World Social Forum, part 3

After the first few days, we learned to adapt to the chaos of the WSF, and we ended up seeing lots of interesting events. Some of the better ones included:

1) A meeting for Canadians to strategize in the wake of the disappointing federal election we just had (though the outcome was not as bad as it could have been!). Not too much practical planning came out of this meeting, but it did give people a chance to vent about the poor campaign that was run by the NDP, and also to air theories for how the Conservatives will conduct their time as minority leaders. One theory was that they will do nothing to rock the boat for the next little while, until they can call another election and gain a majority as a result of having failed to offend anybody with outrageous legislation...but maybe this theory should go out the window, as Bryan just read recently that they went ahead and cancelled the promised daycare funding...surely a good way to offend and alientate anyone who believes that a woman`s place is not solely in the home. Maybe the Conservatives will sabotage themselves sooner than we think.

2) An "International Court of Women" which allowed speakers to tell their stories without interruption, and without the removal of emotion and context which is common in most courts worldwide. I really loved this event. Though it was very heart-breaking, it was also refreshing to see peoples stories being told in their own words, in the way they experienced the events.

3) And of course, the speech given by Hugo Chavez - he`s like a rock star! He spoke for a couple of hours, and though it was mostly rhetoric, it was quite inspiring. I have yet to see a Canadian politician get as excited about ANY topic, or be as straight-forward about their beliefs, as Chavez is about socialism. And he always refers to George Bush as "Mr. Danger", which is hilarious. Admittedly, I was tired of his rock-star status by the end of the forum (what will the movement do when he is gone?), but during that speech, he was fun to watch.


By end of the forum, we had seen many good events, and as a result I`m anxious to get home and resume my work, both paid and volunteer, in Toronto. But knowing that a long trip still lay ahead of us, we spent the day after the forum looking for a hotel in which to relax and plan our next move. Unfortunately, it must have been that everyone in the Youth Camp was doing the same thing, because all the budget hotels we contacted were completely full. We ended up staying at the Hilton, of all places! Of course it was way beyond our price range, but we figured that`s what credit cards are for, and besides, we didn`t have anywhere else to stay. So we reluctantly checked in, and then took advantage of their cable TV and nice warm pool as much as possible before check-out the next morning.