The U.S. Social Forum: Our Best Bet to Turn This Country Around

By Tara Lohan, AlterNet. Posted June 1, 2007.

There are a group of people that believe another United States is possible -- another world is possible. These are people who work on labor rights, environmental sustainability, anti-racism, anti-violence, pro-peace and pro-justice campaigns. They are a group of people who are reacting not just to war and repression but are working on building movements, uniting struggles, developing relationships. This group of people is growing every day.

From June 27 to July 1, these people -- thousands of activists, organizers and educators from across the country, will be convening at the U.S Social Forum in Atlanta. So far over 800 organizations have already signed on, and the welcome mat is out to any group or individual that would like to participate.

"It is open to anyone who buys into the mission of social change and believes that another world is possible," said Heeten Kalan of Panta Rhea and New World Foundation, which are helping to fund the endeavor. "There is no set agenda; it is self-organized. That is the value. It is open to all groups. This is your space; let's do something with it."

The USSF sprung from the seeds of the World Social Forum, an annual event that now garners up to 100,000 people a year for a weeklong conference of dialogues, workshops, cultural events, marches and rallies. "The WSF was created to provide an open platform to discuss alternatives to the economic plans created by multinational corporations and the governments at the World Economic Forum," their website explains. "These plans often result in strategies that suppress workers and human rights, and undermine national and Indigenous sovereignty."

As the World Social Forum grew over the years, there was an increasing international call for the United States to hold their own forum. "Our counterparts from around the world have been telling us to work on our connections in the U.S., and that the best way to support them is to build a stronger movement in the U.S.," said Robby Rodriguez of Albuquerque's Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP). "If we are saying we want to be in solidarity with them, then this is the best way we can show solidarity and demonstrate our commitment to the struggle for peace and justice."

In 2003 the World Social Forum International Coordinating Committee asked Grassroots Global Justice to begin to formulate a plan for a U.S. forum. Today, there are 35 organizations currently on the National Planning Committee, which will grow to include 50 organizations.

"We were just blown away by national movements in other countries and began questioning why we haven't achieved that in the U.S.," said Michael Leon Guerrero of Grassroots Global Justice and a member of the National Planning Committee. "The fate of the rest of the world is tied to what happens here in the U.S. The role of our government impacts everyone else in the world because the U.S. empire reaches throughout the globe. What we are looking at is how do we help strengthen movement building the in U.S., and get past geography and build a broader movement? How do we start to think beyond individual organizations and the narrow foci of our work? How does this all fit together -- environmental justice, healthcare, the war, global warming, the Gulf Coast? We are looking to discuss how we can create those integrations and celebrate the work that has been building for decades."

Organizers of the USSF felt that the time was ripe finally in the United States to be able to have a successful forum of this nature -- grassroots movements were ready -- and the social will was there. The pressure of globalization, the effects of the war in Iraq and the tragedy of Katrina have helped shift the mood. Many who are attending the forum are thinking of doing a track on issues like climate change and immigration. There is also serious anti-war sentiment and a plan to examine what the role of the progressive grassroots movement should be in regards to the 2008 presidential election.

On the road to change

Guerrero stresses the forum should not be seen as an event, in and of itself, but as a process, and Rodriquez agrees. His organization, SWOP, is involved in planning a caravan of buses, the Peoples Freedom Caravan, that will travel from the Southwest to the South, stopping along the way to meet with organizations and picking up people to attend the forum.

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Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.

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