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  World Social Forum (Porto Alegre, Brazil)  

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Globalization tops Social Forum agenda -...For Sergio Gomes, a metalworker from Sao Paulo, Brazil's industrial largest city, globalization "is the new name of colonization." "It means that industrial countries keep the clean industries, like electronics, and force developing countries to work with industries polluting the environment," he said. "They get the best, we are left the worst." (Harold Olmos, Associated Press, 24 Jan. 2003)

WEF appeals for ethic rules - Critics of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which opened here on Thursday appealed to governments and big business to accept binding rules making them accountable...Klaus Schwab, the founder and president of the WEF, who normally espouses a pro-business line, joined the criticism...The NGOs said that voluntary codes were not enough to stop practices which created environmental, social or even financial damage. (South African Press Association, 23 Jan. 2003)

Alternative Davos opens with criticism of US -...The Public Eye on Davos – set up by NGOs to monitor the activities of the WEF and its participants – wants to see binding international rules introduced, requiring multinationals to sign up to agreed environmental and social standards. “The idea is to launch a convention on corporate accountability and responsibility,” Miriam Behrens of Pro-Natura, the Swiss arm of Friends of the Earth, told swissinfo. (swissinfo, 23 Jan. 2003)

GLOBALIZE THIS! Respect for human rights. -...So we are not opposed to globalisation but we cannot accept a globalisation that dooms more than a billion people to lives of deprivation incompatible with basic human dignity. Why worry so much about expanding investment opportunities and so little about globalising respect for human rights? Why is all the attention on binding rules for trade disputes, and so little on international accountability in relation to states' human rights obligations?...For too long corporations operating globally have exploited weaknesses in national laws and have been party to human rights violations with impunity.  International human rights law is part of the solution to corporate accountability and to the creation of a global regulatory framework that allows for a globalisation consistent with freedom and dignity. (speech by Paul Hoffman, Chair of Amnesty International, to World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 25 Jan. 2003)

Davos versus Porto Alegre, Round Three - Policy-makers world- wide have a real opportunity to start building a sustainable world by shifting the spotlight from corporate interests highlighted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, (January 23-28) to the priorities emphasized by civil society representatives meeting here during the same days for the third World Social Forum, according to Friends of the Earth International. (Friends of the Earth, 15 Jan. 2003)

Websites:

World Social Forum website {···english···portuguès···français···español}

Le Forum Mondial Social à Porto Alegre, du 25 au 30 janvier 2001 (Envirodev website) {···français}

Other materials:

2003:

GLOBALIZE THIS! Respect for human rights. -...So we are not opposed to globalisation but we cannot accept a globalisation that dooms more than a billion people to lives of deprivation incompatible with basic human dignity. Why worry so much about expanding investment opportunities and so little about globalising respect for human rights? Why is all the attention on binding rules for trade disputes, and so little on international accountability in relation to states' human rights obligations?...For too long corporations operating globally have exploited weaknesses in national laws and have been party to human rights violations with impunity.  International human rights law is part of the solution to corporate accountability and to the creation of a global regulatory framework that allows for a globalisation consistent with freedom and dignity. (speech by Paul Hoffman, Chair of Amnesty International, to World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 25 Jan. 2003)

Globalization tops Social Forum agenda -...For Sergio Gomes, a metalworker from Sao Paulo, Brazil's industrial largest city, globalization "is the new name of colonization." "It means that industrial countries keep the clean industries, like electronics, and force developing countries to work with industries polluting the environment," he said. "They get the best, we are left the worst." (Harold Olmos, Associated Press, 24 Jan. 2003)

WEF appeals for ethic rules - Critics of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which opened here on Thursday appealed to governments and big business to accept binding rules making them accountable...Klaus Schwab, the founder and president of the WEF, who normally espouses a pro-business line, joined the criticism...The NGOs said that voluntary codes were not enough to stop practices which created environmental, social or even financial damage. (South African Press Association, 23 Jan. 2003)

Alternative Davos opens with criticism of US -...The Public Eye on Davos – set up by NGOs to monitor the activities of the WEF and its participants – wants to see binding international rules introduced, requiring multinationals to sign up to agreed environmental and social standards. “The idea is to launch a convention on corporate accountability and responsibility,” Miriam Behrens of Pro-Natura, the Swiss arm of Friends of the Earth, told swissinfo. (swissinfo, 23 Jan. 2003)

Davos versus Porto Alegre, Round Three - Policy-makers world- wide have a real opportunity to start building a sustainable world by shifting the spotlight from corporate interests highlighted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, (January 23-28) to the priorities emphasized by civil society representatives meeting here during the same days for the third World Social Forum, according to Friends of the Earth International. (Friends of the Earth, 15 Jan. 2003)

2002:

A Rights Based Approach to Development: Presentation to the World Social Forum Seminar on Globalization and Human Dignity - Porto Allegre (Jorge Daniel Taillant, Executive Director of CEDHA - Centro de Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente/Center for Human Rights and Environment, 2 Mar. 2002)

50,000 People From 100 Countries Hold ‘World Social Forum’: Brazil Gathering, an Alternative to Elite ‘World Economic Forum,’ Explores Ideas for a Just and Sustainable Global Society (Emily LaBarbera-Twarog Organizer, Chicago Jobs with Justice, in Labor Notes, Mar. 2002)

Globalizing Hope: Another World is Still Possible - The only way to really describe the World Social Forum (WSF), that just ended here in Brazil, is a global political "carnaval." (Joshua Karliner, CorpWatch, 6 Feb. 2002)

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Annan Asks Participants To Join With Business - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on participants at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to make "common cause" with businesses, governments and the United Nations. He is scheduled to make a similar plea for cooperation later today to business and civic leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum in New York. (Jim Wurst, UN Wire, 4 Feb. 2002)

WTO rules 'detrimental' to developing countries [report from World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil]: The message from all panellists at the conference was that the World Trade Organisation's rules on intellectual property rights were detrimental to developing countries and that reform efforts at its ministerial meeting in Doha last September were mostly cosmetic. (Raymond Colitt, Financial Times, 3 Feb. 2002) 

Protesters have corporate targets in their sights: Campaign leaders gathering in Porto Alegre for the World Social Forum said on Saturday that protesters should - and will - increasingly focus on large corporations. (James Harding, Financial Times, 2 Feb. 2002)

Capitalism's critics urge new global institutions: The International Forum on Globalization, a worldwide group of intellectuals, academics and activists critical of corporate power, on Saturday set out an alternative agenda calling for new institutions of global governance under a reformed United Nations. (James Harding, Financial Times, 2 Feb. 2002) 

The Rights Based Approach to Development: Indivisibility and Interdependence of ALL Human Rights (presentation to World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, by Colm O'Cuanachain, Chairperson, International Executive Committee, Amnesty International, 1 Feb. 2002) note: the correct date of this presentation is 1 Feb. 2002

Hundreds of NGOs from more than 50 nations announce support of a treaty to establish the gene pool as a global commons - Biotech activists to challenge government and corporate claims on patents on life - Treaty to be centerpiece of international campaigns around the world (press statement by various NGOs at World Social Forum, Focus on the Global South website, 1 Feb. 2002)

Parallel worlds reach informal accord: In a roundtable meeting in Paris last December, officials from the World Bank, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation agreed in principle with social organisations including the World Social Forum on the need to promote "public debates on key issues of [the globalisation] conflict". (Raymond Colitt, Financial Times, 1 Feb. 2002) 

The need for legally binding regulation of Transnational Corporations: Christian Aid policy brief for the World Economic Forum and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Christian Aid, Feb. 2002)

{···español} Las libertades en la agenda de la globalización: A partir de hoy se celebran de forma simultánea, por segundo año consecutivo, dos grandes reuniones sobre la globalización: el Foro Económico Mundial...y el Foro Social Mundial (Joaquín Estefanía, El País, 31 Jan. 2002)

World Economic and Social Fora: The effects of globalization must be addressed and the rights of all must be protected (Amnesty International, 31 Jan. 2002)

Critics of global capitalism to descend on Brazil [World Social Forum] (Carlos A. DeJuana, Reuters, 30 Jan. 2002)

Trade Union Statement to the World Social Forum (Porto Alegre) and the World Economic Forum (New York): Globalising Social Justice - where global governance and binding rules are beginning to emerge, it is for the purpose of protecting property rights in the interest of capital rather than the rights of labour (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 28 Jan. 2002)

World labour body to attend anti-globalisers' meet:...The Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) said 19 representatives would go to the "World Social Forum" in Porto Alegre...ICFTU officials said the decision to attend the gathering reflected growing concern among mainstream unions that governments were ignoring workers' rights in the global advance towards free trade and economic liberalisation. (Robert Evans, Reuters, 28 Jan. 2002) 

{···español} Responsabilidad Empresarial, Derechos Humanos, Y Ambiente: Jurisprudencia Internacional De Derechos Humanos En Casos De Degradación Ambiental Empresarial [Presentado en Porto Alegre, Foro Social Mundial] (Romina Picolotti, fundadora y directora del Programa Acceso a la Justicia del Centro de Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente [CEDHA], enero 2002)

{···português} Sobre o Segundo Fórum Social Mundial (Leonardo Melgarejo, 2002)

2001:

Brazil anti-globalization forum to mull war, terror: The World Social Forum of anti-globalization activists will take place in Brazil in January for the second year in a row to discuss such topics as terrorism and war, organizers said last week. (Reuters, 3 Dec. 2001)

World Social Forum charter of principles (World Social Forum [Porto Alegre, Brazil], 9 Apr. 2001)

'Alternative Davos' to be annual (Tom Gibb, BBC News, 29 Jan. 2001)

Internet insults traded globally [internet debate between participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos and the World Social Forum in Brazil] (Tom Gibb, BBC News, 29 Jan. 2001)

Groups in Porto Alegre Want Global Compact Put on Ice (CorpWatch, 28 Jan. 2001)

'Anti-Davos' Forum Is Another Sign of a Sea Change (William Pfaff, International Herald Tribune, 27 Jan. 2001)

Alternative views find their place in the sun: We're not here to torch Davos, say organisers (Alex Bellos, Guardian [UK], 27 Jan. 2001)

2000:

Davos? No, Porto Alegre (Ignacio Ramonet, Le Monde diplomatique, Aug. 2000)