Thousands of activists from across the globe opened the World Social Forum on Tuesday, marching through Venezuela's capital shouting anti-war slogans and accusing US President George W. Bush of pushing "imperialist" policies on developing countries.
Waving banners and chanting "No to war, peace is possible," throngs of spirited protesters danced to drum beats and demanded an end to the war in Iraq. Roughly 80,000 people signed up to attend the forum, including tens of thousands from outside Venezuela, organizers said.
"Bush invades countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, takes control of their natural resources and bleeds them dry," said Candido Gil, a 57-year-old member of Brazil's Communist Party.
"That's unacceptable," he said.
Crowds flocked to a stage on the outskirts of a Caracas military base to for a speech by American peace activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq.
"We need to bring our troops home immediately," Sheehan told the crowd to a rousing applause. "We need to hold someone responsible for all the death and destruction in the world. We need to see George Bush and the rest of them tried for crimes against humanity."
Sheehan, a 48-year-old from Berkeley, California, gained international attention when she set up a protest camp near Bush's ranch in Texas last year.
Many of the activists lauded the "revolution" led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, while others called attention to global issues including air pollution, poverty and racism.
Juergen Schmidt, a 22-year-old German, twisted a few of his dangling dreadlocks while handing out pamphlets entitled Green Tomorrow.
"The human race is threatened by the effects of global warming and if action isn't taken soon it could be too late," Schmidt said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS