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01/28/2005:

"Brazilian leader faces taunts as forum pushes for reform"

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was barracked as a "traitor" yesterday at the World Social Forum.

The president, addressing a crowd 15,000 inside a sports stadium, called for economic justice for the world's poor but was forced on the defensive by members of his own party demanding more radical social policies at home.

A group of about 200 repeatedly interrupted him during his one-hour speech in Porto Alegre, Brazil, during the forum held to discuss issues affecting developing countries.

The president has been widely criticised for his orthodox economic and social policies but he presented a strong defence of his first two years in office, saying Brazil had created millions of jobs since he came to power and was now a strong political voice for the elimination of poverty, from South America to Africa. "We need action by both rich and poor countries to eradicate poverty. It is important we construct another world. We need to be together," he said.

As crowds outside the stadium called for urgent action to redistribute land and feed the hungry, Mr Da Silva said he would meet world leaders at Davos, Switzerland - the location of the World Economic Forum - to urge them to address poverty urgently.

He also tried to persuade the crowds that he was still radical. "For now I'm president of this country, but my roots are in social movements. I am a political militant," he said, adding that he would eventually return to the Sao Paulo suburb where he used to live when he was head of the metalworkers' union.

But Ertha Buys, a member of a Brazilian group lobbying for cheap housing for the poor, said: "There's frustration out there because Lula is the first leftist president for Brazil and so far he's only given profits to banks. We haven't got anything."
Full Article: guardian.co.uk