Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiFirst-Ever US Social Forum Begins
SAN FRANCISCO - Thousands of social activists from across the United States are descending on Atlanta, Georgia this week.They aren't coming to protest. Instead, they're traveling to meet each other, share stories, and develop a unified vision of how the United States should be run.
"It's an opportunity to bring together a diverse number of organizations from across the American landscape to talk about how we envision a better world and how to get there," said Alice Lovelace, a lead organizer of the U.S. Social Forum.
The U.S. Social Forum, the first of the World Social Forum's regional events to be held in the United States, begins today with a march from the state Capitol to the Atlanta Civic Center. The theme of the march, said Lovelace, is "reclaiming the public sector."
"Reclaiming it from privatization and all the other assaults (like) defunding of hospitals, defunding of public education, gentrification, running poor people out of the city, lack of housing -- you name it," she added.
Organizers are expecting participants from all over the country to talk about such issues as immigration, poverty, housing, and police conduct. At the end of the week-long forum, participants will assemble again to decide what campaigns should be undertaken and how to work together towards that goal.
"The social forum really couldn't be coming at a better time," said Colin Rajah of the Oakland, California-based National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which is part of the event's national planning committee.
Immigrant-rights events at the forum include a convergence of household workers and a talk entitled "Remittances: A Strategy for Transnational Migrant Organizing."
"Immigrant communities are really mobilizing and trying to get an understanding of what are our rights in this country," Rajah told OneWorld. "I think it's really important to be able to communicate with other communities. What's our relationship to the African American community? What's our relationship to the indigenous (Native American) community? Not all immigrants to the United States are Latino. Some are Asian or African immigrants. The Social Forum is an opportunity for us to come together and talk."
The U.S. Social Forum is an outgrowth of the World Social Forum (WSF), an annual event that now attracts tens of thousands of people a year for a week-long conference of dialogues, workshops, cultural events, marches, and rallies.
Launched in 2001 in Porto Allegre, Brazil under the banner "Another World Is Possible," the Forum has grown steadily and led to regional gatherings around the globe. In January, an estimated 75,000 people gathered in Nairobi, Kenya under the banner "People's Struggles, People's Alternatives."
"The WSF was created to provide an open platform to discuss alternatives to the economic plans created by multinational corporations and governments at the World Economic Forum," the WSF Web site explains. "These plans often result in strategies that suppress workers and human rights, and undermine national and indigenous sovereignty."
Organizers of the first U.S. Social Forum picked Atlanta because of its legacy as the home of the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the multi-racial organizing he championed in helping to end segregation.
The organizing theme for the U.S. forum is "Another World Is Possible - Another U.S. Is Necessary."
Alice Lovelace said the Atlanta event is almost seven years in the making.
"We insisted that it had to be led by people-of-color-led organizations," she told OneWorld. "There was no knowledge in the United States. There had to be a lot of educating in the United States for people to understand what a Social Forum was. They had to see that this was their process that would address what they felt was important."
© 2007 One World USA
9 Comments so far
Show AllThis is not too late to give attention in this problem. Through this forum, I hope the participants could have a right and effective campaign in order to attain their goal. And also they must be united and agree in a same thing so that they would be succeed of what they are planning.
-------------------------------------------------------
New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters http://www.e-us-visa.com
By the time I learned of this forum, it was too late to go. We really need better ways to get the message out about events like this. Since most of us are not wealthy, attending something like this can take months of planning...
I do hope some positive results come out of it. Truth is, since 1999 Socialists and their supporters have made considerable gains against the proponents of the World Bank, the WTO and Globalism. Maybe Indy Media is carrying the reports.
awesome news!
It is so great that the Forum has finally entered the U.S., but not enough people know about it yet. Unfortunately, the popular media does not give this its due importance. I wonder how many thousand showed up. Something has to be done to make this event more popular
Black Caucus Accused of Selling Out Black Citizens On Immigration
LOS ANGELES- Despite the results from a recent poll indicating that only 22 percent of Americans favor the Senate's immigration reform bill, in a procedural vote on Tuesday, the Senate voted 64-35 to resurrect the bill and bring it to the floor for debate. Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., an architect of the bill, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus have compared amnesty for illegals to the civil rights struggles of blacks. Conservative radio talk show host and staunch amnesty opponent, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson issued the following statement today, blasting the Congressional Black Caucus and Sen. Kennedy for selling blacks out on this issue:
"The Senate's immigration reform bill is an amnesty bill. Giving amnesty to some 15- 20 million illegal aliens would devastate low-income black and white Americans. These American citizens would be forced to compete with people from a third world country in the area of jobs, education, and healthcare. What does this say about our President, the CBC, and Sen. Kennedy when they try to force Americans to accept a bill that's so obviously anti-American?
"By supporting amnesty, the Congressional Black Caucus and Sen. Kennedy are working against the best interest of black Americans. This should be a wake up call for blacks that their so-called leaders are more concerned with the rights of illegals from Mexico than that of Americans."
This is great news!!! Back in the 1980s, centralized governments had all the power. But these loosely connected networks of organizations, like the Social Forums and many others, have proven to be very effective at redistributing political power, public property, and natural resources to the people, as we have seen in Bolivia, Argentina, and Thailand to name a few examples. Interestingly, we see the same phenomenon with military power in the Iraq War, as well as the Vietnam war. The troops under the centralized control of the US government are not very effective against multiple loosely organized factions, even when those factions are not nearly as trained or equipped. Centralized governments are dinosaurs doomed for extinction. A better world is under construction. Participatory democracy is as powerful as the forces of nature.
Have been following the WSF for some years now, and am delighted to find a forum finally occurring within the US. What a wonderful opportunity it presents for sharing of ideas and strategies; it can't help but influence civil discourse on a worldwide basis. Although the first forum was held in Porto Allegre, my understanding is that it grew out of the 1999 "Battle of Seattle," a protest against the World Trade Organization that was meeting then in session.
As a Seattle native, this observation always makes me proud. Welcome home to the US, WSF, and may there be many more forums to come.
This is written in whole hearted support of the world forum. It is an important effort by so many.
It is evident in most of the actions of this, our country, that we have buried or lost our collective conscience.
Examples of conscience found throughout the world, are the numerous formulations of the Golden Rule. With a sincere consideration of this most basic of principles, we can begin to understand what conscience is. These Golden Rule formulations can bring us closer to the understanding that there are principles higher than just myself that can lead us to a more objective understanding of our common situation. Many of the formulations that we have collected are from the distant past and some are contemporary goldenruleproject.org. A few examples of my current favorites are:
"To those who are good to me, I am good; to those who are not good to me, I am also good. Thus all get to be [experience] good. To those who are sincere with me, I am sincere; to those who are not sincere with me; I am also sincere. Thus all get to be sincere, [experience sincerity]." Taoist
"Every man takes care that his neighbor does not cheat him. But the day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The highest aim and sense of human life is the striving to attain the welfare of one's neighbor, and that this is possible exclusively only by the conscious renunciation of one's own." George Ivanovich Gurdjieff
"We need to feel the problems of others as our own. . ."
(Rigoberta Menchu´ Tum, a woman from Guatemala and Nobel Peace Prize recipient.)
I would suggest that the forum adopt the Golden Rule as the initial premise/basis by which all things are then addressed.
Good wishes to all for the endeavor.
This is it. This is a very important piece of news. Global and national public opinion is stronger than any government. Anti-globalization, anti-war marches may not change policy quickly but for the people that are marching it is a chance to gain some empowerment and meet others with similiar values. Once the general public becomes empowered than we can have real change. Policy changing is secondary to becoming unified. We are the people. Let us get together and celebrate are awareness.
adamwestfakey@yahoo.ca
I hope some one there quotes the Declaration of Independence. "When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary ...."