World Social Forum organizers protest against Canada's visa refusal

The 12th World Social Forum began here Tuesday, with the forum organizers accusing the Canadian government of refusing hundreds of invitees' visas.

Most of the people being denied visas are from Africa and Latin America, including Aminata Traore, a high-profile anti-globalization activist and a former minister of tourism and culture in Mali.

Traore, who has been to Canada several times to give conferences on the same themes, told Radio Canada that the visa refusal is a stain on Canada's reputation as an open and democratic country.

"In reality, the West is more and more afraid of debates on ideas ... We are bearers of ideas, not bombs," said Traore, who is also a candidate to succeed Ban Ki-moon as UN secretary-general.

However, Immigration Canada blamed conference officials, saying the rules for visitor visas need to be followed rigorously, and the event's directors said they did all they could to facilitate the visa process.

The forum is aimed at finding "concrete alternatives to the neoliberal economic model and to policies based on the exploitation of human beings and nature."

The annual meeting this year, held from Wednesday to Sunday, was expected to bring together more than 50,000 activists and leftist intellectuals from around the world.

This year's forum has set several precedents as it is the first to be held in North America and the first to take place in a Group of 7 country. Endi