Mumbai, 18 January 2004 - "They can cut all the flowers, but they cannot stop the coming of spring." Thus quoted moderator Kamla Bhasin, a respected feminist leader and theoretician, as she described what globalisation forces are up against. The quote from Pablo Neruda aptly underscores the strength of the struggle of women's movements across the globe, as evident in the numbers that gathered here for the anti-globalisation conference at the World Social Forum (WSF) 2004.

"Globalisation which is nothing but an intensified form of imperialism has strengthened inequality and exploitation and patriarchal structures all over the world. The effects on growing violence against women, on the social sector, on livelihood and on the growth of religious/fundamentalist ideologies need to be studied, shared and compared," the conference organisers asserted.

The participants were united by the belief that different national movements need to co-ordinate with international initiatives such as the WSF. "Strategising and planning common campaigns at the international level are necessary to combat globalisation effectively," the organisers added.

The "Women and Globalisation" conference served as a venue for sharing international experiences on the impact of globalisation on different aspects of women's lives. It was sponsored by the Women's Movement Caucus of India as part of the feminist interventions in WSF 2004. The conference, which was attended by more than 2,000 people, was held in one of the major halls of the WSF venue.

Lilian Celiberti from Uruguay, founder and head of Articulacion Feminista Marcosur (AFM), spoke on the relationship between the struggle against fundamentalisms and the concept of the body and sexuality as references of political identities and the conception of the individual.

Indian economist Jayati Ghosh of the International Development Economics Associates (IDEA) discussed globalisation's economic costs, citing revealing data on how the worsening crisis in employment, including massive unemployment, increasing feminisation of migration and its resultant poverty lead to more and widespread violence against women from the South.

Susanna George from Malaysia, Executive Director of Isis International Manila, examined the inter-linkages of globalisation, media and information and communication technologies (ICTs). Delving on how globalised media is used as a weapon of mass deception, George noted that "neoliberal globalisation is built on the backbone of globalised and corporatised media, information and communications systems." She enjoined colleagues from the different social movements to support the efforts of communications activists who have long fought in this arena and to recognise the importance of these different sites of struggle.

Other speakers were Dita Sari, founder of the National Front for Workers' Struggle Indonesia (FNPBI); Sunila Abeysekera of INFORM, a human rights organisation based in Sri Lanka; and Ramona Ortega of the Human Rights Project/Urban Justice Center in the United States. Sari focused on workers' rights, Abeysekera discussed sexuality rights and Ortega spoke about the human rights situation in the United States, particularly around women on welfare and the anti-war movement.

Ghosh, who exalted the women's movement as the "most progressive and dynamic among the social movements," claimed that more women across the world are now involved in the resistance against the effects of globalisation. Echoing the theme of the WSF 2004 to sum up the prospects of the struggle against globalisation, she asserted: "Another world is not just possible; it is likely, even inevitable."