Leftists in Brazil for a week of protests against capitalism denounced corporate greed on the second day of the World Social Forum, saying Tuesday that big companies humbled by the global meltdown must be prevented from controlling natural resources and harming the environment.They then asked the waiter to see the wine list...
In Peru, for example, foreign and domestic miners are vying for concessions to explore for gold, silver and zinc on traditional Indian lands where tribe members eke out a living from small farms threatened by contamination, said Carlos Candiotti, leader of an anti-mining group.
"These companies come into our territory without our approval, but the state must recognize our rights because we're the owners, with ancestral rights to the land where we live," Candiotti said.
Now in its 10th year, the social forum is a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum starting Wednesday in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, and leftist leaders are gleefully criticizing the bankers and business titans hit hard by the financial crisis.
But they said nations that have exerted greater state control over economies as a result of the meltdown must go further, warning that large corporations will try to reassert their grip on the world and push policies that critics say emphasize reliance on free markets at the expense of social welfare.
"We need to make sure the neoliberals never take over again," said Arthur da Silva Santos, president of Brazil's largest confederation of labor unions. "There are just a few hundred companies today that hold all the cards for the global economy."