The smell of revolution was in the air. So was the inescapable smell of petroleum, which has helped to
fuel this country’s revolt against the established order of international oligargs and cleptocrats.
Everywhere there are booths and tents and pavilions buzzing with activity. Vendors are peddling
everything imaginable, most of it festooned with the blazing images of the great revolutionary Che,
and Hugo Chavez the President of Venezuela and major Bush antagonists. I buy a pair of Che socks
and some Hugo Chavez boxer shorts from a guy in a red beret.

Aside from scene at the university, much of the action is at the Hilton Hotel. It’s a strange sight to see
so many leftists, hippies, Rastafarians, and every sort of social activist commandeering a major outpost
and symbol of capitalism. At the hotel we learn that a very good five-dollar breakfast can be had for
about eighteen bucks. And, if you stare hard enough at the wait staff, you can even get a refill on your
coffee, which is not as good as the coffee you can get on the street for a fraction of the price.

The rooms are actually pretty inexpensive at the Hilton, which is owned by the Venezuelan government,
who has supported the forum.  Most importantly, the rooms at the Hilton have Internet access, crucial
for today’s anti-global activists, which our hotel, the fabulously misnamed Waldorf, does not. At the
Waldorf, our rooms are spacious and totally devoid of any furniture or decorations save for a small
bare light bulb, a bunk bed and a badly functioning toilet. It has a large window with a single pane of
glass. If you slide it to the right the window is half open. When you slide it to the left, the window is half
closed. The real attraction of the Waldorf is not only that it is twenty dollars a night (for a 3-person room).
It is situated next door to a very nice bar where the locals gather to watch their baseball team, the
Lyones, which were in the process of sweeping the national grand finals. Every time the Lyones scored
a run, the bar erupted in the team fight song; LEEEE-OHHH-NEY, LEEOHHNEY! The score was 12-0,
but they cheered every play as if it was a go ahead run in the last inning. These fans love their baseball
and drink their Scotch and drink it out of twelve-ounce tumblers like it was ice-tea. At one point, two
inebriated pugilists stage a separate contest to settle the question of the relief pitcher’s manhood.
The bar empties as the contest moves to the sidewalk, and later the two battered contestants return
to their drinks, one of them sporting a very nice shiner.

There are reportedly a few hundred Americans among the 70,000 or so registered participants, but
they are harder to spot then you might think. And certainly not by their dress or skin pigmentation, as
most everyone here is in traditional western dress, mostly jeans, slacks, and athletic wear. One can
see all the logos, from Adidas to Tommy Hilfiger, ironically just about everything but Patagonia. Many
of the representatives from the Indigenous organizations are in customary dress, as were many of the
hippies. Most of the gringos here seem to be fluent in Spanish, and if you combine that with the fact
that few of the American revolutionaries came down here to meet other gringos. I spend much of my
time walking around smiling at people and graciously accepting leaflets that I cannot read.

The most surprising thing of all about this event is the number of hippies. And I do mean hippies;
dreadlocked, nose,-pierced, tattooed, bare mid-rifted, drum-banging, bong-toting hippies. And they
are not Americans. They seem to hail from every corner of the globe. At the youth camp, the Bob
Marley tee shirts are moving faster then the Hugo Chavez shirts, which few of the students are sporting.
The sound of samba drums and the smell of ganja floats in the breeze and I follow it to a group of
students who are displaying a legalize marijuana placard. In broken Spanish I tell them I am a hippie.
They go wild. They explain that normally they couldn’t smoke in the park, but today was different,
the park was liberated. I yell VIVA WOODSTOCK, and they understand and enthusiastically agree.

From reading some of the discussion papers presented, there is some tension around the
“hippie question”. The WSF has always been decentralized and without any dictatorial structure,
the gatherings often have a festive, celebratory atmosphere. There are now some voices calling for
the Forum to get more serious and more involved with the struggle for political power. Others
believe the event should be maintained within a non-governmental and non-party space. In order to
preserve the character of the organizations and movements that started it, which were mostly grassroots
 political pressure groups, not political entities.

By far the most visible American organizations were Global Exchange, Public Citizen, and the
International Forum on Globalization. Their combined U.S. delegation was made up of many
battle-hardened veterans in the anti globalization struggle; Media Benjamin, Lori Wallach,
Deborah James, Juliet Beck, Victor Menotti, Hurricane Hayes and dozens of others. This was an
impressive group of Americans representing us in a country that basically hates our government.
Of course some of these gringos were in the business of hating the U.S. government when Hugo
Chavez was still in diapers.

The great Philippine organizer, Walden Bello, was also here updating info-seeking crowds on the
outcome of the recent WTO meeting in Hong Kong. It’s wasn’t good news, but not totally bad either.
Last time I saw Walden was 1987. Hayes and I shared a jail cell with him in Washington, D.C. I guess
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund didn’t appreciate his opinions of them that day.
Now here he is, rightly respected for his role in building the movement that makes such gatherings as
the WSF both possible and important.

I have attended a few international conferences before. I have even visited a few countries on the brink
of or just after an important social revolution. But this gathering was certainly different, a perfect
combination of Fidel Castro, Mahatma Gandhi and Bob Marley. I believe something like this just might
catch on someday, and evidently so did the 70,000 other people who registered. This should forever lie
to rest any claims that this movement lacks diversity and sophistication. The attendees literally
represented millions of people from oppressed and oppressor countries. And the spirit is that of a
smart, united global front.

I was in the rooftop bar, poolside, at the Hilton having a beer with famous freedom fighter Tom Hayden.
Actually he was having a coffee and reading a thick stack of laser printing.

I am having a beer. I go over to his table and ask him if I can interview him for Lowbagger. He asks me
if I had a tape recorder and I said no, I would just scribble a few notes on some bar napkins and if I
couldn’t decipher them later I would just make shit up. He said, “That was fine, but just don’t quote me.”

My first question was what he thought about the differences between the New Left that he helped define
in the 1960’s and today’s anti-globalization movement. Here is what he said.

“First, in 1960, the environmental movement didn’t exist. Independent media didn’t exist. Today we have
far more leadership from women and a much more diverse cultural make-up. Today the movement is
more global, not as ideologically rigid, more flexible on goals and platforms, more movement than
political party.”

Then I asked him if he had any criticism of the U.S. anti-globalization movement either because of their counter-cultural image and their perceived association with street violence.

He said, “No.”

Tom went on to explain that when the government develops new tactics to deprive political movements
of their voice, the movements usually responds with new tactics to overcome the disadvantage. He
believes that there is an “inner intelligence that movements display when they face such a crisis, and
you need to learn that given enough time, this intelligence will manifest itself.”

I asked him what he thought of the recent arrests of eleven environmental activists on grounds of
domestic terrorism. Did he disapprove of such tactics? Hayden responded by placing the blame
squarely on the authorities. He said that historically, it was inevitable that when people are deprived of
a voice,  and refused the ability to make an impact, when the government uses all of its power to isolate
and humiliate them, people will adopt more militant tactics. I silently drink a toast to Avalon, who’s
December jailbreak in an Arizona prison was both heart-breaking and inspirational. A spirit like his can
never die. I thanked Tom and let him get back to his coffee and laser printing. I repeated my promise
not to quote him. He replied, “Good!”

Later, El Presidente Hugo Chavez addressed the Forum at a large sports stadium where 40,000 people
listened to a three-and-a-half hour speech. The only part I could translate was the he repeatedly referred
to America’s El Presidente as “Mr. Danger” and made a point of saying hello to Fidel Castro.

Tomorrow Floyd, Hurricane, K-Baum, Brian Stasinsky and I are going to see Angel Falls or something.
There is a faction that wants to go to the beach so I still don’t know. Wherever we go, I hope there are
some hippies there.

Mike Roselle hopes there will be hippies in heaven.