RE: AUT: Two views on the Porto Alegre WSF meeting

[topp8564@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

The problem with the WSWS article is that it takes Lula's hypocrisy to be the
hypocrisy of the WSF. The WSF is a meeting of about 100,000 people. Lula
definitely doesn't speak for all of them. I thought it was sort of lazy of
Scott to dredge the net for this article (and a horribly lame one from Cuddly
Bear Monbiot), instead of investigating these tensions - or takin in
consideration the possibility that the forum can be a focus of a multitude. For
instance, not only are Trotskyists are a huge slice here there is also a
massive anarchist presence. I'd say over four thousand, including the
anarchopunks, who are a sort of lifestyle group. They had interesting things to
say. So did the First World Forum of Autonomous Communities, who ran a parallel
forum. The final march, which saw about 60,000 people out in Porto Alegre
against the war was very impressive; Resistência Popular was pretty cool, with
their chants of O Povo Esclarecido Não Precisa de Partido (The People,
Enlightened, doesn't need a party), the excellent minimalism of OMC vai te
fuder (WTO Fuck off.)

Hell, I went to a workshop by NEILS (a ideology and struggle study centre from
a São Paulo university) which had the best critique of the third sector and
civil society I have yet heard. Another worshop along those lines by a guy from
the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation (yes, the PDS folks) on "Organised Neoliberalist
intervention in Civil Society" which covered similar ground.  No Oxfam to be
seen anywhere near those.

So... why buy into the PT line that the they speak for the WSF? They have
plenty of pie in their face. Check out my little blurbs up on
www.melbourne.indymedia (should be somewhere in the front page)

Thiago

Quoting "Caygill, Matthew         [CES]" <M.Caygill@xxxxxxxxx>:

> The World Socialist Website claims to be the International Committee - and
> is basically run by the Australian descendents of the old WRP - in Britain
> they call themselves the Socialist Equality Party.
> My guess is that one of the much larger groupings also claiming the mantle
> of the FI - i.e. those around the LCR in France - is much more sympathetic
> to the WSF.
>
> Matthew
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	topp8564@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [SMTP:topp8564@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent:	Tuesday, January 28, 2003 12:55 PM
> > To:	aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject:	Re: AUT: Two views on the Porto Alegre WSF meeting
> >
> > Great. A piece by a fourth international tosser and another by Cuddly
> > Bear. The
> > first one isn't even about the world social forum. Scott, you are really
> > cooking.
> >
> > Just as a note the fourth international is probably the second largest
> > marxist
> > presence here after the PT left. They seem to fill the ecological niche of
> > the
> > DSP or ISO in Australia, and have an ideology a little softer than the
> > Sparts,
> > being also far friendlier than your neighbourhood iron bar wielder.
> >
> > Thiago
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting Scott Hamilton <s_h_hamilton@xxxxxxxxx>:
> >
> > >
> > > World Socialist Website:
> > >
> > > Brazils Lula: From Porto Alegre to Davos
> > >
> > > Brazils recently inaugurated president Luiz Inacio
> > > Lula da Silva flew to Switzerland Friday night to
> > > participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos. Lula
> > > boarded the flight only hours after delivering a
> > > speech to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in
> > > Brazils southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The
> > > latter annual gathering of anti-globalization
> > > activists, including supporters of Lulas own Workers
> > > Party, or PT, was initiated three years ago in direct
> > > opposition to the Davos meeting of world bankers and
> > > heads of state...
> > >
> > > Supporters of the PT government have sought to quell
> > > protests from the activists in Porto Alegre over
> > > Lulas trip to Davos, claiming that he is going to the
> > > meeting of the financial elite to make a case for a
> > > global campaign against poverty and hunger, or
> > > globalization with solidarity.
> > >
> > > One PT leader, Sao Paulo Mayor Marta Suplicy, went so
> > > far as to portray Lulas approach to the bankers in
> > > Davos as a revolutionary act. Lenin said that the
> > > proletariat should not refuse any audience to expose
> > > its ideas, she declared...
> > >
> > > rest at
> > > http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jan2003/lula-j27.shtml
> > >
> > > George Monbiot in the Guardian
> > >
> > > Stronger than ever
> > >
> > > Far from fizzling out, the global justice movement is
> > > growing in numbers and maturity...For all that, I
> > > think most of us have noticed that something has
> > > changed, that we are beginning to move on from the
> > > playing of games and the staging of parties, that we
> > > are coming to develop a more mature analysis, a better
> > > grasp of tactics, an understanding of the need for
> > > policy. We are, in other words, beginning for the
> > > first time to look like a revolutionary movement...
> > >
> > > rest at
> > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,883682,00.html
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> > > "Revolution is not like cricket, not even one day cricket"
> > >
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> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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