Federico Fuentes
The spirit of two familiar figures, one old and one new, dominated this year's World Social Forum. The old was the ever-present Che Guevara whose spirit not only lives on in the form of his images plastered across buildings and participants, but also in the hearts and minds of the tens of thousands present at the WSF.
The new figure present on centre stage at this year's event was Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. After having been relegated to an "off broadway" appearance at the 2003 WSF, he was invited by the Brazilian Movement of Landless Peasants (MST) to attend. Chavez spent that day's morning visiting the Lagoa do Junco settlement, a conquest of year-long struggle and occupation by 33 families who finally gained control over the unused land. However it was his appearance on the closing panel of the six-day event which was amongst the most talked about at this year's event.
Returning to its birthplace once again in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the gathering attracted around 155,000 participants from 135 countries. More than 2500 activities were on offer for those who could attend what has become stamped as the meeting of "the movement of movements", with discussions ranging from opposing the imperialist war drive and defence of food sovereignty to the struggles of oppressed peoples and the impact of Third World debt.
Chavez's appearance in Gigantinho Stadium, the biggest venue at the event, was always going to unsettle those who have maintained that politicians and political parties should not be allowed to officially participate in the WSF space. Yet none of this seemed to worry the 20,000 radicals inside, nor the thousands more who watched from the TV broadcast outside.
The meeting of old and new was well expressed by Raul Pierre, in an article for Inter Press Services on January 30 describing the atmosphere surround Chavez's speech: "...in the afternoon came the moment that many WSF participants had been waiting for. Thousands of people began to descend on Gigantinho stadium around 4pm local time, despite the speech been scheduled to start two hours later. Carrying banners from a number of countries from Latin America, especially from Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba, the image of the Argentine-Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara dominated the t-shirts and placards of the youth. Many Brazilians dressed in red t-shirts, the colours of both the PT [Workers' Party in Brazil] and of the governing party in Venezuela, Movimento V Republica [Movement for a Fifth Republic] with the phrase '100% Lula', although some of the more radical carried a placard that said 'Chavez, come and be our president'."
Writing for Associated Press, Alan Clendenning commented, "Sporting a red shirt embossed with a picture of the revolutionary Che Guevara, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez received a hero's welcome....where activists greeted him with huge cries of 'Here comes the chief!'"
In an article on Venezuela Analysis, Cleto A. Sojo quoted Chavez saying, "Everyday I become more convinced, there is no doubt in my mind, and as many intellectuals have said, that it is necessary to transcend capitalism. But capitalism can't be transcended from within capitalism itself, but through socialism, true socialism, with equality and justice. But I'm also convinced that it is possible to do it under democracy, but not in the type of democracy being imposed from Washington...
"But we cannot resort to state capitalism, which would be the same perversion of the Soviet Union. We must reclaim socialism as a thesis, a project and a path, but a new type of socialism, a humanist one which puts humans, and not machines or the state ahead of everything. That's the debate we must promote around the world, and the WSF is a good place to do it."
Chavez spoke of the urgent necessity to take up the fight against imperialism; "If we do not make that better world possible, if we fail, and through the rifles of the US Marines, and through Mr Bush's murderous bombs.... the Bush doctrine is imposed upon the world, the world will be destroyed."
Yet Chavez's speech was filled with a sense of optimism: "When imperialism feels weak, it resorts to brute force. The attacks on Venezuela are a sign of weakness, ideological weakness. Nowadays nobody defends neoliberalism."
Chavez commented that imperialism was not invincible, predicting that there will be rebellions everywhere, "because the people are not going to accept in peace the impositions of neoliberalism or colonialism".
"Look at Vietnam, look at Iraq and Cuba resisting, and now look at Venezuela...
"Venezuela will not attack anybody, but don't attack Venezuela, because you will find us ready to defend our sovereignty and the project we are carrying forward", he added.
"The FTAA is dead, what they got was mini-FTAAs because US imperialism did not have the strength to impose the neoliberal model of the FTAA."
The alternative posed by the Chavez government, that of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) was making ground, he said. The growing relationship with Cuba were one example, where Venezuelan oil is being exchanged at below market prices in return for assistance from Cuba through 20,000 Cuban doctors, who are currently working at free medical clinics in poor neighbourhoods, and access to Cuban vaccines and literacy programs. It was decided that as part of a process of decentralisation of the WSF in 2006, it would be held concurrently at three different venues, one each in Asia, Africa and the Americas. The venue decided by the Americas Hemispheric Council for its component next year was Venezuela.
From Green Left Weekly, February 9, 2005.
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