Fri, January 30, 2009
BELEM, Brazil — Five South American leaders headed to this steamy Amazon city Thursday to join 100,000 activists demanding an overhaul of capitalism that they say is long overdue.
The presidents of Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela were expected to join leftists of all stripes at an annual protest against the World Economic Forum held for the planet's rich and powerful at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said after arriving in Brazil that the World Social Forum should be transformed from an event that traditionally debates global problems into one that proposes solutions.
"We must leave the trenches while maintaining the flags, fortifying the ideas, and launch a political ideological offensive everywhere," he said. "This forum can accomplish that."
Brazilian landless advocates packed a sweltering gymnasium waiting for Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa to address them on how to confront the global meltdown. A crowd of about 500 chanted socialist mantras to wild samba drumming.
Chavez, who frequently criticizes the U.S. and capitalism, "is fighting for people like me and his presence validates our movement," said activist Nicinha Durans, who sported a bright red shirt reading "Hip Hop Militant."
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will make his first social forum appearance in three years, bringing 13 government ministers with him instead of going to Switzerland.
Some activists said they weren't angry at the former labor leader for shunning the forum in previous years, and predicted the center-left president will receive a warm welcome.
But Durans said others will protest against Silva because his administration has embraced many of the free-market economic policies he denounced before being elected president in 2003.
"He has let us down, and he won't be welcome here," Durans said.
Gladys Cisneros, a program officer for the American Center for International Labor Solidarity based in Washington, was encouraged by the VIP lineup — but hoped leaders want to do more than boost their popularity amid the world financial crisis.
"I would hope their coming here is a genuine reflection of their interest in engaging in civil society and not just a photo op," she said.
(Agencies)
