Transcripts
"The 2nd World Social Forum opens with a march through Porto Alegre"
by Benoit Borrits
How many are we? Difficult to say really, but a lot at any rate. A large majority of Latin-American delegations, some Europeans and North Americans, although too few Asians and Africans, the omnipresence of red flags with various symbols, the most common being that of the Worker's Party in Brazil (the PT). The marchers arrive to a piece of reclaimed land on the banks of the lake where there is a central stand. The loud speakers begin to shake to the beat of music, notably a little Portuguese jingle: 'Another World is Possible'. The festivities were to last all night. Let's be wise and go to bed, though. I'm no longer twenty.
During the Forum, I decide to follow a 2-day session on The Social and Solidarity Economy. The Forum would turn out to be a revelation of what the Latin Americans, and in particular the Brazilians and Argentines, would, for obvious economic reasons, be able to teach us about this sector.
In Brazil, the co-operative sector has developed most significantly in agriculture (with MST - the Landless Movement), in the industrial sector (often in the context of regeneration of businesses on the verge of bankruptcy) and in order to respond to varying social needs that the Market does not know how to meet. With regard to the latter, it is clear that natural synergies with the municipalities run by the PT have played a vital role.
In Argentina, the main area of development has been in the creation of alternative currencies: the pegging of the peso to the dollar at all costs led to an inevitable shortage of liquidity, a shortage partially made up for by networks who have created their own currencies. Heloisa Primavera, an activist working in one of these networks in Argentina, explains that 2.5 million people are involved, representing one in seven Argentines. The local level of the LETs system has clearly been passed and one can see the birth of real currencies, self-governed by civil society and free from interest rates.
The LETs system is destined principally to enable the exchange of goods and services between individuals, which can seem a limited objective. In Argentina we are beginning to see Co-operatives operating using both these alternative currencies and the official currency. What is this if not the premises of a new economy, free of usury and the power of capital?
Does the Social and Solidarity Economy only represent a response to the social consequences of Neo-liberalism?
It is clear that in Latin America this question has been settled long ago. As Paul Singer, professor of economics at the university of Sao Paulo and co-author of « A economia solidaria no Brasil » , states, Capitalism in Latin America is on the verge of collapse. The Social and Solidarity Economy represents the creation of a new economic chapter for a new society. This affirmation is illustrated by the fact that the CUT, the main trade union in Brazil, strongly supports and takes an active part in the creation of the Social and Solidarity Economy, supporting workers who wish to take control of their companies.
Another Latin-American lesson to take note of is the emergence of Participatory Democracy. In Latin America, states are significantly more corrupt and oppressive than in Europe and this is why leaving behind Representative Democracy is an essential goal of the Left in Latin America. While the Left does wage a fundamental battle, similar to that waged by the Left in Europe, to protect public services; this is linked to a practice of democratising the state, bringing control over public services closer to the people. Food for thought for our European Attac associations who often concentrate on fiscal issues. However, it will also be necessary to reflect upon the re-democratisation of the state, leaving behind Representative Democracy. One can sense the beginnings of just such a process from the various small examples of attempts to put Participative Democracy into action in the regions of France. The World Social Forum provided a necessary place for an exchange of ideas between Latin Americans and Europeans in this area.
The 5th February: the closing ceremony of the World Social Forum. No 'personalities' would speak, only representatives of social movements and the volunteers that had helped to make the Forum possible. Watching the sheer number and enthusiasm of those present (many tens of thousands), I had the feeling that a fundamental political moment had come to pass: the spirit of the first International, which took place at the beginning of the 19th Century, was re-igniting. At the original International, many different streams of political and philosophical thought co-habited to strive for common social goals. That International was then undermined by a rift between Marxists and Libertarians. At this Forum, that antagonism had disappeared. Red flags emblazoned with the Hammer & Sickle flew alongside the ideas of Participative Democracy, self-government, the co-operative movement, ideas closer to the realms of Libertarian and anarchistic philosophies. The antagonism between Marxist and Anarchistic ideology seemed inexistent; the lines of argument evoked at the various meetings I attended no longer harked back to these old lines of division.
During the closing ceremony, a Colombian delegate took to the stage and thanked his God for the success of the Forum and provided us all with a reminder of the spiritual dimension of the Forum. The entire hall listened in perfect silence and then applauded. Michel Bakounine once said: 'If God existed, we would have to rid ourselves of him'. This Forum seemed to reply: 'If God exists, well then he is a liberator and is therefore on our side'. Even on the question of religion, barriers did not seem to have a place.
All the discussions held seemed to arrive to the same conclusion: a more human world is necessarily a world rid of usury and capitalism, a world where democracy (and not only Representative Democracy) imposes itself as the guiding rule. This belief, which up until now could be mocked as utopian, Leftist, even extremist, is now held by people from many different political, social and philosophical spheres. It now sounds like the talk of common sense. This is the magic of the World Social Forum: it is no longer in doubt, the world has begun to change and days of Neo-Liberalism are numbered.
And it was with a fantastic samba, danced to by tens of thousands, that this World Social Forum drew to a close....
Benoit Borrits
Out-going Chairman
Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique
France, February 2002
© Friends Of Le Monde Diplomatique
