The World Social Forum in Mumbai is one of the main topics commented on by the international dailies, in their continuing reflections on the relation between globalization and environment. “Globalization needs to be reformed and the Forum in Mumbai may contribute to that”, is the headline in Le Monde of 21/1, which contains a long interview with Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winner for economics. According to the expert, interviewed by Laurence Caramel, “the various mechanisms for the reduction or cancellation of the debt” of the poor countries “are insufficient”, as is demonstrated by the “Iraqi case”. As regards possible “global taxes” to finance development and put an end to the privatization of the public services, Stiglitz points out that “it is indispensable to find a source of funding at the world level not only to have resources in favour of development, but also to preserve world public assets, such as the environment, health and so on“ . “At the Forum at Mumbai, the young discover the world”, is the headline carried by La Croix of 21/1, in which Pierre Cochez points out that “the issues of the ‘no globals’ still appear remote to the Indian youth who participated in the Forum” and who “urge the militants come from afar not to judge their world”. The “global crisis” that “is endangering” the future itself of the Earth is reflected on by Margot Wallstrom ( Herald Tribune, 20/1), according to whom “real political progress” depends on “changes on a large scale, technological advances and global cooperation (…). New approaches need to be developed that are able to respond to the diversity of situations and national interests, based on a political will for shared action”. “Over 5,000 children arrived at the Global Forum in Mumbai from India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Pakistan”, reports the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire (21/1), which denounces the fact that among the throng of young participants “there were also child soldiers and children, little innocents who have suffered every type of violence”. Various comments on the Forum also appear in the German press. “ In the campus of the congress, the wonderful multiplicity represented by Tibetan monks, by the trades-unionist from Zambia, by the retired professor from the poor Indian state of Bihar, by the social worker from London and by the Communists from Rio are reduced to a stream of clichés like ‘neoliberalism’, ‘imperialist globalization’ and ‘privatization’: words emptied of meaning by the jet set of the left“, writes Jan Jablonski in the Frankfurter Rundschau (19/1). Writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (19/1), Michael Bauchmüller comments as follows: “ Trapped in a black and white vision, the critics [of globalization] are succumbing to a new type of imperialism: the North decides what’s good for the South“. “ The Social Forum consciously defined itself as ‘the new world power’. If it wants to change the world, it will have to use this power in a more intelligent way“. “ Neither the government in Delhi nor TV or the press paid any particular attention to the mass demonstration“, observes Jochen Buchsteiner in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (19/1). “ By contrast the nation’s attention was rapt by Autoexpo 2004… that presents the models that will shortly be imported into the liberalized Indian market. How come that the majority of Indians pay more attention to the dream of possessing their first utility car than to the fear of the globalization of the automobile market? That is one of the questions that some of the delegates might bring home with them“. “Old wine in the new Europe” is the title of an article on antisemitism in Europe. Ana Nuno, writing in the Spanish daily La Vanguardia (18/1), laments the fact that “today anyone who asserts that anti-Semitism exists is seen as a Zionist agent at the service of Sharon”, and adds that there exists a “paranoic” prejudice according to which “it seems that only those who have a vested interest can defend the Jews: it is the shadow of the phantasm of the Jewish lobbies”. Commenting on the terrorist attack outside the seat of the Provisional Authority of the Coalition in Baghdad, La Vanguardia (19/1) says that “while other actions of the Iraqi resistance are directed against Western troops, this car bomb caused a massacre among the civilian population”. The editorial points out that “these events are happening when the electoral campaign in which George W. Bush aspires to be re-elected has already begun”. “This scenario of bombs in Iraq will be an obstacle for Bush”, says the paper. According to El Periodico (19/1) “given that US troops are protected by a security cordon formed of armed Iraqi men, it is ever more difficult for the rebels to cause victims among the ranks of the Americans”. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 5 N.ro relativo : 1265 Data pubblicazione : 23/01/04 ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1265 N.ro relativo : 5 Data pubblicazione : 23/01/04
