A weekend of debate, discussion, and entertainment
June 22-25, 2006
Columbia University, New York City
<b>Socialism 2006 provides a place where activists from todayâs fights against the Right can come together to discuss how we can rebuild the Left and win a world where ordinary people will decide the priorities of our society. </b>Join us in New York for a weekend of nearly 100 meetings, plus a book fair, activistsâ tables, parties, and entertainment! <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
For more information, feel free to contact us by mail, phone or e-mail
Mailing Address:
CERSC
PO Box 258082
Chicago, IL 60625
Guess, people are fast forgetting the history - the road to serfdom. Anyways, the red dreams continue... <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Whither Capitalism? : Towards a 21st century Socialism </b>
Taimur Rahman
While some intellectuals wishing to defend the dominance of private property may ask this question in order to deflect criticism of capitalism, most people around the world wish to know whether there really is an alternative. The propaganda barrage of neo-liberal capitalism has been so one sided, especially since the defeat of socialism in the Soviet Union, that in this typhoon of cacophony most people are liable to become apathetic and resign to their fates muttering beneath their pessimistic breath, âThere is no alternative.â Those who openly express glee at the fact that there is no alternative to privatization, liberalization, supporting the war on Iraq, US hegemony, and so on, and beckon us to prostrate ourselves before the mighty altar of the modern God, money, have clearly made their peace with the world of exploitation and are racing, falling on top of each other, for a larger piece of the pie in this dog-eat-dog world. Let us leave such people to their devices and address those who are genuinely concerned about the fate of a world where 900 million donât have enough to eat in the context of a world where there is excess capacity for food production.
Let us look at the options carefully. The first thing we have to recognize is that the roots of the most serious problems in the world today are not merely cultural, political, or social. <b>Instead the cultural, social, political problems are manifestations of a society in which the economic system is set up by the rich, for the rich, and of the rich. The cultural, social, and political problems can only be addressed simultaneously and in conjunction with the economic problems of society.</b>
Of all the diverse cultures, political and social systems in the world today, one thing is common to them all (with the exception of a handful of countries): they are dominated by a system of production at whose heart is private property. This system of production, that we call capitalism, operates according to certain laws. In the capitalist system it is inevitable, despite the efforts of even the best developed welfare state, that the rich get richer and the poor remain poor, and relatively become poorer. The most pressing problems of our times owe their existence, in one form or another, to the vastly increasing social chasm between the world of poverty and the world of wealth. This growing social chasm will lead, inexorably, to a growing conflict between the rich and the poor. As long as the motor of the market continues to drive the economic foundations of the world, no matter how many times the rich manage to suppress, cajole, or deceive the poor, an ever greater number of people who daily lose their social position to the world of wealth will continue to ensure that the conflict continues. The cynic might be apt to point out all the various mechanisms that the ruling class is able to utilize in the service of maintaining its class hegemony â for the last hundred years or so, not merely democracy, human rights, peace, and civil society, but even religion has been in the service of capital â but even they would be forced to concede that the contradiction will continue to resurface indefinitely as long as the social chasm between the rich and the poor continues to widen. Given the ever-growing proportion of the relatively poor (though the number of absolute poor may even be fewer), each successive upheaval against the world of wealth is bound to meet with a continuously wider base of support from society. In the long view of history, therefore, it seems inevitable that at a certain point in time the ever growing proportion of the relatively disenfranchised, whom Frantz Fanon poetically referred to as the âWretched of the Earthâ, will be the heirs to the <b>final destruction of a society dominated by class privilege.</b>
If all this is true, and it is difficult to find a plausible reason to reject the inexorable march of history in this direction â the destruction of the Soviet Union notwithstanding â despite all the infinite permutations and combinations of cultures, political systems and social relations, <b>the essential question of our historical epoch boils down to, essentially, the struggle against an economic system based on private property. Or in other words, the struggle for the establishment of an economic system based on collective property â which would, strictly speaking, imply the end of property as such.</b>
A centuries worth of cold war propaganda against all the historical advances of the oppressed may have momentarily convinced millions of people that the alternative to capitalism is significantly worse, but that is no long term guarantee that people will not attempt to find a path to their liberation. Socialism, which is nothing other than the manifestation of the struggle against private property, may well begin in the 21st century <b>with the outward trappings of a relatively non-revolutionary or non-threatening movement</b>, especially from the point of view of capitalism, but with growing confidence in its historic mission will no doubt take on colours that begin to reflect, if not in letter, certainly in spirit, the Red tinge of ages considered long past by the Fukuyamas of the world. Whereas all eyes have turned to Latin America where one country after another finds itself in the midst of a landslide left-of-centre victory, <b>crucial social movements are poised to emerge or have already emerged in the industrialized north</b>. The âBattle of Seattleâ shattered the quiet, sounding the opening salvos of a renewed struggle against capital in the era of globalization. The strength of labour, compressed like a giant spring, is bursting forth once again and their renewed energy can be gauged by the enormous rallies this Labour Day 2006.
<b>Let us first turn to the heart of capitalism: the United States of America.</b> The Associated Press reported at least 1.1 million people took part in the <b>Chicago </b>protests but that estimate was based solely on police accounts. As many as one-third of students didnât go to school and the protest was estimated as the largest protest in the history of Chicago. Over a half million marched in Los Angeles. In Denver, at least 75,000 people â about one-sixth of the cityâs population â participated in a march on the state capitol. 50,000 people gathered in a series of protests in Florida. In New York City, over 100,000 marched from Union Square down Broadway. In Los Angeles about one in every four students was absent. In Germany, the heart of capitalist continental Europe, conservative police estimates indicated that more than half a million Germans took part in about 500 Labour Day rallies. Police estimates in Russia recorded 1.5 million participants in demonstrations. In Manila, Philippines, 5,000 anti-riot policemen had to be called out to control the hundreds of thousands of people calling for the resignation of President Gloria Arroyo. In Indonesia about 13,000 anti-riot policemen were called out to protect President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who was denounced by thousands as an âenemy of the working classâ. Tens of thousands gathered in Japan against the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
May Day 2006 proves that the question now is not whether the working class or socialism will arise Phoenix-like from the ashes; that is increasingly being considered a given. <b>The question now revolves around the form of socialism that will become dominant in the 21st century.</b>
<i>The writer has a Masters in International Relations from Sussex University and is currently teaching at LUMS </i>
Bhopal, June 23: Notices have been sent to Arundhati Roy's husband and three others for encroaching on tribal land in Madhya Pradesh.
A bungalow owned by Pradeep Kishan in the hill resort of Panchmarhi, 250 km south-east of Bhopal, is at the centre of a row for the second time in three years.
In 2003, the elevated bungalow overlooking twin hillocks and vast rolling greens in Bariyam village was found to be set in notified forest land, inviting action under a state law that bars purchase and sale of such land. That case is going on in Jabalpur High Court.
Now, SDM Niyaz Ahmad of Pipariya has received another complaint against Arundhati's husband and three others, including Aradhana Seth, sister of writer Vikram Seth. Vijay Singh, a tribal, has accused them of encroaching upon tribal land.
In his affidavit, Vijay has said that the four have constructed a cemented road to their bungalows without bothering to obtain permission or pay adequate compensation.
Ahmad has slapped notices on the four asking them to remove the "encroachment" or face action in 15 days.
Confirming that notices have been sent, tehsildar S.L. Solanki said prima facie, land survey number 12-2 and 3-4 appear to have been encroached.
As her husband faces action on these complaints, the writer and activist (in picture) has been fighting for the underprivileged.
After Kishan bought the 4,346-sq ft plot in 1994, the government filed a suit arguing that the Forest Act of 1972 banned the sale of land in notified forest areas.
<b><span style='color:red'>Arundhati, a campaigner for the rights of Bhopal gas survivors and villagers displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam, now faces sarcasm from opponents.</b> State BJP leaders said her husband is trampling on the rights of hundreds and thousands of animal species who do not have an Arundhati Roy to speak for them. </span>
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<b>Only Christian faith schools are acceptable: Amartya Sen</b> http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/arti...820265.cms
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->LONDON: Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has attacked the Tony Blair government for encouraging a society in which ethnic minorities were defined almost exclusively by their religion and for allegedly endorsing establishment of faith schools. He also said that faith schools, barring those run by Christians, should be scrapped.
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It means in Indian only have Hindu school but No, here he say
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In the interview, Sen said, "Christian schools have evolved and often provide a much more tolerant atmosphere than a purely religious school would. A lot of people in the Middle East or India or elsewhere have been educated in Christian schools. A lot of my friends came from St Xavier's in Kolkata- I don't think they were indoctrinated particularly in Christianity." But the new generation of faith schools "are not going to be like that," he added.
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And that SOB portrays himself as secular all the while saying that only xtian schools should exist, as for him and his friends coming from xtian schools, no wonder they all turned out to be idiots and first class traitors.
Notes on the Muslim Question in India Today Â
More than half of all Muslims in the world live in South Asia. Only Indonesia (210 million) has more Muslims than Pakistan (154 million), with India close behind (138 million) and Bangladesh next (117 million).
Muslims make up 13.4 percent of India's billion-plus. They are the countryâs largest and fastest-growing religious minority, and one of its very poorest and most backward communities by every measure: income, literacy, female literacy, access to piped water, access to electricity, employment, land ownership, SSC examinees (i.e., high school graduates). Muslim women are among the most subjugated, which in India is saying a lot.
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Only workers states within a socialist federation of South Asia can protect the lives and rights of the tessellated religious, ethnic, and national minorities of the subcontinent. In the meantime workers organized across caste and communal lines must defend Muslims and all oppressed sections. The huge, organized, multi-communal working class of India has a basic interest in fighting communalism and the system that breeds it.
At the same time it is necessary to fight against all forms of social backwardness in every community, including the imposition of sharia law, the subjugation of women in the name of Islam or Hinduism, the substitution of religious schooling for secular education, manifestations of the caste system among Muslims as well as Hindus, and communal hatred on all sides.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Budhdhadeb's mask slips off: Did you miss the real image?</b>-Â Â Â Â By Mayank Jain
TV Journalist and documentary maker (2 Aug. 2006
"Religion has not created any Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin or Anwar Hoja,
they were produced in the 'kitchen' of communismâ¦The CPI(M) has been
intolerant even to their left allies⦠CPI (M) is the most intolerant
political party in the country."Â (Pioneer, Aug 1, 2006, p.p. 4)
No! No! this is not the RSS/ VHP or the Hindutva brigade speaking.
These are the words of C. Dawood, Committee Member, Students Islamic
Organisation, which appeared in 'Madhyamam' of the Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind.
Having thrown a fit, soon after Jagmohan Dalmiya's victory in the
Cricket Association of Bengal elections, Budhdhadeb Babu lost his
composure. He bared his fangs dripping wet with the blood of democracy
and proclaimed: "Victory of evil over good â¦It is an evil empire and
the fight will continue till it is demolished".
The mask of tolerance, humanism and democracy slipped off
Buddhdhadeb's face and one could unmistakably see the reality -- the
image of a dictator thrashing democratic values violently. The heavy
artillery fire by Jyoti Basu and his cohorts on Budhdhadeb is a
desperate political move to put the mask back on CPI (M)'s face. Too
little; too late. The world already knows about their hidden agenda.
Following the footsteps of China, Budhdhadeb yearns for a free market
and the ensuing rapid economic growth. But make no mistake:Â Economic
freedom has not resulted in political freedom in China. China remains
communist not because of her economy but as a consequence of being
anti-democratic, totalitarian and dictatorial. Budhdhadeb's
dictatorial streak, so visible in his diatribe against Dalmiya,
reminds us that he remains a communist very much in the Chinese mould.
As a rule sugarcoating a language soaked in deception has always been
the hallmark of a communist; Budhdhadeb, the exception, should be
complimented for being straightforward and frank. Vimal Prasad Jain,
my grandfather and a close associate of MN Roy, used to warn me about
communist jargon and its misleading implications. I still remember
some of his examples:Â Words like "people's" and "democratic" in the
names of communist states like 'Democratic People's Republic of
Korea', 'People's Republic of China', 'German Democratic Republic'
etc. were deliberately embedded to hide the ugliness of the 'evil
empires'. The states were neither democratic nor people friendly. He
gave me a formula: wherever you find the word 'people' in communist
literature it actually means 'anti-people'. To dive deep into the mind
of a communist these formulae proved to be handy
With a "People's" mask on the face, a 'human rights campaign' is
always on the cards for a die hard communist. It is another matter
that this campaign eventually gets focused on the plight of
terrorists. In April, 2006, the Kerala CPI(M) was found hobnobbing
with Abdul Nasser Mahdani, key accused in the 1998 Coimbatore serial
blasts that killed 58 people and left several more injured. "The CPM
sent TK Hamsa, its MP from Manjheri, on a supposedly discreet mission
to Coimbatore to get Mahdani to make his outfit, the People's
Democratic Party, openly pitch for the Left in the Assembly polls"
(Indian Express, July 25, 2006). Indian Express quoted Hamsa saying
that: "I went on my own because his human rights were being seriously
violated; I wanted to express my sympathies."
T.K. Hamsa, the Kerala CPI(M) leader is ably supported by his own
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan. The CM pleaded for Ayurvedic
treatment of Mahdani languishing in prison for 8 long years. The
CPI(M) leader was moved by the fact that the main accused of the
Coimbatore blasts had lost 50 kgs of weight in the prison -- from a
handsome 104 kgs in 1998 he was hardly 54 kgs. today. Undoubtedly, the
commitment of the communists towards human rights is beyond compare.
Minority rights have been on the topmost agenda of Indian communists.
Therefore, in Gujarat they have used their 'five star activists' to
launch an untiring campaign against Narendra Modi and his government.
But sitting in West Bengal, the communists have to just give a slight
tilt to their neck to see the ongoing genocide of minorities in
Bangladesh. Between 1941 and 1991 20 million Hindus went missing from
Bangladesh. As many as 475 Hindus are disappearing everyday from the
soil of Bangladesh since 1974. On this issue there has not been one
word from any Indian communist at any time â not on any occasion. So
much for minority rights.
Now about poverty alleviation. The leftist economist of the Delhi
School of Economics, Prof. Raj Krishna, had coined a term â 'Hindu
rate of growth'. This was a term used to denigrate the Hindus for a
low economic growth rate. The Hindus were sought to be blamed for the
Soviet model of economy being followed in the Nehruvian era. It should
have been more appropriately called the 'Soviet rate of growth' or the
'Communist rate of growth'. Do you want to see the 'Hindu rate of
growth? Go to Gujarat. It touches 8.2%. In addition, Gujarat keeps
its number one position amongst all Indian states in implementing the
pro-poor 20-point programme. Experts believe that the tiger growth of
Gujarat's economy is helping in reducing poverty like never before.
To continue its war against poverty, Gujarat needs water. More
availability of water means less requirement of power. For water,
Gujarat needs Narmada. The biggest roadblock were the leftist 'Five
star activists' who would not allow the green revolution to happen in
the parched land of Gujarat. Then, fortunately, the Supreme Court
asked them to shut up. What is leftism all about? Reducing poverty?
Doubtful. Look at the Naxalites. How they continue to stop all
development projects -- roads, rails and industries -- by kidnapping,
murder and ransom.
'India's political parlance' has become so grossly perverted that the
communists â who hate democratic norms and have a natural dictatorial
streak -- get fashioned as outstanding humanists. By hiding behind a
deceptive smokescreen, the communist intellectuals along with their
'five star activists'Â have succeeded in becoming the ultimate torch
bearers of democracy and freedom in India. They must be exposed for
what they really are.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Did they collected any money for Delhi, Varanasi or Mumbai blast?
Did they ever collected any money for Hindu cause?
There support to Hezbullah terrorist orgainzation is amazing.
Arundhati Roy talking about how she supports Maoist terrorists:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->AG: And the Maoists, what are their demands?
AR: Well, the Maoists are fighting on two fronts. One is that they are fighting a feudal society, their feudal landlords. You have, you know, the whole caste system which is arranged against the indigenous people and the Dalits, who are the untouchable caste. And they are fighting against this whole corporatization. But they are also very poor people, you know, barefoot with old rusty weapons. And, you know, what we â say someone like myself, watching what is happening in Kashmir, where â or in the northeast, where exactly what America is doing in Iraq, you know, where youâre fostering a kind of civil war and then saying, âOh, if we pull out, these people just will massacre each other.â
But the longer you stay, the more youâre enforcing these tribal differences and creating a resistance, which obviously, on the one hand, someone like me does support; on the other hand, you support the resistance, but you may not support the vision that they are fighting for. And I keep saying, you know, Iâm doomed to fight on the side of people that have no space for me in their social imagination, and I would probably be the first person that was strung up if they won. But the point is that they are the ones that are resisting on the ground, and they have to be supported, because what is happening is unbelievable.
http://www.alternet.org/story/36643/<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Since when exactly did tribals become indigenous and all others foreign?, by this ridiculous logic everyone is foreign since we were all supposed to have migrated out of Africa.
So Roy supports people who blow up buses, massacre innocents, basically she supports criminals and mass murderers.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>One final piece of the jigsaw completes the wondrous world of self-seeking deceit. A small, but influential group of non-white feminists in Europe and the America have joined in with hysterical denunciation of their own ethnic and religious progenitors. The paradox of their situation, like that of the entire comprador intelligentsia abroad, irrespective of gender, is that they are only paid to interpret their societies of origin. And their unspoken brief is to demonise them and legitimate their subjugation and destruction by Western imperialism.
Their own personal assimilation, indeed escape from the terrifying abyss of their origins, occurs through relationships with white partners. It is strikingly noticeable that Asian women in the Western media, academia and the professions rarely have partners from within their own community. Access to this privileged white world and their sense of personal self-worth are anchored to this inter-racial imperative. Despite complex subterfuges and deceptions about opposition to Western imperialism their emphatic hostility to third world self-assertion, even when subliminal, legitimates deadly assaults against it.</b>
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From above article. Current Roy, Chatterjee, Mandavallis and others clearly fits.
<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Buddhaspeak: UPA won't last a day without us
[ 11 Sep, 2006 1823hrs ISTPTI ]
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PURULIA: In a scathing attack against the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on Monday warned that the support of the Left parties would be taken back if the UPA government failed to take immediate measures to check spiralling prices.
"The Congress-led UPA government cannot take the Left parties' support for granted," he said.
"Without the support of the 61 members of the Left parties, the government will not last a single day," the Chief Minister remarked.
Addressing an election rally here, Bhattacharjee said that the Left parties had decided to support the UPA government as there was no better alternative for government formation at the Centre.
In the 29-year rule of the Left Front in West Bengal, there has been progress in every sector, including health, education, environment, employment, agriculture, the CM reiterated.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Marxist brokers </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
<b>CPM plays PR firm of corporate China </b>
The decision by the CPI(M) leadership to take up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the problems of Chinese business entities is a case of a fair message being defiled by an inappropriate messenger. The Chinese Government and private companies from that country have often raised the issue of genuine business visitors not getting visas from the Indian missions in Beijing and Shanghai. They have reason to be upset by the churlish protectionism that sometimes passes for "national security" in India, and which has seen legitimate avenues for investment blocked to Chinese or even to Hong Kong-based companies. A mix of a bureaucratic, policeman-type mindset that hasn't grown beyond 1962, and the clever lobbying of specific Indian companies who may find it difficult to compete with a Chinese rival is often the villain. In these times of equal market access to all trade partners, this situation is clearly untenable. From telecom to ports, a whole host of business sectors can't be selectively closed just to one nationality. The Chinese have every right to be upset, especially since they have been fairly welcome hosts to a slew of Indian business houses, and their visa department in India has been working overtime in facilitating Indian visits. As such, the Chinese Government and business forums have every right to protest to Indian authorities and lobby support from relevant groups in this country. Having made that point, the decision of the CPI(M) to get exercised over specifically Chinese FDI and thwarted business opportunities is quizzical, if not downright hypocritical.
If comrades Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury were wedded to a libertarian world-view, one that recommended the removal of all trade barriers and economic restrictions, it would be one thing. <b>For them to pretend that "business" and "profit" are not part of their universe of proletarian concerns when it comes to the rest of the world but acquire an existential urgency only when it comes to China, is to exhibit a strange extra-territorial fixation, if not loyalty. </b>It is, in a sense, the peacetime equivalent of the undivided <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>CPI's insistence that the 1962 war was India's fault and that Chairman Mao's troops were innocent invaders.</span> Even so, it is mighty unusual for a political party - even a Right-wing, pro-business one, it may be added - to lobby for individual private companies, rather than for a political philosophy or, at worst/best, a foreign Government.<b> The CPI(M), at least two of the West Bengal MPs of which have business associations with Chinese manufacturers, is certainly in a class of its own</b>. How the CPI(M) can reconcile playing broker to corporate China's global plans while simultaneously playing wrecker to India's economic reforms is a conundrum only it can sort out. For the moment, the party must consider that its open identification with Beijing's "capitalist roaders" will only detract from its credibility as a moral and upright political force, albeit an intellectually deficient one, in New Delhi. When Communists are reduced to playing lobbying agents for select companies, it is a pitiful sight. There is an impolite Hindi word for it - <span style='color:red'>dalaali. Do comrades Karat and Yechury really want their politics described thus? </span> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Managed to take a peek at the latest Liberal/Commie Newsletter. Highlights:
Tell all Hindus who feel offended by the depiction of Hinduism that they should not feel offended. Tell them to learn to laugh at themselves. *Do not let them find out that Christianity and Islam are not made fun of in books across the US* Draw them into the illusion that Hinduism enjoys the same pedestal in the US that Christianity and Islam do, and therefore mud thrown at Hinduism is just like mud thrown at Christianity, Islam, Jews etc, no big deal. Phrases to be employed: "Chill out", "Relax", "Take a chill pill".
A a 20 foot wave will not affect the ocean liners of Christianity and Islam etc., and hence will not affect a the ocean liner of Hinduism too: that is the logic you need to employ with Hindus protesting over offence to Hinduism. (Only do not let them know that their religion is a small boat, as far as awareness and socio-political presence in the US is concerned, not an ocean liner!). *Make them believe that there are lots and lots of Hindu-approved reference books and school textbooks out there on Hinduism, and derogatory TV shows etc will not have much of an effect on the perception of Hinduism*
At the worst, start calling them thin-skinned Islamist wannabees who are out to kill to protect Hinduism. Letters, as we all know, can kill.
((My addition: Lastly, Hindu dude, if your kid comes home crying about how his friends tease him/her about eating monkey soup, tell the kid to get a life)).
<!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo--> What newsletter is that?
Methinks that the clam and composed Hindu that runs deep with only an fraction of his greatness exposed above water can bring down biggest ocean liners - iceberg v/s Titanic? <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The World Social Forum (WSF) is about three things, a young Frenchman told me. We were coming back from Kenya together. He had been to most of them since they first began in Porto Alegre in Brazil in January 2001. They are, he said, about <b>protesting, networking and proposing</b>.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In 2004 the WSF was held in Mumbai with an enormous mobilisation of Indian organisations.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Buddhaspeak: UPA won't last a day without us
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