Brazil anti-globalization forum to mull war, terror
Date: 03-Dec-01
Country: BRAZIL
Oded Grajew, one of the organizers of the forum, told a news conference 50,000 people were expected to attend the meeting in the southern city of Porto Alegre between Jan. 31 and Feb. 5, more than double last year's estimated 20,000.
Organizers said the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on U.S. targets and U.S. military actions in Afghanistan provided enough food for debate at the event, which groups many of the protesters who had disrupted high-level economic talks from Seattle to Genoa.
"Terrorism and war are on the same side, they are two faces of one coin. The other side is peace," Grajew said.
The cancellation of all Third World debt is another key motive of the forum.
Born in protest against the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Brazilian forum has long been referred to as "anti-Davos." The economic forum has since said it would move its annual meeting to New York to ensure better security.
Last year's Brazilian meeting brought activists from 120 countries and 1,000 organizations together.
The generally nonviolent event last year was marked by an invasion of an experimental farm owned by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, when protesters yanked up more than five acres (two hectares) of genetically modified soybean crops.
