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Showing posts from January, 2005

Global Resistance or Social Carnaval?: The World Social Forum in Porto Alegre

Sushma Joshi, Porto Alegre, Brazil Americans traveling to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, were in for a rude surprise. Brazil, reacting to new US policy which required Brazilians to be fingerprinted at the US border points, had instituted the same rules for Americans. Global tables had been turned - Iraqis and Libyans, the favorite whipping boys of the Western world, could walk across like respected nationals of sovereign nations, while Americans, used to waltzing across international boundaries without visas, found themselves in the "Have you taken part in any terrorist activities?" fingerprint line. Brazil may be the only country to dare stand up to the Bush administration, and not just in small tit-for-tat reciprocity of nasty behavior to nationals. Brazil remains a vocal opponent of US policies in the WTO, calling for an end to subsidies to big transnational corporations that disadvantage small farmers and businesses in the South. Its been the first to flo