Early in 1998, the proposal for a Multilateral
Agreement on Investments (MAI) was made
public. It was to be signed by the worlds
wealthiest countries, then to be "proposed"
to - in practice, imposed on - the rest
of the countries in the world. The agreement
had been discussed in secret in the
OECD, the intention being for it to
become a kind of World Constitution
for Capital, which would give capital
all the rights and almost no duties
- especially in Third World countries
where the "investments" would
be made. The French newspaper Le Monde
Diplomatique published a first exposé
prepared in the United States by the
"Public Citizens" movement
led by Ralph Nader, in an article by
Lori Wallach, a lawyer with the movement.
The outcry at the absurdities contained
in the agreement led to the emergence
of a social movement in protest, causing
France to withdraw from the negotiations
in late 1998 and finally preventing
the agreement from being signed.
One of the organizations to spur this
mobilization was ATTAC - at first the
Association for a Tobin Tax for the
Aid of Citizens, and now the Association
for the Taxation of Financial Transactions
for the Aid of Citizens - that was starting
to take shape in France at the time,
also following a proposal in this direction
by Le Monde Diplomatique. Today the
association has some 20,000 of supporters
all over France and has produced ATTACs
in other countries round the world,
including Brazil. The association is
working to put into effect Economics
Nobel laureate James Tobins proposal
for a tax on speculative capital movements
as a way of controlling their present
absolute freedom to circulate worldwide,
with the consequences we all know so
well.
From the interactions these events
helped to trigger everywhere among those
who refuse to accept the scenario of
a world wholly controlled by the interests
of capital, a number of different forms
of opposition to this type of globalization
began to organize. Those that gained
most fame by virtue of their media repercussion
were the protests in Seattle against
the WTO, in Washington against the IMF
and the World Bank and, more recently,
those in Prague, which led the government
representatives gathered there to cut
short their meeting one day ahead of
schedule.
Now, for a good twenty years, the owners
of the world had been meeting in a Forum
they called the World Economic Forum,
which they held in Davos, a small, luxury
ski resort in Switzerland. Once a year
- in addition to the regional meetings
that it has also begun to organize -
this group (that today is a major corporation)
currently gathers together all those
able to pay 20,000 dollars to hear and
talk to the leading thinkers at the
service of capital, as well as to hear
even guest critics of globalization,
invited along to lend legitimacy to
the Forum. Davos - which attracts correspondents
from all the worlds major newspapers,
including systematically our friend
Clovis Rossi - is where the theory of
world domination by capital, within
the parameters of neo-liberalism, is
constructed and steadily put into practice.
Well, in the light of all this that
was going on, a few Brazilians decided
that it would be possible to launch
a new stage of resistance to this school
of thought which today prevails all
over the world. Over and beyond the
demonstrations and mass protests, though,
it seemed possible to move on and to
offer specific proposals, to seek concrete
responses to the challenges of building
"another world", one where
the economy would serve people, and
not the other way round. Economists
and other academics opposed to neo-liberalism
were already holding what they called
Anti-Davos meetings in Europe. Now though,
the intention was to go further than
that. The idea was, with the participation
of all the organizations that were already
networking in the mass protests, to
arrange another kind of meeting on a
world scale - the World Social Forum
- directed to social concerns. So as
to give a symbolic dimension to the
start of this new period, the meeting
would take place on the same days as
the powerful of the world were to meet
in Davos.
Exactly who had this great idea? Our
friend Oded Grajew. I dont know if he
discussed it with anyone else beforehand,
but he put it to me when we met in France
in February this year. Together, we
decided to take it to Bernard Cassen,
director of Le Monde Diplomatique, who
is also president of ATTAC in France,
to see how well the idea would be received
outside of Brazil.
Cassen was enthusiastic and made the
proposal to hold the Forum in Brazil.
He felt it had to be in the "Third
World" - because that would also
have a symbolic effect - and Brazil
was among the countries in a better
position to host a Forum like this.
His too was the idea of hosting it in
Porto Alegre, capital of a state that
is steadily becoming known all over
the world for its democratic experiences
and efforts against neo-liberalism.
Cassen then threw out a counter-challenge:
if we were able to organize the Forum,
we would have the support not only of
his newspaper, but also of the organizations
around the world that are positioning
themselves against domination by capital.
Once back in Brazil, we started to find
out what organizations were willing
to accept this challenge and take on
this huge task. On February 28, there
was a meeting in Sao Paulo of delegates
from 8 organizations that today have
signed a "Cooperation Agreement"
to hold the World Social Forum, the
first edition of which will be held
in Porto Alegre from January 25 to 30,
2001:
Brazilian Association of Non-Governmental
Organizations (ABONG); Association for
the Taxation of financial Transactions
for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC); Brazilian
Justice & Peace Commission (CBJP);
Brazilian Business Association for Citizenship
(CIVES); Central Trade Union Federation
(CUT); Brazilian Institute for Social
and Economic Studies (IBASE); Centre
for Global Justice (CJG); Landless Rural
Workers Movement (MST).
In March these organizations sent a
delegation to Porto Alegre to consult
Olivio Dutra and Raul Pont on the state
and municipal governments willingness
to host the Forum, on the understanding
that the event would be promoted not
by these governments, but by the civil
society organizations that embraced
the proposal. Once the governor and
mayor had given their consent, work
was begun as quickly as possible to
organize and actually realize this new
world meeting. This included inviting
other civil society organizations to
set up a Brazilian Committee in Support
of the Forum.
At Cassens suggestion, a delegation
from the organizations travelled in
late June to Geneva where a large part
of the organizations linking up around
the world in demonstrations against
neo-liberalism would be meeting in an
alternative "summit" parallel
to the UNs "Copenhagen + 5"
Summit. Room was made for us to present
our proposal, which was very well received.
Miguel Rossetto, Deputy Governor of
Rio Grande do Sul State, also travelled
to Geneva to confirm that the state
would host the Forum. On that very occasion,
an International Committee was set up
in support of the Forum.
Since then, we have been working against
the clock to ensure attendance by participants
from all over the world, with quotas
set for each continent and each type
of activity. The programme drawn up
provides for two kinds of dynamics:
morning panels - 4 running simultaneously
on all four days, with four participants
each chosen from among leading names
in the fight against the One Truth;
and, in the early afternoon, workshops
coordinated by the participants themselves
to exchange experiences and for discussions,
and in the late afternoon, meetings
for networking. Also planned are sessions
for testimonies from people involved
in different kinds of struggle, and
an extensive parallel programme in Porto
Alegre city for all those unable to
participate directly in the Forum, which
is open only to people appointed and
registered by social organizations.
The Forum is not deliberative in nature
and time will not be wasted in discussing
the commas in a final document. It will
be the beginning of a process of thinking
together at the world level on the four
thematic areas dealt with in the morning
panels: production of wealth and social
reproduction; access to wealth and sustainability;
empowering civil society and the public
realm; and political power and ethics
in the new society. For each of these
thematic areas, questions were formulated
to which we have to find answers and,
for each question, there is a series
of issues we have to consider.
The intention is, by thinking together
also on a "globalized" basis,
to make room - in greater depth each
year - for the search for alternatives
to the dominant model. In fact, World
Social Forum 2001 will be only the first
step, but an entirely new step, which
is increasingly finding an echo the
whole world over. Our hope is that this
echo really will secure the beginning
of a new period in the struggle against
human submission to the interests of
capital.
