[WSF-Discuss] Capitalism creeps into the World Social Forum

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[image: International Herald Tribune] <http://www.iht.com/>
Capitalism creeps into the World Social Forum
By Stuart Grudgings
Reuters
Monday, February 2, 2009
@ http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/01/business/Forum.4-420588.php**
*BELÉM, Brazil:* The world's biggest gathering of leftists ended on Sunday
after six days of discussions and protests that participants said showed
that there was an alternative to a crumbling global capitalist system.

The World Social Forum brought about 100,000 people to the Brazilian Amazon
city of Belém. Timed to coincide with the annual meeting of World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Brazilian event this year attracted a
record number of government leaders eager to burnish their leftist
credentials in the wake of the global financial crisis.

"People see capitalism as not being able to maintain itself and there's a
hope that it can't, too," said Shannon Bell, a professor at York University
in Toronto, who attended sessions on "eco-socialism."

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spent about $50
million on the World Social Forum and brought a dozen cabinet ministers to
it. Four other leftist Latin American presidents also visited and received
heroes' welcomes.

The main role of the World Social Forum is not to issue binding decisions
but rather to serve as a huge networking and discussion opportunity for
leftists. The global financial crisis was a common theme, with many
participants saying it showed that free-market capitalism was on its last
legs.

"The financial side of the world was never the part that really moved the
world - the world is moved by people," said Luis Fabiano Celestrino of the
Revolution of the Spoon, a vegetarian group. "The World Social Forum shows
what people are thinking about the most basic problems. Just hearing
proposals for solving them makes this worthwhile."

The forum is nothing if not diverse. A short distance from where Roman
Catholic bishops discussed human rights on Saturday, people lined the paths
at one of the university campuses where the forum was held, holding signs
that read "I need a hug."

Natanael Karajá, a member of a Brazilian Indian tribe, the Karaja, was
wearing a striking headdress and body paint while drinking his Coca-Cola and
being interviewed by MTV.

Mzonke Poni, a South African, worried that governments and nongovernment
groups were hijacking a forum that was supposed to be based on grass-roots
dialogue. "I'm not sure how effective this will be for grass-roots activists
in terms of direct influence," Poni said of an event on Thursday at which
four presidents including, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, delivered lengthy
speeches.

Other delegates said they worried about creeping capitalist influence.
Bottled water was being sold at double the normal price for the region and
private catering companies were charging steep prices for food.
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