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Anti-globalization gathering in India closes with march

Tens of thousands of activists gathered yesterday to march through the streets of India's financial capital, shouting anti-war and anti-capitalist slogans to mark the end of the world's biggest anti-globalization gathering.

After six days of colorful protests and intense discussions opposing economic liberalization, the Iraq war, and racial and caste oppression, the World Social Forum was closing with a massive rally in downtown Bombay.

"We can stop [US President George W.] Bush. We can stop war," chanted Choi Mi-jin, an activist with the Seoul-based group Globalize from Below.

"The American war in Iraq has affected everyone in the world," she said as she prepared to join the march. "Too many people -- innocent people -- have been killed. It must be stopped."

Activists carried red and white placards reading, "Another world is possible. Stop the war."

Some 100,000 people from 132 countries attended the forum, 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.

The forum was planned as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum, which was opening yesterday in Switzerland.

"There was an identification of common economic struggles," said Kent Klandt of Black Rock City, Nevada. "It is crucially important for First World activists to be in the Third World."
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