Inaugural March Celebrates the Left, War an Afterthought

By Sanjay Suri

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were the heroes -- though present in spirit only -- of a massive demonstration to mark the opening of the World Social Forum Thursday afternoon.

The Palestinian issue is on top of people’s minds, judging from the support for the Palestinian cause evident at the demonstration. Men and women, some with faces covered by the traditional Palestinian scarves, were cheered by bystanders all along the route of the march.

There were as many people lined up along the streets cheering the marchers as those who joined the flow. Everyone was chanting and dancing, whether taking part in the demonstration or out on the street to show support. It seems that a demonstration in Brazil will always have a touch of carnival about it.

Following Lula’s victory in the Brazilian elections with 61 per cent of the vote, the left is no longer the marginal force it had seemed to have become just a few years ago. A sea of red flags gave the rally its dominant colour. Heroes of the left, like the legendary Cuban guerrilla Che Guevara and Cuban President Fidel Castro, seemed to be borne on red flags with renewed confidence.

Coming as something of a surprise was the virtual absence of any protest against what many see as impending war in Iraq. This seemed more an issue with the foreigners who have arrived at the World Social Forum than with the Brazilian demonstrators.

The placards that were raised against war in Iraq had slogans like “Bush=Hitler” and “Oil War”. But these little placards and their slogans were drowned in the sea of red Workers Party (PT) flags and the passionate chanting in support of Lula and Arafat.

Street power seemed set to cast its spell over what will soon be the speech power of the conferences and meetings that begin in earnest Friday.

The demonstration serves as a passionate parallel to the left-of-centre themes that will dominate the WSF proceedings. The political left is the order of the day once again in Brazil, and that seems to have given the Forum a strong platform to stand on.

Lula has toned down his strong leftist rhetoric of earlier years, but his victory has served to reinforce even the extreme fringes of the left he stepped away from, evident in their presence for the rally.

Scores of organisations, unions, political groups and NGOs joined the demonstration. What gave it strength was the spontaneous support it drummed up from the public, quite independent of the World Social Forum agenda.