World Social Forum has its 1st day in Porto Alegre

The World Social Forum returns to Porto Alegre in a regional format. After having its first edition in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, in 2001, the event returns in a special edition with its original name, after six years being held as “Forum Social das Resistências” – a nomination that outlined opposition to the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff ( PT).

As its charter of principles defines, the WSF is an international space for reflection on alternatives to favor human development and seek to overcome the domination of markets in each country and in international relations.

“This is a regionalized edition. The international committee authorized the directive here from RS, from Brazil, to hold the regionalized World Social Forum. The Forum itself, the one we know with 100 thousand people, has the possibility of taking place in Bahia in 2024. We created the Social Forum of Resistances, which was good for resisting the barbarism that had been taking place in our country since 2016. From the moment this change took place (Jair Bolsonaro left the presidency), there was this World Social Forum design, with the resumption of democratic order,” said Ricardo Haebaert, a member of the Forum’s organizing committee.

It is characteristic of the Forum that several cultural activities and lectures take place simultaneously. As of 9 am on the first day, there were ten activities taking place at the same time, even before the Solidarity Economy Fair, which marked the opening of the event.

Throughout Monday (23), various topics were discussed, such as the impacts on environmental health and on the indigenous health of mining in the Amazon – a latent topic after the revelation of the living conditions of the Yanomami community in Roraima – homeless people, themes sensitive to elderly people, art and culture shows, sport as a social tool, access to drinking water, among other topics.

The Forum takes place every day in different areas of the State Legislative Assembly until next Saturday (28), with activities during the morning, afternoon and evening. This edition will count on the presence of three ministers: Marina Silva (Environment, Network) will be on Thursday (26) at 7 pm, the same day as Nísia Trindade (Health), at 4 pm. On Friday (27), the secretary general of the presidency, Márcio Macêdo (PT) will participate.

On the afternoon of the first day, one of the subjects addressed was the vulnerability of homeless people, a growing population in the country and state in recent years. “We are talking about a significant portion of society that has always been made unfeasible and that is in this condition because of political priorities, which do not reach them”, criticized the elected federal deputy Daiana Santos (PCdoB), one of the speakers.

Another topic discussed was indigenous insecurity with the advance of illegal mining – the main topic of national politics in the last week. “The mining that takes place today is no longer that artisanal mining, it is not that mining of the 1980s. It is an organized activity that has a high impact on the environment, releasing a large amount of mercury from the Amazon territory. Behind these garimpeiros there are very large companies mining in the Amazon”, described Diogo Rocha, researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).