This year, as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush and the Bush administration have proposed that the United States congress allow for a $379 billion defense budget for the coming fiscal year. Upon being granted, this request constitutes a $48 billion increase in the nation's budget. Thus, marking this increase in funds the biggest since 1966. (Roughly fourteen percent.) And, not only is the committee requesting a defense increase, but they are also pursuing a growth in the Pentagon's budget, equaling $120 billion over the next five years. If this is granted, The Pentagon's annual budget will reach $451.4 billion in 2007.
Comprised of 1,000 of the world's leading corporations, an assembly known as the World Economic Forum offered a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the attacks. They did so by relocating their annual congregation, which is normally held in Switzerland, to New York. This organization strives to improve the state of the world. Independent from and unaffiliated with any national or political interests, this non-partisan group moves to further the economic growth and social progress of the world. Based out of Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum "acts in the spirit of entrepreneurship of the global public interest.".
The World Social Forum on the other hand, was developed last year as an alternative to the WEF. This organization has held annual meetings for the past two years in Porto Alegre, Brazil. As anti-globalization activists, this assembly is in opposition with the WEF, Washington's war on terror, and the US" idea of a defense budget. Many activists believe that the current events within the US government are the start of a permanent global war that leads to strength and domination of the US and its allies. At their recent gathering in southern Brazil, the point was made that the amount spent on global defense last year completely surpassed all of Latin America's foreign debt.
