to 
organize the international event in Brazil. Within little diferences, they 
belong to the classic left’s universe able to release a manifesto saying the 
goal of the global resistance is the human development and the representative 
democracy. And do not make any reference to the human development in relation 
to others kinds of life, its compromise with the conservation of the planet.

The enclosure to the Porto Alegre Forum had started with a phrase of Fernando 
Henrique saying that it was a demonstration of lateness, like the destruction 
of machines in the industrial revolution. The following argument, instead 
demonstrating the Forum really was the same as the destruction of machines, 
was a talk about how bad and unproducitve is the destruction of machines.

That Fernando Henrique’s argument has its counterpart here. The most exalted 
say that we are living in a colonial age, similar when tha portuguese arrived 
here, missing what have happened since the Independency to now.

In a enviroment like that, what some photographers wanted was that huge 
picture of Lenin that some demonstrators carried in the demonstration. Under 
a specific point of view, a movement that wanna be a step forward in the 
conduction of global problems end up being seen as part of those melancolic 
demonstrations of the russian comunists after the fall of the soviet regime.

I fact, who arrives in Porto Alegre and sees cuban flags flying, people with 
beard and guerrila hats (like Che), has a doubt if, really, is being 
discussed here the future of the world or if it is just a nostalgic left 
meeting.

What appears as being the tone of the Porto Alegre Forum – the flags and 
pictures of Che Guevara – maybe are just a cover. In the workshops and 
discussions what is seen is the discussion of concrete solutions, 
no-ortodoxals, to the social crises of the planet.

Since the experiences of a sustainable economy in Amapa (a brazilian state) 
till propositions of the vice-mayor of Geneva to a permanent mechanism to 
discuss local manegement, all seems to seek practical solutions to the 
problems they will find forward.

- We came here just to talk – said a swiss teacher. Important is knowing what 
we will do when we left here.

Perhaps is that the most difficult question to answer. The option of the 
Forum was not being enclosured in centralizers directives, what is reasonable 
because the differences are much more extensives than the sea of red flags 
can make someone think.

.

.

.(lacking 3 small paragraphs)

.

.

Millions of people that are watching the Forum by the media maybe were not 
seduced by the democratic sentence written by laser in Davos. But hardly 
achieved new hopes by the huge Lenin picture in the streets of Porto Alegre.

 
=======
Origina article in Portuguese:

O absurdo global

Fernando Gabeira  <no@no.com.br>


[ 26.Jan ]  PORTO ALEGRE - Davos e Porto Alegre. A julgar pela mídia, são 
sombrias as perspectivas de mudanças. Em Davos, a sedução da tecnologia, 
vinda pela Internet uma frase escrita com raio laser: mantenham o diálogo. Em 
Porto Alegre, a volta ao fogo artesanal que queimou um boneco do presidente 
Fernando Henrique Cardoso no meio da rua. 

Sedução versus rebeldia juvenil. Em tese, podemos desligar a tevê, pois não 
há duvidas sobre o vencedor do jogo. O Forum Social de Porto Alegre, no 
entanto, é bastante mais complexo do que aparece nas páginas dos jornais, 
reunindo experiências e propostas de gente da oposição do mundo inteiro. 

O fato de acontecer em Porto Alegre, um espécie de santuário da esquerda 
latino-americana, dá uma falsa impressão de seu espaço político. O número de 
delegados internacionais é muito pequeno, em relação a grande massa de 
militantes locais. Isto resultou, por exemplo, num aplauso consagrador a 
delegação de Cuba, quando foi anunciada na abertura do evento. Ninguém pode 
afirmar que o calor daquela platéia expressasse uma posição mundial. 

A divulgação pura e simples dessas posições simbólicas nos leva a pensar que 
em Davos existe uma posição globalizante que tem os Estados Unidos como 
modelo e, em Porto Alegre, uma resistência que olha para Cuba como uma 
perspectiva comum. 

Não é um acidente que o Le Monde Diplomatique tenha escolhido o PT para 
organizar o evento mundial no Brasil. Com nuances diferentes, pertencem ao 
universo da esquerda clássica capaz de lançar um manifesto dizendo que o 
objetivo da resistência global é o desenvolvimento humano e a democracia 
representativa. E não fazer nele nenhuma referência ao desenvolvimento humano 
em relação a outras formas de vida, seu compromisso com a preservação do 
planeta. 

O cerco ao Forum de Porto Alegre começou com a frase de Fernando Henrique 
dizendo que era uma manifestação do atraso, como a destruição das máquinas na 
revolução industrial. O argumento seguinte, ao invés de demonstrar que 
realmente o Forum equivalia à destruição das máquinas, foi uma cantilena 
sobre como é ruim e contraproducente destruir máquinas. 

Esse argumento de Fernando Henrique tem sua contrapartida por aqui. Os mais 
exaltados dizem que vivemos numa época colonial, semelhante à chegada dos 
portugueses, sem levar em conta a água que passou por baixo da ponte, da 
Independência para cá. 

Num clima como esse tudo o que alguns fotógrafos queriam era aquela imensa 
foto de Lênin, que alguns manifestantes portavam na manifestação . Sob certo 
ângulo, um movimento que se quer passar como um passo a frente na condução 
dos problemas mundiais, acaba sendo confundido com aquelas melancólicas 
manifestações dos comunistas russos, após a queda do regime soviético. 

De fato, quem chega no aeroporto de Porto Alegre e vê tremulando bandeirinhas 
de Cuba, gente de barba e boina de guerrilheiro, duvida se, realmente, está 
se discutindo aqui o futuro do mundo ou se trata apenas de uma nostálgica 
reunião da esquerda. 

O que aparece como o tom do Forum de Porto Alegre, as bandeiras e as fotos de 
Che Guevara, talvez seja apenas uma capa. No conjunto de oficinas e debates, 
o que se vê é a discussão da saídas concretas, nada ortodoxas para a crise 
social do planeta. 

Desde as experiências de uma economia sustentável no Amapá até as propostas 
do vice prefeito de Genebra para um instrumento permanente para discutir a 
gestão local, todos parecem procurar soluções práticas para os problemas que 
têm pela frente. 

- Aqui viemos apenas para conversar - disse um professor suíço. Importante é 
saber o que faremos quando sairmos daqui 

Talvez seja essa a questão mais difícil de se responder em conjunto. O opção 
do Forum foi a de não se fixar em diretivas centralizadoras, o que razoável 
pois as diferenças e nuances são muito mais numerosas do que o mar de 
bandeiras vermelhas dá a entender. 

No entanto, baseando-me apenas no manifesto de lançamento, o Forum Social 
deixou de mencionar algumas contradicões que poderiam levar a projetos 
abrangentes. Uma delas é a contradição entre a liberdade de movimento dos 
capitais e das mercadorias e a pressão crescente sobre os trabalhadores que 
se deslocam em busca de trabalho fora de seu país. 

As forças militares se concentram nas fronteiras e, no dia da instalação do 
Forum a Espanha anunciou que iria expulsar trabalhadores legais num prazo 
sumário de 24 horas. E Bush, por sua vez, anunciou que iria permitir a 
exploracão de petróleo num santuário ambiental gelado. 

Faltou ao Forum esse núcleo central que desconfiando das intenções da midia 
preparasse uma espécie de introdução ao que tem de melhor, as experiências 
concretas no campo social, e também uma capacidade de explorar o contraponto 
com Davos a seu favor. 

Milhões de pessoas que seguem o Forum pela midia podem não ter se deixado 
seduzir pela democrática frase inscrita a laser em Davos. Mas dificilmente 
ganharam novas esperanças diante da imensa foto de Lênin nas ruas de Porto 
Alegre.