Americans serve as anti-Bush envoys

At panels and demonstrations throughout the annual convention of the anti-globalistion movement, the United States has been castigated left and right for everything from the occupation of Iraq to genetically modified agriculture.

So what does an American feel when seeing posters portraying Bush alternately as a bloodsucking vampire, a criminal in police lockup, or a Hindu version of Satan?

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"It's fabulous," said Zach Allen, a campaigner against nuclear weapons from San Francisco.

"It's useful to have faces for a movement to rally against and Bush right now represents that militarised state of the world," said Allen, as a dozen Indian trade unionists nearby chanted "Down, down, Bush!"

Of the 100,000 people attending the six-day World Social Forum which closes Wednesday, at least 1,000 are Americans, according to organisers.

"If you're here people know you don't support Bush," Allen said.

But some Americans, despite their dislike of Bush, were at times weary of the tone of the forum.

"Sometimes I've wanted to borrow one of those burqas and just cover my American face," said Kathleen Sheehan of the San Francisco-based fair trade movement Global Exchange.

She remembered seeing a skit in which a character playing Bush drags away an innocent person by a noose.