GLOBALIZATION Activists cite World Social Forum lessons BY STEVEN STYCOS

After returning from the World Social Forum in India, two Rhode Island activists hope the anti-globalization movement may help reverse the US government policies that they blame for a large share of the world’s misery. Juan Garcia, the organizer of the Committee of Immigrants in Action organizer, and Mimi Budnick, an activist with Direct Action for Rights & Equality (DARE), plan to hold several workshops in Providence to talk about globalism and their experiences at the conference in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India.

The World Social Forum, now in its fourth year, highlights problems that organizers attribute to the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of the world’s developed nations in Switzerland that sets trade, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund policies. In contrast, the social forum is a six-day conference during which activists from around the world exchange ideas and make connections at workshops, demonstrations, and art exhibits.

In Mumbai, workshops were held on women’s rights, foreign debt forgiveness, privatization of public water supplies, child labor, the caste system, and many other topics. Although such prominent figures as Indian novelist Arundhati Roy and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz spoke, grassroots activists from around the world dominated the forum. Held previously in Brazil, this year’s forum attracted 100,000 people, according to the BBC.

Garcia, who advises immigrants of their rights from St. Teresa’s Church in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood, says he was most impressed by how very poor people from Asia organize themselves with little money and resources. "They are together, because they have hope," he says. "They have a spirit of struggle."

Budnick, who works on prison reform, observes that US groups have a lot to learn from successful overseas movements. Despite threats of imprisonment and even politically motivated murder, impoverished Asians build powerful organizations, she notes. In contrast, Americans accomplish less while living in great comfort.

Both organizers hope to spur more understanding of global problems through their organizations. "If capitalism and trade are going to be globalized," comments Budnick, "we’re going to have to globalize as well." Garcia notes that all rich countries, not just the US, are struggling with illegal immigration. The problems, he says, are political: War, and US-imposed trade and economic policies force people to flee to Europe, Japan, and the US to earn a living.

The two plan to show a movie of their trip Sunday, March 14 at 3 p.m. at St Charles Church, 178 Dexter St., Providence. A second workshop, highlighting Coca Cola’s labor practices in Colombia and environmental actions in India, will be held Sunday, March 28 at 3 p.m. at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, 719 Potters Ave., Providence. Both sessions will be conducted in Spanish and English and are open to the public.

More workshops are planned. "If we don’t educate the community," says Garcia, "we’re going to be responsible for a terrible blow."