As there haven't been any reorts of this conference, I thought I'd repost it so people get a sense of what went on- noel

Anti-capitalists meet in Beirut

ANNE ALEXANDER reports from the conference in Beirut

THE PACKED lecture hall could have been anywhere in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in similar meetings, counter-conferences and teach-ins to build an
international anti-capitalist movement. What was crucial about the World Forum on the WTO in Beirut in Lebanon last week was that for the first time the anti-capitalist movement had
come to the Middle East.

As US cluster bombs fell on Afghanistan, activists from all over the world met to discuss building a movement to resist war and globalisation. At least 800 people crowded into the opening rally to hear Jose Bove and Ahmed Ben Bella, one of the leaders of the great struggles against French colonial rule in Algeria.

There were differing views about the WTO at the conference, and debates about the way forward. Ben Bella summed up the mood of many of the Arab activists when he told the crowd, "We know that the WTO is only meeting in Qatar because it is afraid to meet anywhere else. We need to organise a movement which is capable of throwing the WTO out of the Middle East as well."

Kanj Hamade, one of the organising team for the conference, says, "As soon as we found out that the WTO was going to meet in Qatar, we began organising to oppose it, and to stop it meeting in the Arab world. "Everybody in Lebanon knows about the anti-globalisation movement. People are really interested in the fight against international capitalism and the multinationals."

Julia, another student activist on the organising team, said, "We organised meetings and events in different universities to tell students about the issues of the conference. We set up an exhibition called 'Globalisation and Terrorism', with pictures and films. We have been showing the video of Seattle, and the BBC programme about Ariel Sharon and the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps."

The conference created a space for activists across the Middle East to meet, debate and organise together. Human rights campaigners, trade unionists and anti-globalisation activists from Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and Syria all took part alongside delegations from India, Africa, Europe and the US.

Trade unions representing agricultural workers from Lebanon's impoverished south organised three buses to the opening session of the conference. For many of these groups the debates of the last few days have been a rare chance to meet and discuss ideas and tactics openly. As a Syrian student explained, "It is extremely difficult for us to organise. Our situation is full of contradictions. We have come to the conference to show our opposition to globalisation, but one of Syria's leading economists, who advises the government, has also been invited to speak. We know that we can't rely on people like that to stop globalisation."

Members of the Anti-Globalisation Group from Syria electrified the atmosphere when they announced that the Syrian government had rejected the WTO and called for demonstrations in Damascus against the meeting in Qatar.

One of the group's activists took the microphone to announce, "We have to leave the conference because we need to be out on the streets with our people who are demonstrating. We invite everyone here to come and help us bring Seattle to Damascus."