Porto Alegre is the city I live in.
For four years, unfortunately, it became worldwide known as the capital of World Social Forum. During the Forum - a kind of Carnival of the left - many sabotage acts took place, like McDonald´s invasions (!), invasion and destruction of GMO (genetically modified organisms) field research with the help from French agitator José Bové and occurrences alike.
When WSF went to Venezuela, we - the peaceful inhabitants of this city - believed we could face better summer days here.
But let me appoint that it was odd for me that despite all those events cited above - that upsetted too many people like me - Porto Alegre´s mayor and Hotel entrepreneurs here missed WSF a lot when it left Porto Alegre to India and Venezuela. They said it brought "tourists" and money to the city. It is strange to label a bunch of agitators, saboteurs, anti-democratic thugs or just "libertarian" people as "tourists".
Putting this way, it seems that the city mayor is very concerned to achieve some economic profit from the WSF - no matter the nature of it - because the huge publicity that is gained along the years. They say that because of WSF "Porto Alegre is becoming worldwide known as the capital of diversity and multiculturalism".
But it is sad that for the other 355 days of the year they never work to transform Porto Alegre a better place for economic development. Yes. Porto Alegre is a city with some of the highest taxes in the country. The results of this suicidal policy is that the unemployment rate here is higher than the average. So the prices of food and public transportation.
But it seems that this "worldwide fame" of Porto Alegre, not as a place to visit as a tourist, but a shelter to all kind of saboteurs and agitators is charging its price.
Another international event is going on here: a United Nations conference on agrarian reform. Guess what happened yesterday?
This is what Reuters informed "about 2,000 protesters on Wednesday invaded a plantation in southern Brazil owned by Aracruz, the world's biggest producer of bleached eucalyptus pulp, and caused what the company said was millions of dollars of damage and losses."
Via Campesina and Landless Workers are responsible for this. The reason? Aracruz according to them is turning my state, Rio Grande do Sul into a kind of "green desert" because of the eucalyptus "plantation".
The worst of all is that they used poor people to do the dirty job. They puppeteered hundreds of women - yesterday was the "Woman's international day" (another deception from leftist movement to create and raise the society inner struggle between groups and genders)- to gain access to the pulp plant.
The result: Aracruz is suspending a billion dollar budget project here in my state.
Counter actions? None. But what can we expect from a government like this, a close friend of Fidel, Chávez and Landless Workers? Nothing.
If even U.S. considers Lula as a friend that can help Bush to calm down Chávez, it's clear that the game is about to be lost.
Porto Alegre is not the "Capital of Diversity".
Definetely, "Shelter of Saboteurs" is a better title for it.
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