New Social Movements Gain Strength Against Pro-Engagement Groups

  
One subtle, but key trend that can be seen at this year's edition of the World Social Forum is the growth of a new civil society coalition of social movements. This movement is part of an effort that has been occurring over the last several years-the resurgence in power and message of the rural and indigenous movements of the Americas. In this case, these movements have decided to act as a new independent force outside of the efforts of the NGOs and community-based or popular organizations that, until now, have represented the civil society counterpoint to the traditional mass social movement, the unions. This new "movement of movements" has been growing in strength and purpose for the last two years and showed its teeth at the recent Trade Ministerial in Quito, Ecuador last November.

At the World Social Forum, the groups that compose this movement are busy articulating their positions in workshops and private meetings. The first place they will be noted is likely to be at the meeting to discuss the hemispheric campaign against the FTAA. Instead of taking the form of a Hemispheric Social Alliance meeting, as it usually does, this event is being announced as a more general convocation of movements above the structure of the HSA.

The new force represents an ideological and philosophical view that includes not shying away from direct action as a means of protest. Its leadership also has more of a far-left tone, much to the left of Lula's government, for instance. One of the key leaders of this movement is Jo�o Pablo Stedile of the MST, the landless peasant movement of Brazil. Stedile was the speaker who inaugurated the World Social Forum this year.

This new force has implications for those in the NGOs who see the need for an "inside and outside" strategy of engagement and not merely confrontation with the globalization/corporate elites, organizations like the IMF and World Bank, and the WTO and FTAA trade negotiations. The attitude of this bloc of mass-based organizations and their militant leaders is more of an all-or-nothing approach.

Engagement is still very much an option on the table at the World Social Forum, however. One of the instruments of the impetus to engage the world in a constructive dialogue on alternatives is the newest edition of the Hemispheric Social Alliance's "Alternatives for the Americas," just released here in Porto Alegre. It accompanies a detailed analysis of the most recent draft of the FTAA treaty, entitled "The FTAA Exposed: A Citizens' Critique of the November 2002 Draft of the Free Trade Area of the Americas." This document should be available on the HSC web site (www.asc-hsc.org) shortly. Significantly, although it includes fairly balanced participation by north and south experts, there is no chapter relating to indigenous and rural workers or their needs for land reform and other measures. This type of effort is not part of the pro-engagement groups' plan for fighting globalization. They feel that they need to keep their message simple and direct to rally the necessary political power to defeat the FTAA in the political process in Latin America.

All of this continues to serve as a backdrop to the debates and the pressures that are evolving within civil society here at the World Social Forum and elsewhere. A chance to evaluate these positions will come on January 28, when the anti-FTAA movements meet the Hemispheric Social Alliance to evaluate the work done in the last six months and the plans for the coming semester. This should include a discussion on a hemispheric level of the strategies for contesting the FTAA at the Miami Ministerial in the fall. This might be the moment when civil society sees the extent that the new social movements have succeeded in articulating a common position as a separate force to the concept of the Hemispheric Social Alliance and anti-corporativists in general.