My friend Todd Benson in Brazil writes this piece for the NYTimes about the internal politics and symbolic friction that is burdening the leftist movement at the World Social Forum gearing up to begin in Porto Alegre this Wednesday.
January 25, 2005

Antiglobalization Gathering in Brazil Sees Little to Celebrate
By TODD BENSON

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Jan. 25 - The last time this prosperous city in southern Brazil was host to the World Social Forum, an annual gathering of antiglobalization activists organized as an alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the mood was jubilant.

That was 2003, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former metalworker and union leader, had just been sworn in as Brazil's first working-class president, fueling hopes on the left that the new government would break from mainstream economics and spend heavily to ameliorate the country's vast social disparities. For many of the globalization critics that flocked here at the time, Mr. da Silva's administration was to be a shining example of how a left-wing government could buck the capitalist establishment and get away with it.

But two years later, as the World Social Forum returns to its original setting in Porto Alegre after a sojourn in India, the mood is more somber. Instead of steering Brazil off its free-market course, Mr. da Silva has embraced the so-called neoliberal economic policies that he so harshly criticized while in the opposition. And while that stance has won the president fans on Wall Street, it has put him at odds with the far left of his own Workers' Party and with many of the founders of the social forum, which is to open here on Wednesday.

"So many people thought that Lula's election meant change was on its way, but instead we've been disappointed," said Francisco Whitaker, one the founders of the forum and a member of the Brazilian Commission for Justice and Peace, a nonprofit group linked to the Roman Catholic church.

"It's sad, but the big lesson that we learned from these last two years is that it is an illusion to think you can change the world by taking political power," he added.

Whereas in previous social forums Mr. da Silva was cheered like a rock star, at this one he will be the subject of academic debate. In the six-day event, delegates will participate in panel discussions with titles like "The neoliberal reforms of the Lula government," "The Lula government and the future of the left," and "Two years of Lula: where we were, where we are, and where we are going."

Well aware that the economic course that he has charted does not sit well with his old cronies on the left, Mr. da Silva had initially planned to skip this year's event to accept an invitation to the World Economic Forum, where he hopes to persuade foreign investors to help finance much-needed infrastructure projects in Brazil. But the president reconsidered at the urging of his advisers, who argued that such a move would only irk his longtime supporters even more, and he is scheduled to speak here on Thursday at a seminar on poverty and hunger before heading to the Swiss Alps for the economic forum.

Still, there is no guarantee that Mr. da Silva will be the crowd pleaser here that he was in the past. In October, the president angered the forum's organizing committee when he said in a speech that the event should focus on "one or two" specific issues or run the risk of "becoming a bazaar of ideological products, where everyone buys and sells whatever they feel like."

"That kind of criticism was totally out of line," said Emir Sader, a member of the forum's steering committee and a prominent left-wing intellectual. "The whole point of the forum is to discuss alternatives to the current world order, and that means discussing a variety of issues," added Mr. Sader, who also directs a research center on public policy at Rio de Janeiro's State University.

Mr. da Silva's remarks also reverberated in the mayoral race in Porto Alegre, which was heading into a runoff vote at the time. Raul Pont, the candidate from the more radical wing of the Workers' Party, had made the social forum a key part of his campaign platform, arguing that the event might no longer be held in Porto Alegre if another political party was elected. But by criticizing the forum in public, the president appeared to be taking sides with the opposition candidate, José Fogaça of the left-leaning Popular Socialist Party, who in the past disparagingly referred to the forum as an "ideological Disneyland."

In the end, Mr. Fogaça and a coalition of center-right parties won the election, putting an end to the Workers' Party's 16-year reign over City Hall. Because the Workers' Party had long been one of the forum's main sponsors, Mr. Fogaça's victory set off a fierce debate about the event's future in Porto Alegre and even prompted some members of the steering committee to argue that the forum should be moved to another Brazilian city where the left remained in power. Hoping to seize on the chance to generate tourism revenue, officials in Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte and Salvador all quickly offered to be host to the event, which is expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors this year from all across the globe.

Once elected, Mr. Fogaça sought to mend fences with the forum's organizing committee, saying that his government would fight to keep the event in Porto Alegre, a city of 1.5 million people. But Mr. Fogaça has also been careful to highlight his differences with the forum's founding philosophy, stressing that his government will embrace globalization and seek to attract the multinational corporations that many of the forum's participants so forcefully scorn.

"I, too, am one of those that still believes that there is a difference between the left and the right," Mr. Fogaça said in an interview. "But I also believe that an elected official has to have the wisdom to know when to cross the line."

For a left-wing politician, he added, that means knowing when to use "orthodox policies" to guarantee stability and generate economic prosperity. "Whoever doesn't realize that doesn't belong to the 21st century," he said.