Wonderful Solidarity, Great Business

Even for those who are very distracted, it would be impossible to notice the buzz caused by the II World Social Forum, which started yesterday in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. Not only because of the welcoming banners hanging from almost every lightpost in Ipiranga Avenue (which leads to the PUC - Pontific Catholic University Convention Center), but especially due to the varied accents from visitors who little by little take over the streets, with their cloth bags carrying the event's logo, their not always conventional clothing, and the visible physical exhaustion caused by the intense heat from these last days.

The organizing committee says it expects around 60,000 participants - about three times last year's numbers.

The Government of the State of Rio Grande do Sul announced it invested one million dollars in organizing the event. On the other hand, it expects to collect ten times this amount with such a large crowd. The hotel sector alone has 16,000 rooms taken. Many people had to resort to sharing rooms.

All numbers are on the large side. Until now, 15,000 delegates have formally applied and 6,000 organizations have been registered, as well as 2,000 journalists and 402 press organizations from 39 countries. These estimates will be revised later in the week, when the 28 scheduled conferences, more than 700 workshops and 100 seminars start taking place, as well as the applications made through the Internet are formalized. The estimate is that 150 countries, 107 local administrations and 1,000 congressmen will be represented.

The apparatus which was put in operation to address all these people is also on the same scale. To the organization's support team were added 1,800 volunteers and 315 translators have been hired. Even then, the 12,000 simultaneous translation sets won't be enough to fill the demand. For the opening and closing days in the Sunset Amphitheater, for example, those who need language assistance will have to bring a battery-powered radio to listen to the translations, which will be broadcast through channels to be announced on the spot.

The Municipal Transportation Secretary has organized a special traffic scheme to facilitate the movement of visitors and of the population. Starting today, there will be 20% more buses taking passengers to the PUC. Vanderlei Cappellari, Operations and Inspection Manager of the Public Transport and Circulation Company (EPTC), says four thousand extra man-hours are being spent to assure the drivers circulate through avenues and streets with little stress. This also includes tracking the protesting marches scheduled to occur during the Forum. The entire force comprised of 423 inspection agents will be on duty.

A sample of this movement was already happening in the Center, close to the Plaza São Rafael Hotel, during the Local Authorities Forum for Social Inclusion. Those who were there at the time had the chance to notice that a lot of pedestrians walk from the hotel to the convention center located across the street, and due to this the EPTC agents were making the stoplight intervals last longer for the pedestrians. This resulted in some bottlenecking, but has avoided accidents.

Little by little, small towns are erected in the midst of Rio Grande do Sul's capital, with their own infrastructure, such as the Youth Camp in Harmony Park. Designed by the Architecture Student Free Metropolitan Council (Colmea), there's a novelty in one of the spaces being built for this year's event: the warehouse which will contain the Communications Works will have its walls sealed with clay and rice hay, a technique which also employs a lighter kind of mud wall mixed with sawdust and organic residues, following the principles of bio-construction. This technique helps to keep a more agreeable temperature on the inside. The ceiling is also different in the spaces where the discussions will be held: it was built using recycled milk boxes. "The aluminum from the boxes reflects light and doesn't concentrate too much heat," explains Everton Rodrigues, a member of the Youth Committee.

Internet pre-applications indicated 10,000 participants to this parallel event only. Some young people arrived in advance, a fact which changed the organization's plans. Problems such as lack of materials and the need to recalculate the energy load delayed the camp's construction. But the basic infrastructure will be ready by the official start of the forum. There are 100 chemical toilets. The plan is to divide the area in 50-person blocks, with each block electing a representative to participate in the administrative council, which will take care of security and order. "In Genova, there was the infiltration of right-wing extremists who incited violence, and we plan to avoid this kind of thing over here," warns Rodrigues.