A Report on The World Social Forum (WSF)
So, let us begin..."
Shannon: "Welcome to FSTV's 'Mobile-Eyes on The World Social Forum'. The centerpiece of FSTV's programming is our monthly 'Mobile-Eyes' series. These are a kind of National Television 'Teach-In'. Each one focuses on a particular subject and we shine a television spotlight on activists working on that issue. Our aim is to provide the facts you need to join us in the movement for progressive social change. All of this material plus resources and links for how you can support FSTV's efforts to do justice with television can be found on our website at www.freespeech.org.
This month we are coming to you from Porto Alegre, Brazil where we'll be focusing on The World Social Forum (Jan. 23-28, 2003). The WSF is an international gathering (100,000+) of activists, organizers and thinkers from around the planet coming together to strategize towards a more just, peaceful and sustainable world."
Mrs. A: "While capitalism's elites met in the World Economic Forum on the icy mountain heights of Davos, Switzerland, listening to Colin Powell bully the world with threats of war, social and political activists from across the globe gathered for six days in Porto Alegre, Brazil to declare 'another world is possible' and hammer out strategies to achieve it.
FSTV's News Director Shannon Service and a crew of five were in Brazil. Their video reports bring first-hand stories and analysis of the emerging global movement against imperialism and its' catastrophes of war, economic ruin and environmental devastation."
Shannon: "This month's 'Mobile-Eyes' will focus on the central themes of the WSF. We'll look at how war is used to protect power and wealth, how land is concentrated into fewer and fewer hands and what people around the world are doing to create economies and societies that respect life, that promote dignity and protect our ecosystems.
Up now, FSTV brings you a wrap-up report of the WSF. We'll look at the events that unfolded, the strategies that emerged and what's next in the global struggle for a just and peaceful world."
January 28, 2003 -- WSF
A Few Reflections and a Closing Speech
A Young Brazilian Man: "I think that people in the growing social movements cannot stop going out in the streets and doing what they are doing. I mean they need to all explain the power game very well. Those that are in power always have meetings behind closed doors. It is not the way of the people. The way of the people is going out in the streets and protesting.
Latin America has always been ruled by people from the elite. As the poor people would try to get to the government, instead there would be a lot of dictatorships. The military took the power. So now we have Lula (Luis Ignacio Lula DaSilva) who has been elected president (of Brazil) democratically. This is very important and as it goes well, then the whole of South America is going to turn left!
The history of Lula is very beautiful. He was a factory worker and now he is the President of Brazil. And as it goes well, it is proof that the people can rule a country, that the poor people can get to the power and do well. And that will have a tremendous attraction to the rest of South America."
Another Brazilian Man: "It is good to see how much people can and are trying to change the world. It makes a great difference to see all these people together thinking out loud at the same time to make change, BIG CHANGE, speaking out against the IMF and the WTO. It is very important. You can see 100,000 people speaking different languages and thinking the same thing. They, we, have to make change because people haven't been happy living here the way it is, of which at this time 5% of the population is very rich and the minority (?) 95% is very poor. We can't live seeing people passing very hungry. We can't be happy seeing other human beings not having a place to sleep. It is very sad and this event, where we come together like this, is what brings hope to us, not only for Brazil, but for the whole of South America. We have a support, a really strong support, from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela with Hugo Chavez and this is really fantastic!"
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Transcription of Arundathi Roy, Speaking After the WSF in Porto Alegre, Brazil
"How to Stand Up to the EMPIRE!"
Thank you. I want to simply say that this is the most beautiful crowd I have ever seen in my life!
Corporate Globalization or shall we call it by its' name -- Imperialism -- needs a press that pretends to be free. It needs thoughts that pretend to dispense justice.
Meanwhile the countries of the North harden their borders and stockpile weapons of mass destruction. After all they have to make sure that it's only money, patents and services that are globalized, not the free movement of people, not a respect for human rights and not International Treaties on Racial Discriminations!
So how do we resist EMPIRE? The good news is that we are not doing to badly. There have been major victories. Here in Latin America you have had so many. In Bolivia you have had Cochabamba. [city in Bolivia where people have fought and won against corporate polluters of their water] In Peru there was the uprising in Arequipa. [The White City] In Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is holding on despite the U.S. Governments best efforts. And the worlds' gaze is on the people of Argentina who are trying to refashion the country from the ashes of the Haligemot [the barons' court halls] of the IMF!
In India the movement against Corporate Globalization is gathering momentum and is poised to become the only real political force to counter Religious Fascism. And as for Corporate Globalizations' glittering ambassadors--Enron, Bactell, Worldcom, Arthur Anderson--where were they last year and where are they now? And of course here in Brazil we must ask: Who was the President last year and who is it now?
But still, still many of us have dark moments of hopelessness and despair because we know that under the spreading canopy of the war against terrorism the men in suits are hard at work. While the bombs rain down on us and cruise missiles skid across the skies, we know that contracts are being signed, patents are being registered, oil pipelines are being laid, natural resources are being plundered, water is being privatized and George Bush is planning to go to war against Iraq.
If we look at this conflict as a straight forward, eye-ball to eye-ball confrontation between Empire and those of us who are resisting it, it might seem that we are loosing. But, there is another way of looking at it.
We, all of us gathered here, have in our own way, laid siege to Empire! We may not have stopped it in its' tracks yet, but we have stripped it down. We have made it drop its' mask. We have forced it in the open. It now stands before us on the world stage in all its' brutish iniquitous nakedness!
[The] Empire may well go to war, but it's out in the open now, too ugly to behold its' own reflection, too ugly even to rally its' own people. It won't be long before the majority of American people become our allies!
Only a few days ago in Washington, D.C. a quarter of a million people [correction -- one-half million to one million] marched against the war on Iraq! And each month...each month the protest is gathering momentum.
Before September 11th, 2001, America had a secret history, secret especially from its' own people, but now Americas' secrets are history and its' history is public knowledge. It is street talk! Today we know that every argument that is being used to escalate the war against Iraq is a lie! The most ludicrous of them being the U.S. Governments deep commitment to bring democracy to Iraq!
Killing people to save them from dictatorships or ideological corruption is of course an old U.S. Government sport! Here in Latin America you know that better than most!
Nobody--nobody doubts that Saddam Hussein is a ruthless dictator, a murderer whose worst excesses were supported by the governments of the U.S. and Great Britain. There's no doubt that Iraqis' would be better off without him, but then THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT A CERTAIN MR. BUSH!!
So, should we bomb Bush out of the White House? [Yes, yes, yes, from the audience]
It's more than clear that Bush is determined to go to war against Iraq regardless of the facts and regardless of public opinion. In its' recruitment drive for allies, the United States Government is prepared to invent facts. The charade with weapons inspectors is the U.S. Governments' offensive insulting concession to some twisted form of international etiquette. It's like leaving the doggie door open for last minute allies or maybe the United Nations to crawl through! But for all intensive purposes the new war against Iraq has begun.
So what can we do? We can hone our memory. We can learn from history. We can continue to build public opinion until IT BECOMES A DEAFENING ROAR! We can turn the war on Iraq into a fishbowl of the U.S. Governments excesses. We can expose George Bush and Tony Blair and their allies for the cowardly baby-killers, water-poisoners and the fusalaminous long-distance bombers that they are! We can re-invent civil disobedience in a million different ways. In other words we can invent a million ways of becoming a collective pain in the ass!
When George Bush says, 'You're either with us or with the terrorists', we can say, 'No thank you!' We can let him know that the people of the world don't need to choose between a malevolent Mickey-mouse and a mad Mullah!
Our strategy should not only be to confront Empire, but to lay siege to it, to deprive it of oxygen, to shame it, to mock it with our art, our music, our literature, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness and our ability to tell our own stories, stories that are different from the ones we are being brainwashed to believe!
The Corporate Revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling! Their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability--remember this. We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them! Another world is not only possible. SHE"S ON HER WAY AND ON A QUIET DAY, IF YOU LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY, YOU CAN HEAR HER BREATHING!!
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Mrs. A: So mote it Be! Blessed Be! May we pass every test! In the Office of the Christ and only in the Office of the Christ to the power of the Co-Sign of Judah times ten-hundred-thousand times ten-hundred-thousand, PHYSICALLY MANIFEST, PHYSICALLY MANIFEST, PHYSICALLY MANIFEST NOW! In the name of Beloved Ascended Master Saint Germain and The Violet Flame. It is done! NESARA IS HERE NOW! AHO MITAKUYE OYASIN! TO ALL MY RELATIONS!
In honor of Arundathi's request, let me lend to your ears a poem I wrote in 1994 to invoke peace, freedom, harmony and balance for Mother Earth and all her Children of Light. I wrote this poem specifically to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King on his birthday that year and every year to come, and for the freedom-fighter in all of us for seven generations onto now. This poem was written to use as a meditation and a prayer.
With love in my heart for all, I give this to you now.
THE VIOLET HUE -- THE VIOLET RACE & FREEDOM IN MY SOUL
Let us begin to BREATHE --
Fill the space within
From the Earth below our soles
Up through all our chakras
And up some more into the Heavens
And hold it as long as you can
Then -- Let it ALL out
Along with ALL FEAR, GUILT, ANGER, OR DOUBT!
And then...
Let us begin again
To BREATHE in
This time in from the Heavens
Down through our crown
All the way down
Into our Earth Mothers' Sacred Holy Ground
Below our soles.
Father Heaven and Mother Earth become One
In US -- Great Breathing Radiant Suns!
Don't stop breathing
Hold the Light
Hold it and release the Peace.
Oseh Shalom...
May we who cause Peace to reign in Heaven,
Cause Peace to reign upon the Earth
And ALL her people!
Oseh Shalom...
In this DEEP BREATHING space
Open...and Open...and Open
Let it in --
THE COLOR PURPLE
With every inhalation
Hold it for as long as you can
Deep into your soul
This color of Divine Grace
'Til the soul fills to whole
And it's time for exhalation
And SOUL CELEBRATION!
THE COLOR PURPLE -- Amazing Grace!
Breathe it out
And Breathe it in
Feel your Temple tingle
Let the sound of this color of devotion
To the love of sweet, sweet Freedoms' flowing emotion
Open the door...more
To my SOUL
THE COLOR PURPLE
Breathe it in 'til the soul fills to whole
FREEDOM IN MY SOUL!
I HAVE A DREAM
Freedom in my soul
I was half
Now I AM whole
Black...
Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Purple
...and White TOGETHER
Like birds of a feather, EAGLES I might say
TOGETHER
Singing a song
Of The Law of One
Blending All colors of THE ONE
Into the sound
Of a new vibration
Exclaiming TOGETHER
The truth of ONE LOVE FOREVER
TOGETHER
One Nation, One World
Under GOD-GODDESS ALL THAT IS
With Liberty and Justice FOR ALL!
Now, the race called Black
True-ly The Indigo Race
The Blue-Violet Face
Of the Original Race
From The Land of PAN
THE MOTHERLAND
Held a prominent place
Oh Magic Medicine Circle
COLOR ME PURPLE
Imbue me with its' free-flowing ocean of Divine E-motion
With its' gentleness and love
Bathe me in its' song of Devotion
To FREEDOM'S HOLY FLAME-
THE COLOR PURPLE
We are here
The ONE, the ALL
We are THE EAGLES
Trumpeting THE CLARION CALL!
Oh Holy Violet Race
US -- HUE-mans
With our Rainbow Face
Immersed in Divine Grace
Freedom in Our Soul
We were half
Now we're whole!
Oh RAINBOW CHILDREN
Seed Divine from the Stars
Bringing LOVE, LIGHT, AND POWER
No holds barred!
In this FINAL HOUR
TOGETHER Let Us Remember
THE VISION and THE DREAM
Of ALL GOD-GODDESS BEINGS
Of THE DREAM
And THE MISSION
To Dance The Dream Awake!
To LOVE our bodies whole
No matter what the color
What the shape
COLOR ME PURPLE
The Red and The Blue
The BALANCE
Of Male and Female
Of Black, Green and Yellow too!
Of every HUE of this race called HUE-man
I AM that I AM
I am THAT I am
I am that I AM!
Oh sisters and brothers
We ARE The Rainbow Children
We ARE The Children of Light
For FREEDOM'S HOLY FLIGHT...
...INTO THE LIGHT
OF THE GREAT CENTRAL SUN
IN THIS FINAL HOUR...
WE ARE ONE
WE ARE ONE
WE ARE ONE
FREEDOM IN OUR SOUL!
Aho Mitakuye Oyasin!
Into THE LIGHT OF THE MOST RADIANT ONE
I send this prayer in behalf of us all
And I call upon Beloved Ascended Master Saint Germain
And THE VIOLET FLAME
In the Office of THE CHRIST
And ONLY IN THE OFFICE OF THE CHRIST
That NESARA IS DONE
That IT IS DONE NOW!
SO BE IT!
And as the Psychic Children have said
PEACE IS HERE and IT IS FUN!
BLESSINGS & A-BUN-DANCE to ALL!
In Service to TRUTH, SIMPLICITY and LOVE-
Lady Master Avantari and my Beloved Lord Ariamas (A&A)
THE LAW OF ONE
We are all one
When one is harmed, all are harmed
When one is helped, all are helped
Therefore, in the name of my being
Which is one with all there is
And is all powerful and all loving
And is one with all the Masters
And with the Christ
I ask for that which is for the highest
Good of all concerned to happen here.
I offer thanks that this is done.
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