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<nettime> attac news from porte alegre |
SAND IN THE WHEELS (WSF LIVE) ATTAC newsletter live from Porto Alegre Saturday 02/02/02 You can find articles, photos and interviews on http://attac.org/fsm2002 The Arab World is at Porto Alegre By Guillaume Bertrand Translated by Chris Arden, volunteer translator coorditrad@attac.org Militants from Arab countries were absent last year but they are well represented this year and they have mainly focused on the question of how to strengthen the specific demands of Arab organisations within the global social movement. The first subject discussed was the planned calendar for future World Social Forums. Nothing has yet been decided at Porto Alegre and within the Social Forum but there is a project which seems to have the support of Arab countries: organising an Arab Social Forum before or even at the same time and as an echo to the next World Social Forum in 2003. Several hypotheses were examined without, however, any decisions being taken. Some Brazilian organisations even went so far as to suggest holding a World Social Forum in Jerusalem. The main preoccupation of the Arab associations is definitely that they want to watch out for the impact that the organisation of such a meeting would have on the local militant situation and the urgent need to improve the living conditions of the populations and of the Palestinians in particular. In that sense, organising a summit in Palestine seemed to be the boldest proposal in terms of the pressure it could apply on the Israeli authorities. However, this idea turns out not to be very realistic, given the situation in the occupied territories. The proposal that the forum could be held in Beirut was presented as the most likely solution in terms of there being the capacity to welcome as many organisations as possible. There was also discussion of the form the World Social Forum should adopt in the future and fears were expressed that it might become even more institutionalised; there was a clear determination that the WSF should continue to be a space for as wide-reaching a debate as possible. Amongst the subjects that raised the greatest anxiety the two main issues were the question of the Palestinian people's cause and the crusade launched by President Bush: - Regarding Palestine, the message that the Arab movements want to get across during this World Social Forum is to show just how the Palestinians are being deprived of their rights by the Israeli occupation of their territory. - For the Arab militants, the events of September 11th have been a bitter blow for the image of Moslem people and have contributed to widening the divide between them and westerners. In this context the defence of liberty, economic and social rights as well as women's rights continue to be the essential issues. The debate then widened with the Brazilians and French in the room to encompass two main subjects : - In the end, whether one is dealing with the struggles of the Palestinians or the emancipation of Latin-American civil society, it's the same fight against the same model and it's very important to bring our struggles together to overcome this oppression. - Next spring there will be a summit in Valence on economic partnership between European Union countries and the countries around the Mediterranean (Euromed). A rendezvous was agreed on during the World Social Forum between the organisers of these countries in order to ensure greater convergence of the initiatives which will be taken on the fringes of the Euromed summit. Reporter's Notebook By Louis Sallay Translation: Leah, volunteer translator, coorditrad@attac.org Sailboats and saucepans--everything's turned upside down. A return to reality against a soundscape of clanging cookware. Determined to stir things up in the IMF's kitchen, Attac Argentina bursts onto the scene, banging its pots and pans. They say words have meaning. Agreed. But does meaning always find words to express itself? It's hardly a sure bet. And in Porto Alegre, things are turning out to be curiouser and curiouser. Yesterday's demonstrationstraight out of Alice in Wonderlandproves the point. You know what marching is about, of course, even if you've only been on a few. All you have to do is follow the people ahead of you who are following the people ahead of them. Simple as child's play! Except in Porto Alegre, it's not. Wherever you turn, nothing is what it seems. It's all confused and tangled. Here demonstrating has been raised to a high art of urban navigation unlike anything you've seen elsewhere. Whether it's because the streets are so cramped, or because the demonstrators have mastered a complicated choreography, everyone weaves in and out, criss-crossing each other like Maypole dancers. Don't worry, though, because everyone ends up at the same place. Still, there's that anxious moment when you're moving forward and find yourself intersecting thousands of others who are also moving straight aheadbut they're going in the opposite direction. In short, you're looking at the people marching behind you! What a brilliant trick;you get to size up the length of the parade behind you even as the marchers' smiling faces pass by. The rising and falling tide leaves you dizzy. Swept away by the crowd, you seek refuge on the nearest desert island, hooking your anchor on a leafless tree. Moored there, you count the wavesgreen, red, rainbow. Suddenly, just when you think you've shaken off the jet lag and the effect of the dangerous lemon punch someone keeps pouring into your glass, here it comes: the inevitable, killer seasickness. Ever since the World Forum of Fishermen passed by holding their banner, this ocean's swells have been mounting. I'm not talking about one of those tiny sloops fated to be tossed about on the seas. It's more a general sense of motion and movement. Because thanks to the music, waves of bodies remain in motion even when the parade comes to a halt. They may not be walking, but their legs are still moving. With the first chorus of ;Yo soy un hombre sincero; hips start to swivel. The rhythm reaches out, surrounds you, holds you in its clutches and your head starts to spin;Doctor, doctor, what can I do? I feel sick; There's nothing you can do, just hold on ; Especially when you shiver, hearing the echoing ;Commandante Che Guevara; It's heaving and rolling and then, come what may! the tide blots out;beneath the pavement-the-beach--the footprints of the dreamers, awakened. Yes, indeed, there's the wake-up call. A return to reality against a soundscape of clanging cookware. Determined to stir things up in the IMF's kitchen, Attac Argentina bursts onto the scene, banging its pots and pans noisily. You follow the sound of the pots and pans. Their persistent ringing speaks of hunger in the world. Their verses sing of the end of one world and promise a new recipe for a different one. Off you go, once more, everything upside down. And the ship sails on! Louis Sallay -- When farmers gather Words recorded by Julie PAGIS on January 31 Translated by Jean-Paul Schermann, volunteer translator coorditrad@attac.org This article reports on talks which were heard during two events: a first large meeting of Via Campesina in the Capucin convent during the night of January 31 (first part) and the following morning in the Teshurina gymnasium where farmers from different movements of Via Campesina are camping (second part) Summary and context : This article reports on talks which were heard during two events: a first large meeting of Via Campesina in the Capucin convent during the night of January 31 (first part) and the following morning in the Teshurina gymnasium where farmers from different movements of Via Campesina are camping (second part). About 200 farmers coming from all parts of the World, from Nicaragua to Sri Lanka through Lebanon and India gathered during the evening of 31 in the Capucin convent which is also the Head quarter in Via Campesina. Rafael Alegria, (president of Via Campesina, V.C) chaired the meeting, with some heads of the main represented movements among which, of course, the MST (Mouvement des Sans Terre, Movimento das Trabalhadores Sem Terra) with its head, Joao Pedro Stedilea, representative of the Focus on the Global South organization; Nicolae, a representative of Food First and Christophe Aguiton for ATTAC. The theme of alliances turned out to be central. In fact, several speakers emphasized this necessity of opening. Rafael Alegria had already proposed them at the end of his opening talk to set up a delegation gathering not only actors of Via Campesina but also from other organizations (unions, social movements) in order to think about the final release to be presented on February 4... The will, the necessity of alliances will thus be expressed all along the meeting: Paul Nicholson (representative of Via Campesina for Europe) ended his talk emphasizing the fact that Via Campesina has an important role as a rallying movement. It must thus be opened and join other organizations of the movement . Christophe Aguiton went further: Since two years, we have set up a policy of alliance with unions, social movements and Via Campesina and we have seen, in particular in Genova, the rallying power it now represents. This policy of bringing together is decisive. Christophe will also insist on the importance of gatherings such as Porto Alegre in order to build the agendas of future actions to be performed together. Nicolae (representative of Thailand for Focus on the Global South) will then talk about the importance of Asia in FSM: The main différence with respect to Porto Alegre 2001 is that there are many more representatives of Asia, around 40 coming from different countries, from Sri Lanka to Thailand through India. An Argentinian representative speaking about the Argentinian crisis: it is very important since it has become a massive claiming of the people against the debt. It is in fact a link in between three fights: fight for debt cancellation, fight for rejection of Free Trade Agreements and finally struggle against repression of social movements. >From Middle East, a farmer from Lebanon talking about the forum: this place allows for this exchange and the role of Via Campesina is to let everyone become aware of the fundamental link which exists between farmers, agriculture and others in the World. Just to provide a last talk which summarizes the spirit of this ensemble of speeches, a farmer of Zimbabwe said: this is a process of links, exchanges in between continents and in between sectors. Other themes, more relevant to Via Campesina were evoked, such as the necessity for land reforms in many countries (principal topic of this forum according to the president of V.C), the fight for food sovereignty , fight against patenting of living bodies and privatization of natural ressources or, finally, the necessity of excluding agriculture from WTO negociations. But I would like to here emphasize this idea of alliance which underlined the majority of speeches. On the next morning, it is in the Teshurina gymnasium, camping site expecting around 2000 farmers from Via Campesina were I collected some new words from farmers. In the bus which brings us there, Yves Manguy, former speaker of the Confédération paysanne, discusses with a trade unionist (but not a farmer union): one feels that everyone is moving somewhat out of its ghetto. In the gymnasium, it is time for settling. Each country occupies a fraction of the tiers which become full of colours and banderoles. There will sleep farmers from 6 countries: Argentina, Paraguay, Chile,Uruguay, Peru and, of course, Brazil. Miriam Taluri, a Chilean woman from ANMURI (Agrupacion Nacional de Mujeres Rurales y Indigenas) tells me: we are women, country girls and moreover natives. We work with Aymaras, Mapuches whether they are farmers or seasonal workers Among the 22 representatives of Red Puna ( Argentinian farmer union), Froilan, to whom I ask which is the main reason why he came, answers me: neo-liberalism has consequences for everyone, but even more for the most poor peoples and we are here to fight against this. Furher down, we start discussing with Paraguayans from MCNOC (Mesa Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Campesinas). Quite rapidly, Rodolfo tells me that they are against GMO and that, us, we use seeds that our fathers inherited from their fathers who themselves inherited them from their fathers. This is thus with my mind full of words from farmers that I left the gymnasium, leaving farmers from the MST ( who arrived today 01\31 in 40 buses) to settle in turn. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net