00.00.0000 Activists Hold Separate Forum in Venezuela
By Natalie Obiko Pearson
Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela
Hundreds of activists are holding an alternative symposium to this week's World Social Forum, accusing the main event of straying from its freethinking leftist roots and serving as a propaganda tool for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The seven-day Alternative Social Forum shares some of the anti-globalization themes dominating the World Social Forum, an annual event timed to coincide with the market-friendly World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
But the alternative event is taking up issues that are thorny in Venezuela, like the dangers of authoritarianism under a military strongman. The theme could easily be taken as criticism of Chavez, a former paratroop commander accused by political opponents of running roughshod over democratic institutions. It is off-limits in the main forum, said Nelson Mendez, a Venezuelan engineering professor helping organize the dissident event.
The alternative activists say the ubiquitous red T-shirts of Chavez's party and the rows of promotional booths point to the government's heavy hand in the main event. That is stifling debate and undermining the forum's capacity to act as a catalyst for social change, said Luis Silva, 35, another organizer.
"The World Social Forum was born as an alternative," Silva said. "But little by little it has succumbed to political parties and governments. It's acting as a stage of support for Chavez."
updated on 02/09/2010
