While the chorus is against globalisation, the participation of over 100,000 people from 130 countries undoubtedly contributes to globalisation. Many anti-globalisation activists themselves take advantage of globalisation. Therefore, what is required is ethical globalisation. Moreover, globalisation is no longer synonymous of Western globalisation. While West Pakistan failed to impose Urdu on Bengalis of East Pakistan in 1950s and New Delhi failed to impose Hindi on its southern provinces in1960s, Hindi successfully made inroads across the Sub-Continent through cable TVs in 1990s.

In most cases, globalisation only accelerates the exploitation, inequities and discriminatory practices and mechanisms already in-built in societies or in the State apparatus. Jharkhand, the heartland of India's indigenous peoples, has been the epicentre of India's industrialisation since the colonial times. Jharkand is resourceful with minerals including 37 per cent of the country's coal reserves and 40 per cent of its copper. It has also massive reserves of iron ore, mica, bauxite and limestone, chromite, graphite, asbestos, kyanite, uranium, manganese, dolomite, tungsten etc., in addition to gold in parts of Singhbhum district. At present, Jharkhand ranks number one State in India in the production of iron ore, copper ores, mica, kyanite, uranium and asbestos. Despite over a hundred years of industrialisation, the Adivasis remain poorest due to the denial of the right to entitlement. It makes little difference whether one Mr Tata or one Mr Gates extracts the resources. But, the rightwing neo-Swadeshis and the left wingers, who oppose opening up of Indian industries to foreign capitals believe that "foreign capital" of the "citizens overseas" -- the persons of Indian origin who acquire Indian citizenship -- is better. Therefore, there are sops for "citizens overseas" while hundreds of thousands of Punjabis in Jammu and Kashmir, Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh and Pakistani Hindus of Rajashthan are denied citizenship.

The so called South is no less exploitative than North. The mal-treatment of the migrant workers across the Middle East and South East Asia requires little introduction. In fact, the United Nations International Convention on Migrant Workers has been ratified only by migrant-workers producing countries and not the recipient or potential recipient countries. The absence of rule of law across the Middle East and South East Asia in comparison to Europe is starkly clear. Rather than prosecuting the guilty personnel for torture and other abuses against migrant workers, Ms Irene Fernandes, Director of Tenaganita, an NGO working with migrant women was sentenced to 12 months in prison by a Malaysian court on 16 October 2003 for allegedly "publishing false information with malevolent intentions." Her only crime was to highlight abuses against the migrant workers, mainly Bangladeshis.

For poorer countries of South, origin of capital makes little difference like the Adivasis of Jharkhand. In 1996, India and Nepal signed a bilateral trade agreement. This agreement allowed Nepal-produced goods wide access to the Indian market with drastically reduced 'local content' requirements. Because of the alleged smuggling of non-Nepal produced goods, Indian government reacted with anti-dumping duties. The bordering state governments of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh also imposed luxury taxes on Nepali products. India finally obtained strong amendments to the treaty when it came up for renewal in early 2002. However, since Nepal opened up in 1960s, Indian business and industrial entrepreneurs poured into Nepal to secure benefit. Of the total joint venture investors in Nepal, approximately 33 per cent are Indians. The 1955 Indo-Nepal Treaty gives advantages to the Indian nationals in comparison to others.

Sometimes, protests against economic domination by regional economic powers found expression through violence such as the anti-Thai riots in Cambodia in January 2003 after an alleged remark by a Thai TV star suggesting that Angkor Wat -- Cambodia's national symbol and represented on its flag -- had been stolen from Thailand, or anti-Indian riots in Nepal in December 2000 after a rumour of an alleged derogatory remark by an Indian film star, Hritik Roshan.

"Capitalism" is no longer synonymous of "western capitalism". The complicity of the oil companies such as Talisman Energy Inc. of Canada and Lundin Oil AB of Sweden, for human rights violations in Sudan has been well documented. Amid mounting pressure from rights groups, Talisman and Lundin sold their interests in 2002. These Western-based corporations, however, have now been replaced by the state-owned oil companies of China's China National Petroleum Corp., Malaysia's Petrolium Nasional Berhad and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (Videsh) Ltd. The question remains as to how and whether any pressure could be brought to bear upon these state-owned oil companies from Asia about the corporate responsibility against human rights violations.

The verdict of the California state courts in the ongoing lawsuits filed against the UNOCOL Corp. under the 200-year-old Alien Tort Claims Act for the conduct of subsidiaries, Thailand's PTT and France's Total, in the violation of human rights such as beating, enslavement, rape, and murder by the Burmese military personnel may set the trend in the land of the free. Internationally, the United Nations Sub-Commission in its 55th session in August 2003 adopted the Draft Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights as a first incremental step towards adoption of a morally binding international instrument for corporate responsibilities.

In the global village, the possibility of another world must mean ensuring equal access to education, health care, food, housing and other basic human needs, respect for rule of law and human rights, good governance and corporate responsibility and accountability. The focus of the next WSF therefore must be equally on national and multinational capital alike if it is not to turn into a self-censoring exercise of the apologists from the neo-developed and developing countries. In "an open meeting place", which WSF claims, semantics will rule the roost.

Suchas Chakma is Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights, New Delhi