January 27, 2005
World Social Forum marches for peace in southern Brazil
Kyodo News

Some 200,000 antiglobalization activists from around the world took part Wednesday in the Walk for Peace in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre at the onset of the fifth World Social Forum.

(Kyodo) _ Some 200,000 antiglobalization activists from around the world took part Wednesday in the Walk for Peace in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre at the onset of the fifth World Social Forum.

The WSF aims to put together international opposition to globalization and take the voices to the ongoing World Economic Forum meeting of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

"Another world is possible" is the theme of the sixth-day WSF gathering, comprising debates, conferences and cultural events, with at least 70,000 representatives of nongovernmental organizations and other entities from 120 countries, according to organizers.

The largest delegations to the WSF represent Brazil, Argentina and the United States, which has sent 1,157 delegates to the event.

The largest Asian delegations come from India, Japan and South Korea, which have sent 374, 293 and 200 delegates, respectively.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez are participating in the forum, according to the official agenda.

"The World Social Forum is a fair of ideologies," said the Brazilian president recently, raising protests in his country.

Lula da Silva has been the first head of state to participate in both the WSF and the WEF, two events that are considered antagonistic.

He will speak in Porto Alegre on Thursday and then fly to Davos where he will deliver his speech on Friday.

Chavez, the Venezuelan president, will deliver an address at the WSF on the relations between Latin America and the rest of the world.

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