Brussels, 20/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - Fifteen or so MEPs from the United European Left/Nordic Green Left, will be attending the third World Parliamentary Forum in a personal capacity, which is being held in Porto Alegre (Brazil) from 22-24 January, as part of the World Social Forum (23-28 January).
Organised as an alternative to the World Economic Forum which is being held at the same time in Davos (Switzerland), the World Social Forum is expecting to welcome some 30,000 delegates from 5000 movements and organisations from 121 countries.
It aims to argue for a different globalisation - a globalisation of solidarity - by formulating "alternatives to neo-liberal economic globalisation policies" and build a global society based on human beings. Activities will be based around five topics - sustainable democratic development; principles and values, human rights, diversity and equality; media, culture and counter-hegemony; political power, civil society and democracy; and the democratic world order, combatting militarisation and promoting peace.
Within this vast debating zone, the World Parliamentary Assembly will be attended this year by more than 300 MPs from around the world, particular Socialists, Greens and other progressive MPs from all trends, who want to link up their legislative activity with civil society's mobilisations. They will be preparing campaigns and concrete initiatives for 2003 with a view to giving substance to the international network of MPs.
Their debates will be organised into three panels on the following themes: 1) the crisis of neo-liberalism and a new development model; 2) the role of MPs in building democratic society; and 3) links between social movements and political parties. Various workshops, seminars, conferences and other events will be organised during the World Social Forum in order to feed the discussions.
"This parliamentary platform will enable us to set up networks in all the world's parliaments to relay common projects such as defending public services, developing the social rights of the citizens of the world, and protecting public goods in world trade. On a whole series of dossiers, Europe must defend a progressive vision.
Our point of view on the war in Iraq and also on the globalisation of trade via GATS (the General agreement on trade and services) is opposed to the manicheism displayed at the moment by the United States on these issues," said Olga Zrihen, Belgian Socialist MEP. She added: "As far as I'm concerned, like the Vice-President of the Women's Rights Committee at the European Parliament, I will be calling for the setting up of a structure or a network, a type of alarm system, to help all women living in situations of discrimination and abuse in all the countries of the world".
Friends of the Earth International, the global environmental NGO, which is also represented at the World Social Forum, "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… to the priorities emphasised by civil society representatives". Noting that it was the World Economic Forum that "paved the way for the creation of the World Trade Organisation and the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), both of which have been severely criticised for contributing to global inequality through their damaging impacts on poor communities and the environment", FoE asserts, "the real challenge for humankind is to provide a decent quality of life for a predicted population of 10 billion people in the year 2050, whilst reducing environmental impacts to sustainable levels". FoE sees the Social Forum "movement building" as "vital to formulate alternatives to neo-liberal economic globalisation policies and to review ways to minimise the negative impact of a corporate-led globalisation process".
Trade union activities will also be in full swing in Porto Alegre, where the ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) will be holding the second World Trade Union Forum on the "The trade union movement at the heart of civil society".