For five days in early February 2002, an estimated 60,000 people gathered in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, to reclaim the path of globalization and declare that "another world" - characterized by global democracy, equity, diversity and justice - "is possible". The 2002 World Social Forum was the second of what is anticipated to be an annual global gathering of non-governmental organizations, labor unions, universities, progressive politicians, students, farmers and other activists from around the world who believe there is an alternative to the current model of globalization - characterized by the World Trade Organization(WTO), the World Bank and International Monetary Fund(IMF), corporations, and trade that is free for the powerful. The forum offered more than 700 workshops, 100 seminars and a host of other presentations, exhibits and assemblies for the participants who represented more than 150 countries.

What Kind of Globalization?

In Porto Alegre, activists seeking to build a different kind of globalization gathered peacefully to promote global democracy and socioeconomic solidarity. In hundreds of workshops at the World Social Forum (WSF), they shared ideas for models of development and trade that highlight cooperation, solidarity, human rights, protection of the environment and an improved quality of life for all people. These alternatives, however, were not considered at the World Economic Forum, held simultaneously in New York City. There, high power corporate and industry leaders from across the globe met to discuss how to accumulate and extract wealth at the continued expense of the poor and disenfranchised.

In Porto Alegre, speakers and panelists, including MIT Linguistics professor Noam Chomsky, well known for his political writings on U.S. foreign policy and globalization, reminded participants that the WTO and other free trade agreements were not immutable laws of the land. They are agreements between countries, written on paper, and when they stop being agreeable, they can be renegotiated or they can be dumped. Chomsky and others encouraged listeners to stay vigilant and active and to continue to create alternatives that benefit all people and find ways to promote them.

	Global Democracy or Anti-Globalization The "Anti-Globalization Movement," is a recent label applied by the media and politicians to anyone who opposes the form of globalization these entities now promote. Those who seek alternatives to unfair trade agreements are characterized as separatist, isolationist and anti-development. Many within the movement, who reconnected with each other at the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999, see themselves and their work in a very different way. They seek a different type of globalization that enhances the dignity and economic security of the world's population. They seek international agreements that are mutually beneficial, made in good faith and democratic. By its nature, the movement is anything but anti-globalist. Across the world, people from the US and hundreds more countries are united in their call for Global Democracy.

Prominent among the issues discussed at the WSF were the impact of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a trade agreement much like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that would create a free trade area spanning both North and South America; the WTO whose policies favor "profit over people"; and the struggle of developing countries with IMF/WB debt.

The FTAA is intended to remove barriers that limit the flow of goods and commerce across borders. FTAA supporters say it would increase trade and generate wealth for poor countries. Opponents at the forum argued that FTAA benefits would mainly help wealthy corporations by increasing their access to resources and markets in poor countries.

WSF participants from across the globe shared their experiences of the devastating effects of WTO implementation. Under WTO, countries are limited in how much they can spend to subsidize production of industrial and agricultural goods or medicine. They are further restricted from enacting local, state or national environmental, public health or labor laws, as these are all viewed as barriers to free trade.

Developing countries who joined the WTO in good faith over 10 years ago now find their domestic markets flooded with imported goods. Their economies are struggling, poverty is growing and their calls for new agreements are ignored by powerful countries who are benefiting from increased access to global markets.

THE JUICY TRUTH

Dr. Vandana Shiva, - an activist from India who founded Navdanya, a movement to preserve biodiversity and protect farmers' rights - spoke to WSF participants about the need to change the rules of globalization. She would bring consideration of people's livelihoods and the sustainable use of resources into the heart of every trade debate. In the face of slow reform and the continued exploitation of poor people and countries, Shiva warned against waiting for democracy, and instead called on listeners to begin "living democracy."

"We can make the power of those who exploit us irrelevant," she argued. She urged people to take control of their culture, their diets, their money, their political power and their minds. Living democracy requires every person to take control of their lives at the most fundamental level. She urged that we dismiss corporate dominated agriculture, buy local, buy organic and support fair trade and independent producers, and reject the colonization of your ideas and world view by the popular media. She reminded people to educate themselves through alternative media sources, and to protect their individuality and cultural uniqueness. "Choose to know the truth about global struggles," she said, "and live your life in a way that supports a just alternative."

Shiva commended the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST, or Landless People's Movement), of Brazil which by following this credo, has built one of the largest peasant movements in the world. For 20 years, landless people throughout Brazil have organized to resettle abandoned and underused land. MST families have protested their own poverty and economic isolation by creating opportunities to farm and live sustainably in community. To date they have built settlements in 23 of Brazil's 29 states and have reclaimed millions of acres to feed, house and sustain more than 300,000 families who live cooperatively. "We will not believe that our actions to protect our cultures, our lives and our rights are criminal. We will celebrate them, protect them and continue to ignore your power over them."

Members of the Rural Coalition's SuperMarket Project have made this same declaration. These small farmers have decided to stay on their farms, produce cooperatively products that they know are healthy for consumers and the land, and to find new ways to connect with consumers that bypass corporate dominated marketing channels.

THE MARCH SQUEEZE

Every Day is an Opportunity to Create the World You Want to Live In

What we are doing:

What you can do:

Resources on the Web

Commondream.org	alternet.org
vshiva.org	foodfirst.org

Be Part of Our Campaign for Food n’ Justice, visit www.ruralco.org.
Questions on food and farm policy?
Contact Heather Fenney at (202) 628-7160.
To join or support our work:
Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural
1012 14th Street, NW Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 628-7160
Visit www.Ruralco.org or www.SuperMarketCoop.com.

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