Here Came the Sun

The skies may have been grey and overcast, but the mood was anything but. Foreign delegates who failed to take their due Portuguese courses had to resign themselves to offer a friendly smile and enthusiastically applaud speeches and slogans they did not understand. They didn't seem to care.

And by the time the opening ceremony of the WSF kicked off at the Anfiteatro Pôr-do-Sol last evening, the upbeat spirits of the thousands of participants seemed to have chased the clouds away.

Here came the sun, to greet the euphoric crowd, so far and yet so close to its opponents, meeting at the same time in the New York City winter.

As early as one hour before the ceremony's scheduled 6.30 p.m. start, scores of persons had already started to trickle in, and in another hour, hundreds of marchers began to pour into the grounds in all their colour.

Live music provided an upbeat backdrop, a buoyant start for the serious and critical discussions expected to take place here over the next five days.

Sober-faced private security guards ringed the stage area, conspicuous in their black and white uniforms, while only a few metres away exuberant participants danced, kissed and hugged.

Theresa Wolfwood, from the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation in Canada said she was pleased with the overall organization of the event.

'I'm really impressed,' she said.

'The space, the security and the thousands of people you are expecting, and yet everything seems to be really well taken care of. I think it's a wonderful conference.'

Wolfwood was also looking forward to a pleasant evening, prior to the start of today's proceedings.

Mostly, I'm looking forward to the real substance of the conference, when we get into the seminars and we hear some of the really remarkable speakers of the social movements of the world. I'm really excited to be here,' she said.

Her sense of excitement was shared by Gina Vargas, from the Articulation Feminista MARCOSUR, Peru.

'It's my second time, I think it's great, the possibility to be here with so many people that are trying to look for their own answers in relation to globalisation, and trying to offer alternatives, thinking more of people than of capital.'

Suzanne Pharr from the Highlander Centre, in Tennessee, United States, is also looking forward to the seminars and discussions, but believes the opening ceremony is critical to set the tone for the days ahead.

'The opening ceremony is always important for lifting peoples' spirits, getting them en pointe, moving them with great enthusiasm through the rest of the activities that are going to happen, so I'm looking forward to what happens here, not just in terms of politics, but in terms of culture,' she said.

And for Thailand's Bantorn Ondan, the opening ceremony also represented a chance to further the WSFís agenda.

'I hear there will be some important guys (at the opening ceremony) from the state, and we want (this) meeting (with them). This will be a situation where they recognise what's happening, the people's movement.'