NO FINANCIAL REFORM IN SIGHT AS BANKS RESUME BUSINESS AS USUAL

The financial landscape has now been blessed with a new American company that lists divorce settlements of millionaires on the stock market. Investors pay the high legal costs of one of the parties and shares in the proceeds if the judgment goes their way. All of this, as the financial crisis has added 100 million more poor to the world.

WHY IS THE PEACE MOVEMENT SO QUIET ABOUT AFGHANISTAN?

While the war in Iraq triggered massive demonstrations across the globe, the ratcheting up of the number of troops in Afghanistan has generated no more than brief debates in parliaments. Obviously the intervention in Afghanistan if far more "legitimate" than the invasion of Iraq, based as if was on false assumptions about the existence of weapons of mass destruction. Nonetheless, it is still significant that the Afghan war, with its high human costs, is accepted as inevitable and that even the world peace movement seems resigned to it.

THE NEXT FINANCIAL CRISIS IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's rejection of the European request for regulation of bank executives' bonuses has given rise to various interpretations: some cite President Barack Obama's need to avoid more confrontations with the American right wing, others point to the influence of the historical bond between the US and the UK, the only European country to defend financial corporations.

THE SUDDEN DEMISE OF NEO-LIBERAL ECONOMICS

The Washington Consensus, the neo-liberal economic prescription presumed to be universally and permanently valid, was broadsided by the current world recession together with other "one size fits all" formulas.

GEORGE W. BUSH DESERVES NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

The next Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to George W. Bush, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of IPS. In this column, Savio writes that in just eight years, US president George Bush has managed to profoundly change his country and the world. I doubt that as president Obama would be able to motivate the formation of an opposition as vast as that of the World Social Forum at Porto Alegre. The clamour of hundreds of thousands of people against imperialism and for a different world was the result of the radicalisation produced in this period. Without it, the creation of a global civil society would have been far slower. The first major contribution of Bush was to demonstrate that unilateralism can no longer work in a world that is increasingly multipolar. He definitively disproved the theory that war can resolve conflict and demonstrated that there can be no consensus to govern without respect for international law. The failure to ratify a single international treaty (starting with Kyoto) has aroused growing irritation and as a consequence the treaty against cluster bombs has been ratified by almost every country on earth.

Q&A: &#39Everybody Leaves the Forum Happier, Wiser and Stronger&#39

Roberto Savio is probably among the best informed insiders at the World Social Forum (WSF). He has been on its international committee since it was created in 2001, and since 2003 he has been coordinator of the 'media, culture and counter-hegemony' thematic area.

THE IMF AND WORLD BANK : CRISIS TIME

After many years of a sustained campaign against the UN, the so-called Bretton Woods twins --the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank-- now find themselves in political and economic crisis, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of IPS news agency and founder of the International Committee of the World Social Forum. In this article, Savio writes that the World Bank finds itself in a financial crisis from which it would not be able to rescue itself even without the corruption charges against Wolfowitz: it would need to come up with at least USD 16 billion in operating capital. The situation of the IMF is even worse. Its income has dropped from USD 3.19 billion in 2005 to USD 1.300 billion in 2006, and is projected to drop by half in 2007 as fewer and fewer countries request its loans, which come with onerous conditions. With the UN essentially relegated to development policy and the Bretton Woods institutions faced with radical rethinking, we must ask whether the dramatic issues such as climate change will be enough to create a new sense of awareness that a lawless market is incapable of solving the problems of international governance for all citizens, rich and poor.

CHINDIA: EMERGENCE OF THE FUTURE WORLD POWER ?

Twenty years from now will we say we are in the Asian, and not the American or European, Century? The debate now underway is whether the future world power will be China or India, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of IPS and a member of the World Social Forum International Committee. In this article, Savio writes that the only time Chinese president Hu Jintao has spoken of multipolarity and democracy in international relations was in reference to the common interests of China and India. Might we then be witnessing the beginning of a new geopolitical entity of unprecedented size: \'\'Chindia\'\', with a population of almost 2 billion? Why fight each other, or others, when by allying themselves they make the rest of the world irrelevant? In any case we will face a different sort of hegemony than that of the US, which is based on the affirmation of values and life styles. It does not seem at all possible that China would want to impose its own political model, or cuisine or music or way of dressing, on the rest of the world. We would face a gigantic trade empire, where it is likely Chinese interests would be placed before all others, with a complete lack of interest in international social justice or the fate of the weakest.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: FROM WORDS TO ACTION

Seven World Social Forums (WSF) have been enough for the dynamic of civil society to complete a cycle and initiate a stage of profound change -- in contrast to the World Economic Forum (WEF), which has been held 37 times, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of IPS and a member of the WSF International Committee. In this analysis, Savio writes that Nairobi was the last forum in keeping with the original conception of the WSF. The entrance of more radical forces into the WSF International Council in recent years has caused a very important change of direction. As a result, next year the forum will not be an occasion for meeting and debate but rather a mobilisation. During the days the WEF will be held in Davos, local events will be staged throughout the world by participating organisations, including marches and demonstrations. Even the WSF International Council has decided to meet in Germany on the occasion of demonstrations against the G8, which will happen in Berlin in June. This is a new path, one that is closer to that of the social movements that are becoming the driving forces of Global Civil Society.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: THE CRADLE OF GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY

What can we expect from the future of the World Social Forum? asks Roberto Savio, president emeritus of IPS and member of the International Council of the World Social Forum. In this analysis, Savio writes that the refusal of the participants to allow themselves to be absorbed by political parties and to establish relations with political institutions has reduced the WSF to a circuit of self-referentiality. Is it possible to increase the WSF\'s capacity for action? Savio thinks not: it has not been possible to move past the idea of an \'\'open space\'\', which allows for the exchange of ideas and the creation of alliances but prevents the formulation of proposals for concrete action by the forum. It is thought that such options should be carried out by the organisations participating in the WSF during their normal operations. There is a minority that holds that the WSF should not limit itself to being a kind of spiritual exercise from which participants emerge stronger and better. They believe that the forum should decide on a series of actions that provide an alternative to neoliberal globalisation and should pressure institutions to adopt them. But for now this debate is going nowhere. In all likelihood the WSF will not make significant progress into the political realm and will remain a major exceptional occasion for civil society to meet.

NO NEW IDEAS FROM DAVOS, NO ACTION FROM PORTO ALEGRE

Despite its current openness to new issues, no one today expects ideas and proposals from the World Economic Forum or anything more than the great opportunity for socialising it offers its participants, writes Roberto Savio, president emeritus of IPS news agency and a member of the International Council of the World Social Forum. In this article, the author writes that only corporations with income of over one billion dollars are invited to the WEF, which means that businesses from the developing world are sharply under-represented. And despite its name, the WEF is dominated by Europeans, Americans, and Japanese: in 2002, 75 percent of attendees were from Europe and the US. Just 7.7 percent of the forum were from Asia, home to 60 percent of the global population. While participation in the World Social Forum has reached unprecedented levels, topping 100,000 participants, it has entered a crisis of growth and identity and perhaps a transition to new forms. Davos and Porto Alegre are both separate actors and at the same time symptoms of their respective worlds. The WEF has the power but faces a crisis of legitimacy. The WSF represents the eruption of a new phase of idealism and commitment in the world.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: THE CRADLE OF GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY

What can we expect from the future of the World Social Forum? asks Roberto Savio, president emeritus of IPS and member of the International Council of the World Social Forum. In this analysis, Savio writes that the refusal of the participants to allow themselves to be absorbed by political parties and to establish relations with political institutions has reduced the WSF to a circuit of self-referentiality. Is it possible to increase the WSF\'s capacity for action? Savio thinks not: it has not been possible to move past the idea of an \'\'open space\'\', which allows for the exchange of ideas and the creation of alliances but prevents the formulation of proposals for concrete action by the forum. It is thought that such options should be carried out by the organisations participating in the WSF during their normal operations. There is a minority that holds that the WSF should not limit itself to being a kind of spiritual exercise from which participants emerge stronger and better. They believe that the forum should decide on a series of actions that provide an alternative to neoliberal globalisation and should pressure institutions to adopt them. But for now this debate is going nowhere. In all likelihood the WSF will not make significant progress into the political realm and will remain a major exceptional occasion for civil society to meet.

THE U.N. SHOULD MOVE ITS HEADQUARTERS TO A FRIENDLY LOCATION

Worldwide there is an undercurrent of opinion that as part of UN reform and revitalization, its headquarters should be relocated from New York to another city and host country. This view needs to be argued and articulated in the multilateral arena. It needs to be brought to the attention of the world public opinion and policy makers, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of IPS, and member of the WSF International Committee. In an international community composed of almost 200 states, striving for a genuine, democratic international system, the heart and brain of such a system embodied in the UN, should not be located in a country with hegemonic pretensions, which is systematically trying to make the UN into a docile instrument for the pursuit and attainment of its national goals, while neutralizing any of its roles, functions or actions that it deems contrary to its national interest. The UN cannot feel at ease or function normally in a setting where an important part of the political establishment and of public opinion is openly hostile to it, and in a micro-environment where its presence has become a daily irritant to many and where it is subjected to consistently negative media coverage.

AN INDIVISIBLE DESTINY

The new geopolitics of human existence demonstrates an unprecedented capacity to fight for large collective interests and to demand solutions that are coordinated and solidary, writes Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil. In this article, Lula writes that while debts must be honored, payment must not mean the euthanasia of the debtor. The holders of the surplus of financial wealth must consider the social deficit afflicting three-quarters of humanity. This cannot be done simply by applying some automatic accounting formula. Rather, it is a matter of bringing about the transformation of social justice into the new border of sovereignty. The author calls for the reform of the hierarchy of the multilateral institutions. If poor countries are to be able to make the fight for development a priority of the global agenda, democracy must be deepened at the center of power. The reform of the UN and particularly the Security Council is part of this agenda. But the line of inequality will not shift as long as political power remains locked in place by a financial system that perpetuates current relationships: 45 percent of the decision-making of the World Bank is assigned to the seven richest countries. Five central economies hold 40 percent of the votes in the International Monetary Fund, while 23 African nations prostrated by hunger have one percent. This column is part of the series on Globalisation and Human Rights, a joint project of Dignity International and IPS Columnist Service (http://www.dignityinternational.org).

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM AT TURNING POINT: REFORM OR BECOME IRRELEVANT

At its January meeting in Mumbai, India, the World Social Forum (WSF) will reach its maximum expansion, writes Roberto Savio, founder and president emeritus of the IPS agency, and member of the International Committee of the World Social Forum (WSF). Each of the preceding three Forums greatly exceeded all expectations raised when the decision was first taken to hold in Porto Alegre, Brazil.. The numbers tell the tale: 10,000 were expected to attend in January 2001; 50,000 came. Attendance rose to 75,000 the next year and to 100,000 in 2003. More important than the number of participants was the galaxy of organisations of every type and level that came together to assert that \'\'another world is possible\'\'. The Forum provides an occasion of enormous gratification for its participants. The days are full of intense debate where no differences separate the rich and poor, farmers and intellectuals, men and women, and a stunning range of political positions are presented and countered. All leave with their commitment to idealism strengthened and deepened. And yet none of this succeeds in producing an impact on the political world and the international institutions.

THE TWO SOULS OF CIVIL SOCIETY

In just a few years civil society has transformed itself from a disparate galaxy of NGOs into a global network that plays an important role in the World Social Forum, writes Roberto Savio, president emeritus of IPS and a member of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF). In this article for IPS, Savio writes that the political system has reacted by calling into question the legitimacy of civil society, dismissing it as anti-global, or anti-historical and romanticist. Civil society is made up of two distinct generations. The first, born in the 1970s, identified with the paradigm of development. It was surpassed in force and participation by the second, forged in opposition to globalisation in the late 1990s. It considers the march of neo-liberal globalisation so powerful and dominating that nothing is more important than denouncing and blocking it. Thus we now have Global Civil Society. Its growth will probably continue to intensify, primarily because of the use of new technologies and mutual understanding. The organisers of the WSF expected about 5000 people in Porto Alegre in 2001; 30,000 showed up. In 2003 the number reached about 100,000.

DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA GRAVELY THREATENED BY AIDS

We are now halfway through the 25-year period set in 1990 for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa, writes K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa. In this article for IPS, Amoako writes that nothing is more critical than overcoming HIV/AIDS. The epidemic has a clear impact on the first three MDGs: poverty eradication, education, and gender equality. Families afflicted by AIDS are less able to grow food and to withstand shocks such as drought. Girls are being withdrawn from school in order to assist with essential domestic duties, including caring for the sick. The author stresses that women bear the brunt of the AIDS epidemic. They shoulder the burden of caring for people with AIDS and bringing up children orphaned by the disease. They grow most of Africa\'s food. An estimated 58 percent of those infected with HIV in this continent are women. One of the factors driving the AIDS epidemic in Africa is the unequal status of women and their vulnerability to exploitation and sexual abuse. In a vicious twist, it seems that the epidemic itself is intensifying women\'s vulnerability. Overcoming the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on women is crucial if we are to promote gender equality and empower women.