The Drums for Peace participants linked to the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World closed the opening march of the 3rd World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. The event gathered around 60 thousand people who exposed their ideas and attitudes at the Largo Glênio Peres, downtown in Porto Alegre, in the Pôr-do-sol amphitheater. The Drums for Peace demonstration was joined by members of the NGO Ágora in Defense of Voters and Democracy, The Forum’s Choir , the Movement Ethics is Citizenship – City Psychodrama, the Artists’ World Network and the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World.

The Forum’s choir singers, a group formed in 2002, beat the rhythm of the march. "We want to contribute for a new way to organize demonstrations and to have forums. Music can help people understand each other ", pointed Barcelona-born Catalan Marti Olivella, one organizer linked to the Alliance, an international social network found in more than 120 countries, gathering around three thousand people.

The allies carried banners with questions that set people to think. "Unfortunately, we live in a world where it’s not easy to avoid being consumed”, stated the 46-year-old musician Antonio Olivar, who was watching the march and felt provoked by one of the questions.

If you’re not happy, why don’t you change? What do you actually do to have a feli-city? Wishing is not waiting, it’s doing. These were some of the group’s statements. The questions were approved by 34-year-old sociologist Mirna Rosa. "These people carry the real spirit of the Forum: the intention to unite people with their own selves and then expand this to humanity", she explains.

Silence – The couple Letícia Maia and Leonardo Paredes were amazed by the contrast produced between the choir and the questions which were shown soon afterwards. "It’s the silence that strikes most. It’s been different from the messages we saw before, which were full of yells and sounds “says Letícia, a 23-year old teacher.

But the choir showed its strength along side with the baiano composer Gereba, author of the Drums for Peace song. Among many other tunes, they sang -"Tam, tam, tam – Drums for Peace / Oxé of Peace, keep the evil’s plague far away, bring us world peace". For the teacher Clítia Martins, 48 years, the Drums’ language is the ideal way to conquer people. "I’ve heard many words of order. But the groups with a sure future are the ones which work with art ", she argues.

Concentration – Wearing white, the Forum’s Choir singers did their warm-up for the march towards Porto Alegre’s Municipal Market. The group already counts with 500 singers from 13 countries, who meet at the Forum every year. This year voices and drums joined the movement Drums for Peace in Alliance. During the march they wore badges Alliance – Drums and Voices

for Peace and stickers with slogans against the possible attack on Iraq. Their repertoire includes Brazilian Pop Music, tunes in many languages and songs of fights and resistance. In the concentration, the movement was joined by the Arteiros, a Porto Alegre’s group which gathers boys aged between 12 and 16 to play samba. Another group of musicians which entertained the market’s frequenters was the Embaixada Musical Andina, formed by Argentineans, Chileans and Bolivians. The musicians brought the happiness of accordions, charangos, guitars and tarkas, among other instruments. "Our movement has as its great inspiration the fight for peace. Next, the fight for justice, because there’s no peace if there’s no justice ", argues Roger Moreau, the group’s press officer.

Por André Merli, reporter.
André Merli is the journalist in charge of the bulletin E-Voter Citizen from
the Ágora Institute in Defense of Voters and Democracy

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