Mark Ritchie
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
February 5, 2002

Two years ago, when a friend from Brazil started talking about plans to organize a global gathering of social movements, it was impossible for me to imagine. Relying only on his passionate belief that now was the time for a World Social Forum and that Porto Alegre was the place, I agreed to come give one of the opening speeches. It was an event that transformed my perspective on the planet and on myself.

Tonight I am on the plane back home from the second World Social Forum, held in Porto Alegre with three times as many people as the first year. It was again transforming - but in entirely new ways.

The differences between the two years were not only in the turnout, but also in the nature of the participants and in the structure of the event. A closer look at both of these is a good way to get a flavor for this historic gathering.

According to Candido Grzybowski, who serves as co-chair of the World Social Forum, there were roughly 20,000 people attending last year and over 60,000 this year - with 10-15,000 young people involved in a special youth forum and camp. While most participants were from Brazil, there were very large delegations from the rest of Latin America, Italy (1600), France, Germany, and other European countries. Over 90 countries were represented. From the U.S. there were around 100 participants - a substantial improvement over the handful of us who attended last year.

Not only were there more people, but they were more diverse. Over the course of the week I met a number of European Conservative Party leaders from the UK, Germany and France who shared a deep concern for the environment and Third World poverty with most of the progressive activists who made up the lion share of the participants. There were three of the leading candidates in the upcoming French presidential elections and a large delegation from the ruling Socialist Party in France, including cabinet members, national parliament members, and many local and regional elected officials.

Mixed in with the politicians were leaders of local struggles from every continent, national presidents of trade unions and farmer organizations, academics and religious leaders, and a strong contingent of youth activists. Business owners working to promote socially responsible trade mixed easily with Indigenous leaders, feminist activists, and students.

A second change from last year was the emphasis by the organizers on concrete solutions to the problems being discussed. Anyone wanting to convene one of the major sessions had to commit to coming out of their session with concrete proposal and action steps. While this turned out to be much easier to say than to do, it was a signal to everyone that the World Social Forum was about solutions, not hand wringing, finger pointing, or endless speeches. I hope that next year's event will continue to press on this objective in new ways in order to build upon the limited but important successes in this area that were achieved this year.

IATP participated in the launching of two important international treaty initiatives at the Summit. The first, the Treaty to Protect the Genetic Commons, was launched simultaneously in Porto Alegre and New York, and will be push as a key item for discussion at the upcoming Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. The second, on the Right to Water, is part of a very broad global coalition looking at a wide range of water-related issues including dams, alternative energy production, and the increasing threat of privatization and monopoly-control of drinking water and attempts by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to assert global control over local water management.

The final statement of the Summit spelled out a broad range of shared concerns and issues that groups committed to working on including support for the Tobin Tax on global financial transactions, and democratic reforms at the World Trade Organization.

A third change was the curious mixture of seriousness and Carnival. The killing of a young activist by police in Genoa last year, the kidnapping and murder of several prominent figures and elected officials in Brazil in recent weeks, and the events of September 11^th were are factors in bringing about a more sober climate from most of the sessions. There was plenty of music, theatre, dancing, and other cultural events along the way - but inside the sessions there was a renewed sense of urgency tempered with a newfound care.

A fourth change from last year was the movement beyond issue specific workshops to a number of sessions on globalization in general - especially on how to govern transnational corporations and how to tackle transborder environmental and social problems. Although there were a number of sessions looking at the problems being created by economic globalization only a few went so far as to explore how to govern at the global level. Hopefully next year will see further evolution along these lines.

Last year, no one knew what to expect. This year many people came prepared to use the Forum as a platform or launching pad for future work, like the launching of the two global treaty initiatives mentioned above. There were lots of side meetings to plan actions at other upcoming global summits, like the UN Financing for Development meeting coming up soon in Monterrey, Mexico, the Rome plus Five World Food Summit, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development this August in Johannesburg.

One of the most important outcomes is the renewal and strengthening of many of the global networks of activists and leaders. With handshakes, hugs, and face to face meetings it was possible to reinforce the crucial relationships and connections that make these networks as powerful as many governments.

The difficulty of running sessions where it was necessary to translate into two and three languages continued to plague the forum, but overall the logistics and structure of sessions were much improved. Thanks to over $1.5 million in contributions from the City of Porto Alegre and the surrounding state of Rio Grande de Sul, there were excellent facilities for many of the 700 plus official workshops, seminars, and conferences.

In general, the media coverage in Brazil and other countries was very, very popular and supportive -- including excellent coverage from unexpected places like Voice of America - which can reach audiences of up to 90 million.

What was common between these two years was the warm welcome we received from everyone we met in Porto Alegre. There were a hundred or more temporary stalls and shops set up at the Forum site - selling everything from delicious local foods and artisan crafts to t-shirts, books and pamphlets promoting virtually every known political perspective and ideology. The strongest memory that I have coming away from this year's World Social Forum is that of a wonderful mercado - a marketplace where goods, services, and ideas from all over the planet were mixed and matched to create one of the most powerful and peaceful political gatherings ever held on this planet.

Near the end of the Forum I ran into WSF co-chair Grzybowski, who also serves on my board at IATP. Looking tired but happy he was clearly pleased with the success of this year's event. Next year they are planning regional gatherings in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and in Porto Alegre for the regional meeting for the Americas. I am booking my ticket now for the next chapter in this amazing story.

Mark Ritchie is President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.