BRAZIL: Churches eye alliances for financial change at World Social Forum

[struggle4progress]

By Stephen Brown, January 28, 2009

<Episcopal News Service> The World Social Forum offers churches and social movements the opportunity to forge common cause to change global economic and financial policies, say religious representatives attending the gathering in Belem, northeastern Brazil.

"I think we need these kind of meetings to know that we are strong, to know that we are not only splinter groups within society, but that we have the power to change policies," said Wilfried Steen of the German (Protestant) Church Development Service (EED) .... on January 27, the first day of the six-day event that is billed as a counter to the World Economic Forum, a gathering of politicians and business leaders taking place at the same time in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.

Religious participants gathered at an Anglican church in central Belem for an interfaith event. They then joined an estimated 50,000 others for a noisy but good-natured opening march through the city, undeterred by a downpour, typical for the Amazonian region at this time of year ...

Groups of Amazonian Indians in traditional dress pushed ahead on the march that started in central Belem, while activists from the environmental group Greenpeace, brandished a banner stating, "Save the planet now," in front of a giant inflatable cow. It symbolized the destruction of the Amazon rainforest to create pastures for livestock ...

http://www.episcopal-life.org/81808_104467_ENG_HTM.htm