BY BILL MASON
BRISBANE — "We are not anti-globalisation, we are pro-democracy, pro-human rights, pro-food sovereignty. We are not against international trade, it is the capitalist race to the bottom that we are against", declared Anuradha Mittal, co-director of the Institute for Food Development Policy (Food First), at a major session of the Brisbane Social Forum on March 22.
The World Trade Organisation "is just another face of colonisation", Mittal told the audience. She cited Cuba as a "great example" because it has conducted a "real green revolution".
The second annual Brisbane Social Forum, held at the New Farm Powerhouse over the March 21-23 weekend, attracted more than 300 participants. A crowd of 600 attended a concert in aid of West Papua's liberation struggle on the forum's first night.
Another keynote address was given by US radical author William Blum, who slammed the US-led war against Iraq. Blum called for more "people's power" mobilisations against the US warmongers and their allies.
There were also sessions and workshops on ecology, human rights, peace and refugees' rights.
Visit the Brisbane Social Forum web site at <http://www.brisbanesocialforum.org>.
From Green Left Weekly, April 9, 2003.
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