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2005 World Social Forum-Brazil Coverture Third Day The Brazilian writer and former Catholic priest Leornado Boff said the colonialism, the inheritance of the slavery and the transformation of the country in a great multinational company are the biggest problems (he called:"the three wounds") Brazilian society has to face up to. According to him the Catholic Church can't have the right to talk about dignity because it is seated in the blood of millions. He still defended that the first right is the right to the life and that ,other freedoms must come later, including the right of going and coming,...

"Where are the slave costumes?" shouts a stressed director, followed by "Get me the lion's head!" The adrenalin is flowing in advance of a dress rehearsal for "Spartacus Returns" in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. The ballet-cum-play about freedom has already been staged eight times in Bangalore and at the recent World Social Forum in Bombay (Mumbai). The work tells the story of Spartacus, a gladiator-slave in ancient Rome who led thousands of others in a freedom revolt before being captured and crucified in 71BC. It then has Spartacus reappearing as a child in modern slave conditions - criticism...

The top agenda item for the Palestinian "peace" groups today is dismantling Israel by the Right of Return, flooding the country with Arab terrorists after running Israelis out of the West Bank and Gaza. And the Ford Foundation foots the bill to advance these groups' goals.

Anti-globalisation activists have called for the world to unite against the United States at a rally of 100,000 people in Bombay. The World Social Forum is holding discussions and demonstrations on issues from Iraq to child labour. But the agenda focuses on organising opposition to the US, which demonstrators accuse of military aggression and unfair trading practices. Speaking at the rally, attended by demonstrators from 130 different countries, former US attorney general Ramsey Clark said: "If the United Nations is to survive, countries have to stand up to the United States. "If the US dominates the United Nations as it...

Roy hopes Saddam's fate for Bush AFP[ SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2004 02:55:18 PM ] Social activist Shabana Azmi, left, speaks as freedom fighter Lakshmi Sehgal, and writer Arundathi Roy, right, look on at the opening ceremony of the World Social Forum in Bombay on Friday. (AP Photo) BOMBAY: Writer Arundhati Roy, who wants an ongoing anti-globalisation conference to launch a campaign to shut down US companies, said Sunday she hoped President George W Bush would share the fate of the captured Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "If Saddam Hussein deserves to be humiliated and have his fillings counted and his...

BOMBAY: Writer Arundhati Roy, who wants an ongoing anti-globalisation conference to launch a campaign to shut down US companies, said Sunday she hoped President George W Bush would share the fate of the captured Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "If Saddam Hussein deserves to be humiliated and have his fillings counted and his hair checked for lice on primetime TV, then so does George Bush," Roy told about 100 people at a leftist convention on the sidelines of the World Social Forum. "Saddam Hussein surely ought to be tried for crimes against humanity. But so should all his accomplices in the...

BOMBAY : Anti-globalisation activists called for the world to unite against the United States as 100,000 people from 130 countries met off a Bombay highway in the movement's first forum since the Iraq war. The World Social Forum, billed as a counterweight to the World Economic Forum of business and political leaders which opens Wednesday in Switzerland, is holding discussions and demonstrations on issues from Iraq to child labour. But the common thread for the diverse set of activists is opposition to US President George W. Bush, whom forum leaders accuse of endangering world security and bending trade rules...

THE World Social Forum (WSF) at Nesco Grounds in suburban Goregaon resembles a small town, a bizarre international village whose only industry is progressive politics. Stalls line the streets promoting every cause and issue from the oppression of Dalits to food security to the rights of the transgendered. But even when it’s not centrestage, one issue above all seems to be everywhere: Iraq. Pink flowers in their sunhats, a line of Japanese files silently through the middle of a packed press conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and the vice-president of Vietnam, Ngyugen Bihn. Between them they carry...

World Social Forum changes priorities to take aim at Indian caste system By Khozem Merchant in Mumbai Published: January 17 2004 4:00 | Last Updated: January 17 2004 4:00 Delegates at the World Social Forum in Mumbai will today tell India that it must dismantle its caste system, which actively discriminates against 200m poor people. The demand to end India's ancient form of social division will form one element of a shift in priority for the WSF, a gathering of 70,000 social activists from 30 countries that opened yesterday in India's booming financial hub. Previously the WSF, a coalition of...

MUMBAI: Coming down heavily on US military campaign in Iraq and globalisation, the World Social Forum (WSF) began here on Friday night with a pledge to launch campaign for a new international order ensuring social justice at all levels. Speakers from different countries urged the US and its allies to stop their show of power in various parts of the world and hand over Iraq to Iraqis while Indian anti-globalisation leaders criticised growing fundamentalism in the country in the context of post-Godhra riots in Gujarat. Captain Laxmi Sehgal, the INA veteran, said globalisation was a danger and should be fought...

For the past three years, an annual conference called the World Social Forum has been the biggest international gathering of radicals on earth, attended by all the leaders of the world left. Labor unions, Communist parties, non-governmental organizations, anti-globalization activists, anti-American 'peace' groups, multiple heads of state, and the representatives of armed guerilla insurgencies all gather yearly at Porto Alegre, Brazil, to make new connections and plan for the future. While the organizers of the World Social Forum claim the event is a "open meeting place" for those interested in building "a planetary society centered on the human person,"...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticized his opponents Sunday after arriving at the World Social Forum to meet with sympathizers among the 100,000 activists gathered to protest American-style capitalism. Chavez, who left his country despite a 56-day general strike, lashed out at Venezuelan opposition leaders, predicting they would fail in their bid to oust him from power. "Our struggle against the terrorists and fascists has further strengthened the will of the Venezuelan people," Chavez said after arriving at this far southern Brazilian port city. "It is one thing to try to get rid of me, and another thing to succeed. I...

Anti-globalization protesters greeted Brazil's new leftist president like a rock star at the World Social Forum on Friday, cheering the one-time revolutionary as one of their own. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had breakfast with the socialist mayor of Porto Alegre, talked with forum organizers and held an afternoon meeting with former Portuguese President Mario Soares, founder of Portugal's socialist party. Soares said Silva, who has made fighting hunger in Brazil his top priority, is "real proof that there can be social participation in government." Hundreds of Brazilians and foreigners attending the six-day forum chanted "Lula! Our President!" when...