After lunch with Maria Elena and Sue Richardson from Christian Aid we went to Area H to take part in Retracing the Story of Poverty – Launch of the Millennium Development Goals Campaign. This workshop was organised by all the Catholic Agencies from across Europe, like Cafod, Sciaf and Trocaire from the British Isles as well as others from Belgium, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and also Canada but not the USA, no surprises there then! It was impressive and the focal point was the launch and signing of the postcard campaign to Tony Blair to get him to convince other world leaders to keep their word and reduce poverty in the world in accord with their own development goals signed at the millennium. One of the first signatories was Leonardo Boff and I got a great photo opportunity as he signed the giant postcard. If you want to know more go to: www.cafod.org.uk and sign up for the Making Poverty History campaign.

That evening I went to a seminar organised by Franciscans from around the world entitled The Mysticism of Peace. Leonardo Boff was speaking as was the Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel from Argentina. What was amazing was the rousing welcome Boff got as he was introduced, with prolonged applause, laud cheering and a standing ovation. Where else in the world could a theologian receive such a welcome? It was wonderful! And so to bed, exhausted and sunburnt from the long wait in the morning to get into the stadium to see Lula.

On Friday I only attended two events, but both well worthwhile and very different. The first was in the midday slot and was called Public Spaces as a Catalyst for Building Local Communities. It was run by an American organisation, Project for Public Spaces ( www.pps.org ) and was fronted by Ethan Kent, the young, energetic and attractive son of the founder! I have always had an interest in architecture and the built environment so this was most enjoyable. Ethan was promoting the notion of ‘place making’ as a different approach to planning. Most public spaces do not contribute at all to people’s sense of community and don’t foster meaningful interaction or greater local participation in communal life. He showed a wonderful collection of slide images taken from around the world illustrating his point. I now see public space differently. He certainly convinced me and I would be willing to work for a better use of the spaces we have and for the creation of new and appropriate community space.

I was attracted to my second event that afternoon by one of the speakers, Portuguese sociologist, Dr Boaventura de Sousa Santos. The place was packed to hear his discourse on Challenges of the World Social Forum, which was launching a book of the same title co-authored with Chico Whitaker. It amazed me to hear at this level of the forum language like ‘the WSF begins inside each person’! Chico told us that there are two equal and fundamental aspects to the WSF, one is horizontality or dialogue with others, and the other is verticality or respect for diversity. The WSF is an open space where the logic of networking is that each one assumes their unique and proper place in the overall aim of transformation of the world reality.

Another speaker said that one of the remarkable achievements of the WSF is to take people’s focus away from the narrow and particular and lift it up to the broader and universal. At this wider level the challenge is to articulate the cause, forge new alliances (often with groups and people that normally would never come into contact), and so by uniting forces bring about change. Once again I heard someone say ‘this new world starts in each person’s life’, otherwise what are we going to build? Personal behaviour is an essential strategy if we are to gain our objective. We want to transform the world so we start from ideas, move through strategising to team building and collective alliances, to making change happen. I realised that what they were talking about is what we call spirituality.

Jose Correa, another sociologist, told how the WSF had created forms of organising and even of politics, which had captured the energies of hope. It was turning around the tide of despair and helplessness felt by the poor and powerless in the face of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the self-proclamation of the triumph of neo-liberal capitalism as the only possible world system, to which there was no alternative. It is successfully bringing together forces for social change from around the globe. And then Boaventura spoke more critically of the forum. Acknowledging this new moment of renewal and renovation at continental and world levels he asked why the poor and excluded where not present themselves at the WSF? And why the indigenous are still at the margins of the forum rather than at the centre where they truly belong? The majority of WSF participants have benefited from a university education. The victims and the oppressed are not sufficiently represented here.

We can only change the world by changing ourselves, he said. The WSF has managed to unblock the energies needed for social change and transformation. He made the marvellous point that the internet was not enough, face to face contact was essential in personalising and humanising the new world we are trying to create. In all of this I sensed not only a genuine spirituality but also the power and presence of the Spirit of Jesus animating and underpinning these desires for another possible world, which is after all exactly what seemed to inspire him to give his life for the visibility of a new world which he called the kingdom of God.

Then on Saturday I attended three events one in each of the Areas J, G, and F. The early morning slot was once again connected to the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and was a product of the new approach this year at the WSF of encouraging groups and organisations to cooperate in coming together to present issues of common concern. This gathering was co-sponsored by literally dozens of diverse institutions and NGOs, many of them Christian, but by no means all, and from all the continents. It was unique in that for the first time, and consistent with the spirit of the WSF, speakers had accepted to come from the IMF, the World Bank and the UN. Once again the venue was packed to hear these people defend the indefensible! As each one spoke you would have thought that there was nothing left to fight about. They were all on our side that is until the questioning began!

That was followed at midday by Mobilising for the Global Week of Action on Trade 10-16 April 2005. This was another well-supported event with sponsors from around the world. Christian Aid UK chaired it, so I had to be present! Some really excellent materials were distributed in a variety of languages. It will be an opportunity to reflect on the impact of Free Trade Agreements and the free market economy and the lives destroyed by this neo-liberal economic model. We heard that in the 1970’s the rich countries were 20 times richer than the poorest countries, but in the 1990’s that figure had soared to 50 times richer. Something is clearly wrong with our economic and political system. For more information visit: www.april2005.org

My last meeting of the day was organised by Caritas International, the main development agency of the Catholic Church. From Grassroots Empowerment to Political Advocacy was the engaging title and a good crowd had gathered for this session. A wonderful Nigerian woman, Priscilla, who spoke passionately about her work in the church and the difficulties she experienced there, inspired me. I also met a marvellous young man from Brazil who was near me in the audience and who worked with some of the poorest kids in the favelas around Rio de Janeiro, he was trained as a lawyer but much to his parent’s dismay he wanted to retrain as a teacher to be able to help these kids who had no hope of any educational advancement. He had just returned from two years living with the brothers in the monastic community at Taize. What an inspiring guy. The WSF was full of people like Daniel Nascimento.

This was actually a frustrating day as I had planned to listen to Noam Chomsky who was billed as addressing a meeting of the World Dignity Forum, but much to my dismay he couldn’t be present. I was also really keen to be part of an interesting debate called Another World is Possible Without Taking Power: from Anti-globalisation to Alter-globalisation. Organised by the Instituto Paulo Freire the list of speakers was genuinely impressive. That is one thing about the WSF it manages to attract the very best of the world’s thinkers. In fact this year we had two Latin American presidents addressing the delegates.

But you can’t be everywhere and do everything! Living with limitations is a most challenging aspect of our Christian spirituality. As the next day was Sunday I went to Mass in a local parish with one of the Marist brothers from where I was staying. It was awful, dreadful and felt like a complete waste of time. The only saving grace was that the priest did manage a reference to the WSF in his homily! And not to condemn it as I had expected! But the day was immediately redeemed when I went into the forum and attended an event organised by the BECs of Brazil. It was fabulous. What a different church. They sang, they welcomed each other, they embraced, they processed the Word of God amid joyful singing and dancing, they listened attentively, they applauded their speakers, and it was truly a sign that Another Church is Possible!

I was privileged to have known both of the speakers, Pedro Ribeira whom I had met last year in Mexico at the BEC Latin American Meeting, and Br Antonio Cecchin, the Marist brother who works with the waste-paper collectors of Porto Alegre. They both reflected on the history of the BECs in Brazil and made a number of valuable assessments. I left early with Maria Elena who had also been at the BEC gathering and we went to queue up for the visit of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. He was going to address the crowds in the same stadium where President Lula had spoken at the start of the WSF. We expected a massive turnout and we were right, thousands came to listen to one of the most amazing figures on the Latin American scene.

After waiting from 2.30pm till 5.00pm before the line began to move, it was a further two hours before Chavez appeared. But it was worth the wait. He was fantastic. Charismatic, inspirational, poetic, relaxed, close to the people, ordinary, fearless, are just some of the words I would use to describe him. He sang for us and listed for us the world’s greatest revolutionary figures that continued inspiring him to this day. It was a veritable litany of socialist saints! And of course it began, as all Catholic litanies do, with Jesus Christ! He praised the WSF saying it was ‘the greatest political event in the whole world’. He said he had come here to learn, with passion, love and understanding. He was a delight to listen to.

He hailed the WSF as a solid platform of debate and discussion where the excluded come to be heard and to express their desire to see a change in their living conditions in their lifetime. At one point he remarked that being president was just a coincidence, a passing circumstance, ‘I am Hugo’ he said, ‘and I am committed to another possible world …. And the only way forward is revolution …. Every day I am more revolutionary!’ Amazing stuff whether you agree with him or not. And he received more standing ovations than I could count. Before we left (you have to leave Chavez discourses before they finish as he has been known to talk uninterrupted for six hours!) he was saying that the people in the south realise the need for change but that is not so with the people of the north. They will resist change. To save the world we will need to raise the consciousness of the peoples of the south, and the very future of the north depends on that.

It felt right. Our way of life in the rich north is not only destroying lives it is also destroying our earth. It cannot be sustained. And the ones who know this with all their being are those who suffer most the affects of the north’s preoccupation with an ever increasing standard of living, which is only possible at the expense of the continuing impoverishment of those from the south. I have seen our salvation and it looks good. The WSF is not only about ideas but is also the incarnation of the values of another possible world, one that we could all happily belong to, one in which I felt at home, one in which I was welcomed as a fellow traveller searching for dignity, respect and the ability to live out my days striving to share equitably with all the ample resources of our wonderful world.

I want to say a special thanks to Rev John and Felicity Summers whose generosity made possible my visit here.