Forum of Cultures
The Forum of Cultures (Catalan: Fòrum de les Cultures) is an international event taking place in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain from May 9 to September 26, 2004.
The official aims of the 2004 Forum of Cultures include peace, sustainable development, and respect for other cultures (multi-culturalism).
The event is controversial. Opposition focuses on the $2.3 billion price tag, massive property development, coastline destruction, and sponsorship by certain multinationals.
Critics draw attention to the role played by big corporate sponsors such as: Indra (heavily involved in the arms industry), Nestlé (aggressive marketing of baby milk in the Third World - UNICEF estimates that bottle feeding in underdeveloped countries is responsible for some 1.5 million baby deaths a year); El Corte Inglés (labour rights violations in Moroccan sweat shops, condemned in a report by SETEM, a Catalan fair trade NGO), and ENDESA (dam project on Indian lands in Chile, the subject of a highly critical World Bank report and of a TV documentary).
