Another world is possible

by Joshua Karliner

The 2002 World Social Forum (WSF) concluded in Porto Alegre, Brazil, last 
week. Inside the conference halls and out, this astounding event — part 
political convention, part art and music festival, part intellectual 
gathering of social movements — was in a state of nearly perpetual 
celebratory protest for five days and five nights.

This year more than 51,000 people from 131 countries officially 
participated in the WSF, with the WSF website hosting another half million 
visitors a day. The opening ceremony saw more than 40,000 people in 
peaceful demonstration.

The WSF began last year to provide a counter vision and voice to the World 
Economic Forum — a staid corporate and government gathering designed to 
facilitate corporate globalisation.

Both the "war on terror" and the Israel-Palestinian conflict figured 
prominently in a multi-day session entitled "A world without wars is 
possible". The Argentine economic debacle was hotly debated in many a 
venue, and the scandalous demise of the Enron corporation was high on the 
agenda.

There was a World Youth Congress, a forum of local government leaders from 
around the world and planning sessions for upcoming international events 
such as the Johannesburg Earth Summit.

Strategy sessions not only addressed how to combat the WTO, the World Bank 
and giant corporations, but also how to build alternative economic, 
political and cultural structures.

The WSF international organising committee decided to hold a series of 
regional World Social Forums over the next year. This increasingly 
decentralised process will culminate in the third WSF, to be held once 
again in Porto Alegre this time next year.

"An important part of the World Social Forum process", said organiser Atila 
Roque, "is developing new ways to organise internationally and regionally -
- we are at the beginning stages of figuring it out."

The importance of the ongoing nature of the event was best summed up by a 
delegate from India, who told the closing ceremony's jubilant and massive 
crowd that it has become a symbolic landmark for those working for social 
change everywhere.

"As we move into the 21st century, Porto Alegre will be etched into the 
collective memory of all those working for a different world."