Columbia Journal - Globalization Congress

In the aftermath of the turbulent European Union summit in Barcelona Spain and the predicted equally turbulent upcoming G 8 summit in Kananaskis Alberta, anew call for global economy democracy has been out by the recent World Social Forum in Puerto Alegre Brazil.

The forum took place last month to coincide with the World Economic Forum in New York, a tiny but influential semi-secret meeting of powerful political and business agencies. That meeting was, as usual, greeted with mass protest by labour and public interest organizations and citizens.

"The meeting in Porto Alegre is the second annual World Social Forum and represents the shifting tide in the globalization debate" says Chela Vasquez, senior associate at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and organizer of the event. "No longer satisfied with simple protests, non-governmental organizations and civil society are making concrete proposals and looking to achieve some victories."

Vasquez reports this latest WSF round focussed mainly on consumer and ecological protection and food quality through democratizing the trade and patenting process.

"In recent years the privatization of biological resources by private companies has alarmed environmentalists, farmers and communities," Vasquez said. "Wildlife and agro-diversity are being expropriated under the stamp of intellectual property rights claimed by the pharmaceutical industry and large seed companies."

Organizations from over 50 nations endorsed a Treaty Initiative to Share Our Genetic Commons, which declares the world's genetic resources a part of the whole humanity, and have pledged to work to prevent the privatization of genetic resources.

The convention also dealt with proposals for the sustainable management of the world's freshwater resources including a resolution calling for the creation of a world water treaty, a world water parliament, and of a world coalition opposing water privatization.

"More than 1.3 billion do not have safe drinking water and more than two billion people do not have water for their basic needs," said Vasquez. "Both Treaty Initiatives will be pushed within national governments around the world and at the United Nations. Civil society hopes to see them discussed at the 10th anniversary of the Rio Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa this September."

Vasquez adds the WSF was set up to challenge the narrow and often anti-democratic capitalist interests being exclusively promoted by the World Trade Organization and the various trade and investment regimes around the globe.

"The World Economic Forum represents an outdated perspective of globalization - one that strictly adheres to the economic interests of multinational corporations," Vasquez said. "But after living under this new age of economic globalization over the last decade--and experiencing its downsides--many believe it is time for a different way of thinking."