In the heyday of neo-liberalism and its hype about globalization, the meeting-place of the rich and powerful each year was Davos, a Swiss ski resort which once a year hosted presidents, prime ministers, and CEOs of transnational corporations along with Establishment intellectuals and newspaper pundits, to discuss the state of the world. The people who came to Davos tended to agree with other that the future bode well, if only everyone eliminated all barriers to the free movement of capital across the world. This so-called World Economic Forum was, appropriately enough, a privately-sponsored, profit-making enterprise (it cost quite a bit of money to attend these meetings). The main purpose seemed to be mutual self-congratulation and a vast propaganda operation via the world media.

Neo-liberalism is no longer quite as fashionable or as self-assured as it was a few years ago. Some people had the idea of organizing anti-Davos meetings simultaneously with Davos, and some others thought of disrupting the Davos meetings. After Seattle and Prague, a momentum built up in the world struggle against neo-liberalism, and this year, there were not only anti-Davos meetings in Switzerland, but a worldwide World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Why Porto Alegre? Two good reasons. Porto Alegre is in the South, not the North. And the mayor of Porto Alegre, as well as the governor of the state in which it is located, are from the PT, Brazil's leading left party, whose leader Lula will be running for President of Brazil again soon, and his chances are improving.

So for a week now, we have had a world soccer match, in which the world press has been reporting the two forums, so diametrically set against each other. At the Brazilian forum, Walden Bello, Asian intellectual and militant, launched the slogan, "Davos is the past, Porto Alegre the future." Porto Alegre attracted 10,000 participants, a truly extraordinary number, considering that for the most part they were paying their own way or it was being paid by relatively poor organizations.

It is interesting to compare the atmosphere at the two meetings and what they have been saying. Neo-liberal policies have been coming under some criticism not only from the left but from the right in the last few years. I have pointed out previously the nervousness of some leading right-wing figures about the exaggerations of the IMF and the political restlessness this has caused. The last Director-General of the IMF himself indicated they may have overpressed their case (See Comment No. 34, Feb. 15, 2000: "The Head of the IMF: A Secret Radical?"). So it comes at little surprise that the International Herald-Tribune (IHT) used this headline this year: "The Specter of Social Accountability Hovers Over Davos." Nor is it a surprise that the World Bank released a report just in time for this year's meeting entitled "From Safety-Net to Springboard," in which they advocated a social protection strategy for the world poor.

It is a bit like a damaged ship throwing ballast overboard. It may help, but the idea is to keep the ship afloat. The organizers were taking no chances, however, with popular protest. In 2000, the meetings were considerably disrupted by hostile demonstrators. This year, the Swiss police was mobilized in force, trying to keep potential demonstrators from even reaching Davos. Since this effort was only partially successful, the police erected barbed-wire fences to seal off the conference center. The IHT published a picture of a Swiss policeman next to the barbed wire with a machine gun. And the correspondent of the Guardian had this to say about Davos: "For several days, the 'Spirit of Davos' trumpeted by the organizers of the elite international business community resembled East Germany in the 1980s."

But having genuflected to the need for overcoming the world "divides" - the official theme of Davos for 2001 was "Sustaining Growth and Bridging the Divides" - people there went on to discuss what was really on their mind, the American economy. And this theme gave rise to a quite different set of headlines. The IHT said "Theme at Davos: This is the Year of Europe." The Wall Street Journal Europe topped that with: "Will This Be the European Decade?"

Nor was this just an invention of the journalists. Rep. Jim Leach (Rep., Iowa) was taken a bit aback by the sense of "equaling." The German Deputy Minister of Finance talked of Europe's "quiet self-confidence." And the Finnish commissioner for new technology and enterprise in the European Union practically gloated that the Americans are finding that "it's good to listen sometimes." Considering that in years past the Americans were noted (politicians, intellectuals, and journalists alike) for lecturing Europeans and Japanese on how they should be copying U.S. patterns faster than they were doing, this year's meeting is quite a turn around. In any case, last year, Bill Clinton attended in person. Not only did George W. Bush not come but he didn't send any of his new cabinet.

Meanwhile, at Porto Alegre, the delegates were working away in the belief and expectation that "another world is possible." Some politicians were there yes - the French government divided its ministers between both meetings - but the bulk of the attendees were militants and intellectuals tied to the movements. They opened with a carnival, and went on to debate how this other world could be constructed.

While they were at it, some were inspired to engage in the direct action for which they were famous. The MST, the Brazilian movement of the landless, decided to destroy some transgenic plants on a plantation controlled by Monsanto, a multinational that has been specializing of late in transgenic agriculture. The MST enlisted the help of José Bové, the French leader of a populist movement in the rural areas devoted among other things to halting the spread of transgenic food. The Brazilian police decided to arrest him and expel him (he would have been leaving in a day in any case), but a Brazilian court promptly decided that the police had acted illegally. The Brazilian police were clearly on the same transnational wave length as the Swiss police.

Is Davos the past? The Davos meetings may well be. Their utility has been diminishing, and the difficulties involved in holding them have been going up. But of course the "spirit of Davos" - that is, world capitalism - is scarcely about to give up the ghost. They will however have to face up to a steadily increasing U.S.-Europe tension, made more dramatic by the potential serious downturn in the U.S. economy.

Is Porto Alegre the future? Well, they've begun the task of mobilizing worldwide, and of creating alliances. But, if the spirit of Porto Alegre is to prevail, these militants still have a lot of work to do to flesh out a concrete strategy and a concrete program. Still, they are energized at the moment.

Immanuel Wallerstein
 

[Copyright by Immanuel Wallerstein. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to download, forward electronically or e-mail to others and to post this text on non-commercial community Internet sites, provided the essay remains intact and the copyright note is displayed. To translate this text, publish it in printed and/or other forms, including commercial Internet sites and excerpts, contact the author at iwaller@binghamton.edu; fax: 1-607-777-4315.

These commentaries, published twice monthly, are intended to be reflections on the contemporary world scene, as seen from the perspective not of the immediate headlines but of the long term.]

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