Thousands Protest Globalization

Tens of thousands of activists choked traffic Wednesday as they marched through Bombay, shouting anti-war and anti-capitalist slogans to mark the end of the world's biggest anti-globalization gathering.

Thousands of miles away in Davos, world leaders of government and finance attended 250 panel sessions on topics ranging from the war on terror to "how to be hip."

According to critics, neither gathering addressed the problems of the world's poor.

The rally that closed the World Social Forum was led by protesters carrying a large black banner that read, "Stop the killings. Stop the lying." Other marchers shouted "George Bush — no, no! George Bush — terrorist!"

The forum featured six days of colorful protests and intense discussions opposing economic liberalization, the Iraq war, and racial and caste oppression.

Some 100,000 people from 132 countries attended the meeting, held for the first time outside its home base of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Organizers called it a huge success in mobilizing opinion and widening the global network of civil society groups, especially in Asia and Africa.

But Troy David, an activist from Strasbourg, France, said the speeches "were not so useful."

"They just complained and complained about problems, but did not suggest solutions," David said.

The Social Forum forum was planned as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum, which opened Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.

There, the U.N. Children's Fund reported Wednesday than tens of millions of people die or are mentally impaired every year because of a lack of vitamins and minerals in their diet a problem that could be solved at the cost of a few cents per person.

Protesters who accuse the forum of being elitist and imperialist tried to stop leaders from traveling up the Alps to Davos by blocking access to a main highway at Zurich airport for about half an hour, police said.

Among the speakers at the Social Forum were two Nobel laureates — peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi of Iran and economics winner Joseph Stiglitz of the United States — and former Irish President Mary Robinson.

Although left-leaning activists formed the overwhelming majority, participants were wide-ranging in their ideas, beliefs and origins: villagers from Kenya, European aid workers, Hiroshima atom-bomb survivors and tribe members from remote corners of South Asia.

"The celebrations and demonstrations are important to show that we are not isolated in our own little regions," said Serg Nuss of Girona in Spain's Catalonia region.

Next year, the forum is expected to shift back to Brazil, where it has been held three times since its inception in 2001. Organizers are contemplating the possibility of holding the event in Africa in 2006.