East Coast Events

[mattd]

NYC Protests Planned Against World Economic
  Forum
Over 1,000 of the world's corporate leaders, along with top political and 
media representatives, will meet behind closed doors in New York City from 
January 31 to February 4 at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. 
Meanwhile thousands of students, union members and activists plan to 
protest in what is expected to be the largest American anti-corporate 
globalization demonstration post-9/11.
Formed in 1971, the Davos-based WEF is viewed by critics as the architect 
of corporate globalization and the catalyst for the formation of the World 
Trade Organization. Although the Forum is a private affair, the meeting's 
clout has begun to rival that of the United Nations as the world's leading 
global body.
"Should a Forum that is dominated by corporate interests be encouraged to 
take on the role of mapping out future frameworks for global governance?" 
asked scholar Peter Goodman in his piece "The WEF: Capital's First 
International?"
For protest organizers such as Students For Global Justice, Another World 
Is Possible and the New York Anti-Capitalist Convergence the answer is 
clearly no.
At the same time protesters pour into New York to protest the global elite 
meet-and-greet, activists in Porto Alegro, Brazil, will attend the World 
Social Forum to discuss alterative social and economic models to prove 
"Another World Is Possible".

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