World Social Forum

The first World Social Forum was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil
in January 2001, and was conceived of by the Worker's Party of
Brazil and other Brazilian civil society organizations as a counter
gathering to the World Economic Forum held for decades in Davos,
Switzerland. The Social Forum stands for the ideals of people-centered
globalization, with ÔAnother World is Possible!' as its battle
cry.

The Social Forum will be held again this year in Porto Alegre.
The Forum provides a space for social and environmental justice
activists from all over the globe, North and South, to come together
to share ideas, knowledge, tactics, and visions for this Ôother
world' we are working together to create. There are workshops
that place during the course of the Forum, mobilization committees
that work together during and after the Forum, and preparatory
sessions that take place throughout the year. During last year's
Social Forum, there was even a televised debate between representatives
of the World Social Forum and the World Economic Forum.

Walden Bello, Director of Focus on the Global South, put the
difference between Porto Alegre and Davos this way: "Here in Porto
Alegre, we are discussing how to save the planet. There in Davos,
the global elite is discussing how to maintain its hegemony over
the rest of us. In fact, the best gift that the 2000 corporate
executives at Davos can give to the world is for them to board
a spaceship and blast off for outer space. The rest of us will
definitely be much better off without them."

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is a gathering of the CEOs and top management
officials of among the 1000 richest and most powerful corporations
in the world, in addition to convening other members of the global
political and financial elite. It was the brainchild of Professor
Klaus Schwab, who called the first meeting in Davos, Switzerland
in 1971. It started out as the European Management Forum, and
over the years grew to include member corporations and representatives
from all over the world, becoming the World Economic Forum in
1987. The Forum also facilitates regional economic summits that
occur throughout the year.

The meetings involve strategy sessions and "wheeling and dealing"
among the world's political and financial elite. January 2002
marks the first Economic Forum to be held outside of Davos - a
major reason for the site shift being security concerns arising
out of mass protests which took place at last year's Forum. Instead,
the World Economic Forum will be held in New York City, and New
York government and business are using the opportunity to pump
revenue into their financial system.

The World Economic Forum represents another opportunity for the
architects of corporate-led globalization to formulate plans of
action that further the basis of neoliberalism, capitalism, and
imperialism - adding to social and environmental destruction throughout
the globe. As Bello states: "Porto Alegre is the future while
Davos is the past. Hemingway wrote that the rich are different
from you and me, and indeed, we live on two different planets:
Davos, the planet of the superrich, Porto Alegre, the planet of
the poor, the marginalized, the concerned."