The session I attended today was at the other university campus which is
called the “rural” campus although it is only a few miles from the main
campus.  But it has a very different feel - much more sparse - most sessions
were held in tents.  As well there were thousands of camper tents spread
over fields.  I had wondered where the tens of thousands of young people at
the WSF were finding accommodation.  There were the usual parades of
chanting trade unionists and farm workers that happen every day at the
Forum.  A nice surprise happened along the way to the session I chose to
attend.  A hugging brigade of young people opened their arms and gave me
(and other delegates) some of the best hugs Iıve had in a long time. And I
bought a great T-shirt with a picture of a colourfully masked Che on a black
background.

Joel Kovel on ecosocialism
    The three hour session on ecosocialism features two very good talks - one by
Joel Kovel, author of the fabulous book, The Enemy of Nature; the other by
Terisa Turner, a prof at Guelph University in Canada.  Both Joel and Terisa
have contributed articles to Canadian Dimension sometime in the past two or
three years.
 
    Joel Kovel is really the father of ecosocialism.  He described how this was
the second gathering of ecosocialists from around the world, the first
having taken place in Paris in 2007.  There, a small group of mainly
northern intellectuals decided that it was important that the second
gathering include a large contingent of  indigenous people from the global
south.  Thatıs why they chose to meet in Belem, smack in the middle of the
Amazon.
 
    Joel boldly stated that the only way to save the planet is to end capitalıs
compulsion to grow. Some form of world government is necessary to impose
limits to growth - which, if effective, would collapse the capitalist system
since its existence requires endless accumulation.  But societies will only
transcend capitalism with ecosocialism - which he defined as production
based on free association of workers combined with ecocentric means and
ends. Whereas absentee owners can easily damage the environment, when
workers come to own the means of production they work with, they are much
less likely to damage, let alone destroy nature which they are part of,
depending upon it for both their survival and their comforts.
 
    In his concluding remarks Joel said that, inspired by the ecosocialist
measures of Cuba and Bolivia under Evo Morales, he is convinced that
ecosocialists have no alternative but to intervene in state formations as
they currently exist - starting with a mass intervention at Copenhagen, site
of the UN meeting to reformulate the Kyoto Protocol.  Secondly, he urged the
development of autonomous zones within capitalist societies that would
establish islands of freely associated labour as capitalism lurches from
crisis to crisis.  Thirdly, he said that whatıs needed now is a mass
mobilization of society to demand a series of structural reforms to prevent
climate change, reforms that capitalism cannot endure.
 
Terisa Turner: we need direct action
    Terisa Turner offered the most optimistic prognosis of our immediate future.
She described several examples of grass roots movements successfully
stopping resource multinational corporations and keeping fossil fuel in the
ground. She argued for a joint global strategy of all out support for these
efforts of halting resource development combined with consumer boycott
campaigns -- which would deprive capital of energy and resources  and
markets.  And direct trade deals that cut out the multinatinationals in
place of capitalist trade/investment agreements, citing the arrangement
between Cuba and Venezuela - oil for medical services.
 
    She asked, who is engaged in these efforts?  Indigenous peoples with women
in the foreground. What is their means? Direct action to shut-down production and keep fossil fuel in the ground.
 
    She ended her presentation with a call for a peopleıs charter on climate
change in opposition to the Kyoto Protocal and sanctions against governments
and corporations that violate  its measures. As for Copenhagen December
2009, she called for a mass organization to stop the proceedings, like
Seattle 1999.
 
    At the conclusion of this session I finally got the opportunity of traveling
down the magnificent Amazon River on a small boat along with Joel and
Terisa.


NOTE: This is my fifth  report on the World Social Forum.  You can find the earlier ones on the Canadian Dimension Magazine web site by clicking on the following link:

http://www.canadiandimension.com/blog/

Also, check us out on film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHvpmkVIYYQ
 
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