World Social Forum: The Great Debate in a Land of Change

by Humberto Marquez

CARACAS - Some 100,000 social activists from across the
Americas and the world will soon be arriving in the
Venezuelan capital, where they will condemn war and
imperialism, and lend their support — although not
unconditionally — to the changes introduced in this
country by President Hugo Chavez.

The sixth annual World Social Forum (WSF) is being held
at several different sites this year, instead of one
centralised forum as in the first five editions. In
addition to the Americas forum in Caracas Jan. 24-29,
the African forum will take place in Bamako, Mali, Jan.
19-23, and the Asian meet will be in the southern
Pakistani city of Karachi in March.

In Venezuela the WSF "will find a process of
transformation that has incorporated some of the
policies of mass movements in this continent and in
other regions. People come to the forum to speak and
debate, but also to see and learn," Carlos Torres, of
the Canadian non-governmental organisation
Alternatives, told IPS.

The Venezuelan government is carrying out agrarian
reform, redistributing government land and large
private estates. It has launched mass literacy and
adult education programmes, and set up basic health
centres across the country — many staffed by Cuban
doctors. Outlets for subsidised food have also been put
in place nationwide.

As for foreign relations, Chavez speaks out strongly
against the U.S. government and President George W.
Bush, and is critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
He defends high crude oil prices and works to
strengthen the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC). And, under Chavez’s policies,
Venezuela supplies fuel to Caribbean and Latin American
countries on preferential terms, as a form of
cooperation.

"Of course the forum is neither apolitical nor
antipolitical. It is political, it is a meeting of
social organisations that have their own world view,"
Edgardo Lander of the Latin American Social Sciences
Council, co-organiser of the WSF, told IPS.

When Venezuela was proposed last year as the next
venue, at the fifth WSF in the southern Brazilian city
of Porto Alegre, there was some worry about the
potential "Chavezation" of the event, because of the
host president’s outsized personality, but particularly
his activism, as he seeks re-election in December. His
confrontational attitude towards Washington, and his
forging of Latin American alliances using Venezuelan
oil were also listed as points of concern.

"Although it does provide Chavez with an opportunity to
show thousands of social activists from all over the
world what he does, a lot of people who take part in
the WSF have a left-wing view of society, and are
interested in seeing as well as discussing," Francisco
Iturraspe, of the Latin American Association of Labour
Lawyers, said in an interview with IPS.

The WSF Hemispheric Council met with Chavez one year
ago, Lander said, "and we explained the nature of the
forum to him, as self-managing and non-paternalist,
which is not Bolivarian (as the president defines
himself) or Chavist, and he acquiesced."

The WSF Charter of Principles states that it is a
non-governmental and non-party entity.

Jacobo Torres, of the trade union Bolivarian Workers’
Force, told IPS that, precisely because of these
scruples, Chavez will participate outside of the
official WSF programme. The president will attend a
rally on the night of Jan. 25, to which Brazil’s
Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) and the
international peasant movement Via Campesina are also
invited.

On the last day of the forum there will also be a
meeting between Chavez and leaders of the World
Assembly of Social Organisations, an initiative of the
WSF as an alternative to the annual World Economic
Forum, a meeting of the economic elite at the Swiss
alpine resort of Davos.

Lander remarked, however, that the WSF originally
understood itself to be part of civil society,
"something new, good, uncontaminated by traditional
politics, which were perceived as being rather dirty.
But the truth is that when the thematic axes of the 6th
Forum were decided, most of the activities involved
political debate."

The first theme is "Power, politics and the fight for
social emancipation," with debates about states,
political parties and social movements, as well as
practical resistance against domination and political
violence.

The second is "Imperial strategies and peoples’
resistance," covering topics from imperialist military
expansion to terrorism and free trade.

In "Resources and rights for life: alternatives to the
predatory model of civilisation," there will be
discussions about capitalism, privatisation of
resources, global warming, desertification and the
right to health.

The fourth axis is on "Diversity, identities and
worldviews in motion," that is, peoples, indigenous
nations and Afro-descendants, dialogue between
religions, gender identities and sexual diversity.

The fifth theme is "Work, exploitation and reproduction
of life," about the increasing precariousness of
employment, as well as exclusion, inequality and
poverty.

Finally, there is "Communication, culture and
education: alternative and democratising dynamics," on
the right to communication, social appropriation of
technology, and artistic versus hegemonic production.

In addition to Chavez, another president expected to
make a showing at the Caracas WSF is Brazil’s Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva. Brazil was the birthplace of the
WSF, with Porto Alegre hosting the event four of the
five first years, and Lula has called this social
conclave an "ideological fair."

Lander disagrees, because "although (the WSF) brings
together organisations that think differently, there is
continuity in its campaigns and it’s a place where
networks can be formed, such as those that oppose the
Free Trade Area of the Americas, or are against the war
in Iraq, or the policy of the World Trade Organisation,
or against foreign debt."

All these networks "have a privileged place at the
forum, to evaluate the work done and analyse present
circumstances, and to put their plans into effect. The
WSF isn’t only for exchanging experiences, meeting
other people and celebrating life," stated Lander.

Nearly 2,000 activities registered for the Americas WSF
will take place in about 250 meeting rooms, tents and
open spaces in the "forum territory," which is actually
made up of four public spaces in Caracas. The central
area of the city is home to three million people.

Outside Caracas there will be a Youth Camp, and
organisers are appealing to city residents to provide
low-cost lodging in their homes, in the name of
solidarity. They are hoping that the closure of the
highway connecting the capital to its airport due to a
bridge collapse will not discourage participants from
abroad.

"We expect that up to 30,000 foreign participants will
come by air, and another 30,000 by land, from Brazil
and Colombia," said Zuraima Martinez, another forum
organiser.

The largest delegations will be from Venezuela and
Brazil, and from Colombia, which is "of interest to us
because of the anti-imperialist nature of the forum,"
said Carlos Torres.

What is the connection between Colombia and the
anti-imperialist stance? "Because the Colombia Plan
(against drug trafficking and insurgency) functions to
a large extent as a cog in the empire’s machinery,"
Lander explained, in reference to the heavy financial
and military backing from the United States.

"Some people see (Colombian) President Alvaro Uribe as
the Latin American (Israeli prime minister, Ariel)
Sharon, an executor or spokesman, like Mexican
President Vicente Fox, of imperialist policy," he said.

"Our idea is to show that in these conflicts of
interest, direct relationships between the people of
different countries are important. Compared with these
relationships between people, the states themselves are
often fiction," Lander insisted.

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