D+C Development and Cooperation (No. 2, March/April 2002, p. 3)

In the years before, starting at the WTO meeting in Seattle and culminating in the street battles during the G8 summit in Genova, the proponents and critics of globalisation had physically come together in one place. In the resulting atmosphere of confrontation and violence, it was no longer possible for any side to listen to the arguments of the opposing side. This time, the participants in the two conferences, although separated by thousands of miles, had a better chance to hear what the other side had to say. To the surprise of many, the World Economic Forum echoed many of the concerns and apprehensions of those gathered in Porto Alegre.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, for instance, made a remarkable speech when he called on the business leaders to realise that the poor had quite a different perception of what globalisation had to offer them. Referring to the rival meeting in Porto Alegre, Annan said the business world should not underestimate the strength of the feelings around the world against the effects of globalisation and what was perceived by many as sheer profit-seeking, with no regard for the social cost of economic activities. "It is not enough to say - though it is true - that without business the poor would have no hope of escaping their poverty. You must show that economics, properly applied, and profits, wisely invested, can bring social benefits within reach not only for the few but for the many, and eventually for all", Annan said. This, however, would not be achieved by just relying on the forces of the market, Annan added. "The unpleasant truth is that markets put a premium on success, and tend to punish the poor for the very fact that they are poor."

Views like these would have fitted well into the discussions conducted simultaneously in Porto Alegre under the motto "Another World Is Possible". Although the World Social Forum lacked a clear organisation and mandate - in this respect no different from the equally arbitrary selection of participants of the New York gathering - it managed to put across a vision of a different kind of globalisation. The final "Declaration of Social Movements" lists elements of that vision: taxation on speculative currency transactions (Tobin tax), dissolution of tax oases, opposition to intellectual property rights (patenting) on genetic resources, etc. More important than the declaration which will have no immediate consequences is the feeling among the participants, which will spread around the world through the Internet, that the globalisation critics are gaining ground. Vandana Shiva, the Indian environmental activist, spoke in an interview of "the feeling that there is a great community. The people no longer feel isolated...Conceptually, the civil movements are far ahead of the transnational corporations. I am convinced that our vision is more powerful. The globalisers are afraid of democracy."

The coming months will show whether the governments are ready to respond to the signals coming from Porto Alegre and, to the surprise of many, from the World Economic Forum in New York. The World Conference on Finance for Development in March in Monterrey, Mexico, will be the first test. Kofi Annan in his speech to the business leaders called for the doubling of official development assistance in order to reach the Millenium development goals, including halving the extreme poverty in the world by 2015. He proposed an extra $50 billion as an immediate, short-term target, to be achieved within two or three years. Considering that US President George W. Bush has just asked Congress for an additional $48 billion annually for his defense budget, the amount does not seem to be unreasonable. But US finance minister Paul O’Neill has already made it clear that his country will not raise its development aid. Other Western donors will probably take a similar stance.

The second major test for the willingness of the world community to change course will come at the Johannesburg meeting Rio plus Ten in September. Again, the outcome of that stock-taking will probably be sobering. A sad example is climate protection. Although the final adoption of the Kyoto Protocol may be considered a success, its value has been watered down by the many compromises made in the course of the negotiations and the fact that the worst polluter of the atmosphere, the United States, have withdrawn completely from the Convention. Other global problems like deforestation, soil degradation, desertification, and loss of biodiversity have continued unabated while almost a billion people have been added to world population since Rio increasing the pressure on natural resources.