What’s happening post-U.S. Social Forum Detroit?

 Another World is Possible

Another U.S. is Necessary

Excerpting, editing by 

Carolyn Bennett

Social Forum is not a conference but a space to craft peoples’ solutions to economic and ecological crises ─ a movement-building process.

We must declare what we want our world to look like and start planning the path to get there.

USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sect, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms the United States and changes history.

Update: “A Third U.S. Social Forum?”

Since the U.S. Social Forum Detroit ─ Many attending the Detroit USSF have wondered when the next U.S. Social Forum would take place and Forum organizers are now working on how best to move forward from the successful Detroit experience.

National Planning Committee 

The Social Forum process is a tool for movement-building and National Planning Committee groups are in discussions focused on how best to use this tool. The committee has been considering whether another USSF should be planned and what such a gathering should look like.

People’s Movement Assembly

The People’s Movement Assembly process ─ requiring slow and steady building where grassroots forces are consolidating toward justice, decolonization, and liberation ─ continues to develop around the goal of growing social movements as catalysts for change and building convergence between and among movements.

Multiple groups since the second U.S. Social Forum in 2010 have used the organizing process of the Peoples Movement Assemblies. The PMA process in 2011 and 2012 has directly engaged more than 3,000 people and advanced collaborative organizing efforts on many fronts.

 

PMAs in the South including Youth Assemblies

Preemptive Prosecution PMA and regional assemblies

Formerly Incarcerated PMA (February 2011)

Detroit’s Assemblies (in fall 2010 and early 2011)

PMA Southwest Organizing Tour (2011)

Assembly to End Poverty

National Student Bill of Rights gatherings

Organizing and documentation tour (Fall 2011‘From Wall Street to the South’)

Queer Liberation PMA (January 2012)

USSF to World Social Forum

The U.S. Social Forum continues important connections with the World Social Forum process. National Planning Committee (NPC) members, the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign have been delegates to the International Council and have helped as liaisons between the USSF National Planning Committee and the international groups involved in the World Social Forum.

 

The March 2013 meeting will be a space for U.S. groups to come together to develop statements and positions that will be brought to the 2013 World Social Forum in Tunis, Tunisia (March 23-28). A number of USSF participants also took part in the last WSF through the Detroit to Dakar delegation.

WSF Free Palestine, November-December Brazil gathering

This historic meeting of activist groups from around the world, highly relevant to U.S. movement work, addresses Palestinian needs and concerns which have long been marginalized in inter-state politics. U.S. groups such as the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement are helping show connections between issues such as mass incarceration and racism in U.S. institutions and the militarism and racism seen in policies of states related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

A number of USSF groups are deeply involved as delegates from the U.S. and Canada to the World Social Forum Free Palestine gathering in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on November 28-December 2, 2012.

 U.S. Social Forums going forward

National Planning Committee groups are preparing for another face-to-face meeting to assess the work that has been done to build on the two (Atlanta, Georgia/Detroit, Michigan) U.S. Social Forums.  Issues and reflections to be considered are:

How the work of the U.S. Social Forum relates to current crises threatening people’s livelihoods and the planet

New sources of hope in new actors and movement uprisings around the world

Lessons learned from the USSF process and how to maintain the good work that contributes to movement-building while, at the same time, expanding capacity for reaching more people and supporting more of the important struggles happening in grassroots communities around the United States.

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE – ANOTHER U.S. IS NECESSARY - U.S. SOCIAL FORUM

The U.S. Social Forum (USSF) is not a conference but a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to economic and ecological crises ─ a movement-building process.

The USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sect, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms the United States and changes history.

We must declare what we want our world to look like and start planning the path to get there.

The USSF provides spaces to learn from each others’ experiences and struggles, to share our analysis of the problems faced by our communities, to build relationships, and to align with our international brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world.

 

Organizers of the first United States Social Forum Believe ─

[Domestic reach]

There is a strategic need to unite the struggles of oppressed communities and peoples within the United States (particularly Black, Latino, Asian/ Pacific-Islander and Indigenous communities) to the struggles of oppressed nations of the Third World.

The U.S. Social Forum should place the highest priority on groups that are actually doing grassroots organizing with working class people of color, who are training organizers, building long-term structures of resistance, and who can work well with other groups, seeing their participation in USSF as building the whole ─ not just their part of it.

The U.S. Social Forum must be a place where the voices of those most marginalized and oppressed from Indigenous communities can be heard ─ a place that will recognize Indigenous peoples, their issues and struggles.

The U.S. Social Forum must create space for the full and equal participation of undocumented migrants and their communities.

[International domestic reach]

The U.S. Social Forum should link U.S.-based youth organizers, activists, and cultural workers to the struggles of their brothers and sisters abroad ─ drawing common connections and exploring the deeper meanings of solidarity.

The U.S. Social Forum is important because we must have a clear and unified approach to dealing with social justice issues, and meaningful positions on global issues.

The U.S. Social Forum sends a message to other people’s movements around the world that there is an active movement in the United States opposing U.S. policies at home and abroad.

The U.S. Social Forum will help build national networks that will be better able to collaborate with international networks and movements.

The U.S. Social Forum is more than an event. It is an ongoing process to contribute to strengthening the entire movement, bringing together the various sectors and issues that work for global justice.

Sources and notes

“A Third U.S. Social Forum? What’s been happening since the Detroit USSF,” Updates posted November 13, 2012, http://www.ussf2010.org/node/425

Press Inquiries contact: Adele Nieves, adele@ussf2010.org

NATIONAL WORKING GROUPS

Communications-Media: Reginald (Reg) McGhee reggmc@me.com

Karlos Gauna-Schmieder karlos@centerformediajustice.org

Gender Justice: Jacqui Patterson jpatters1@yahoo.com

Susannah Bartlow

Indigenous People’s

Tom Goldtooth ien@igc.org

Ozawa Bineshi Albert balbert@communitychange.org

Language Access: Maria Poblet maria@comitedevivienda.org

Josue Guillen josue@mayfirst.org

Logistics: Maureen Taylor chuteh7@hotmail.com

Outreach: Tammy Bang Luu tammy@thestrategycenter.org

Ahmina Maxey ahmina@emeac.org

People's Movement Assembly: Stephanie Guilloud stephanie2@projectsouth.org

Ruben Solis grulla@swunion.org

Poverty: Mary Bricker-Jenkins mbricker@temple.edu

Marian Kramer bakerm0060@sbcglobal.net

Program and Culture: Oya Amakisi amakisi@gmail.com

Walda Katz-Fishman wkatzfishman@igc.org

Resource Mobilization: Michael Leon Guerrero michael@ggjalliance.org

Genaro Lopez-Rendon genaro@swunion.org

Priscilla Hung priscilla@grassrootsfundraising.org

Technology: Alfredo Lopez alfredo@mayfirst.org

Youth: Corina McCarthy-Fadel youthussf@gmail.com

USSF STAFF: Detroit Co-Coordinators

William Copeland william@ussf2010.org

Maureen Taylor chuteh7@hotmail.com

National Co-Coordinators: Adrienne Maree Brown adrienne@ussf2010.org

Sylvia Orduño sylvia@ussf2010.org

Bookkeeper-Accountant: Victor Arbulu victor@ussf2010.org

Communications Coordinator

Adele Nieves adele@ussf2010.org

Development Coordinator: Sha Grogan-Brown sha@ussf2010.org

Field Organizers: B. Loewe bloewe@onpointconsortium.org

Akudo Njelonu akudo.ussf2010@gmail.com

Language Access Coordinator: Roberto Tijerina roberto@ussf2010.org

Native Outreach Organizer: Heather Milton-Lightening

Technology Coordinators: (National) Mallory Knodel mallory@ussf2010.org

(Detroit) Tdka Kilimanjaro

Youth Coordinator: Jardyn Lake youthussf@gmail.com

DETROIT LOCAL COMMITTEES:

Communications: Adele Nieves, adele@ussf2010.org

Reginald (Reg) McGhee reggmc@me.com

Faith and Spirituality: Bill Wylie-Kellerman bill@scupe.com

Rev. Charles E. Williams II Cwilliams@im4justice.com 313.303.8002

Disability Justice: Quintin Williams, williams_q50@yahoo.com

Logistics: Tapeka Dixon tapeka1972@yahoo.com

Outreach: Andre Martin, dbundu76@yahoo.com

Program and Culture: Oya Amakisi, amakisi@gmail.com

Senior Citizens: Marian Kramer, bakerm0060@sbcglobal.net

Technology: Lou Novak, lmn@lppals.com

http://www.ussf2010.org/contact

________________________________________

Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

________________________________________

Social Forums struggle toward “no bases,” peace

Editing, excerpting, notes by Carolyn Bennett
“Abolishing foreign military bases around the world and working toward demilitarization is essential in the struggle against war ─ one step to establishing another world that is possible and necessary,” asserts the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases.

Bringing home the case are foreign military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, torture at the bases in Guantanamo [Cuba] and Diego Garcia [Indian Ocean], construction of new bases in Okinawa [Japan], ‘realignment’ of military alliances in Asia, dramatic increases in joint military exercises ─ as part of the so-called ‘global war against terror.’ These acts of aggression and occupation demonstrate how foreign military bases, other forms of military presence, and militarization of whole societies are being used to secure the interests of particular states and corporations ─ to the detriment of democracy, justice, and sovereignty around the world.

“Another world will not be possible,” the Network continues, “without abolishing these bases and demilitarizing global and national societies.…

“Around the world, communities, social movements, women’s organizations, political parties, environmental groups, intellectuals and religious groups have been campaigning in various ways through the years against foreign military presence, militarization, and military interventions. In some cases, such efforts have taken the form of specific single-issue campaigns. In others, the campaign has been part of broader movements for independence and social justice.

“For these campaigns, the issue of foreign military presence has served as a rallying and unifying cause that has driven grassroots organizing, educational campaigns, and political mobilization. In a number of places, notably in the Philippines or in Puerto Rico, popular movements against foreign bases succeeded in adding to the social pressure that led to the termination of basing agreements with the United States. Even then, campaigns to force the U.S. to clean up the toxic legacy of their vacated military bases continue. In many places, such as Korea or Japan, the campaigns have been going on for generations. In others, such as Ecuador, Paraguay, Uzbekistan or Bulgaria, the struggle has only recently begun.

“Until 2004, most of these movements and campaigns have been mostly local or national in character ─ even if the reach of foreign military presence itself is global. While often very vibrant and dynamic, these movements were often isolated and disparate.

“Given the similar tactics the U.S. uses to guarantee its military presence, as well as the similar experiences of those hosting them, much can be gained from greater and deeper linkages among local and national campaigns and movements across the globe.

“Local groups around the world can learn and benefit from sharing information, experiences, and strategies with each other.…

“Globally coordinated actions and campaigns can highlight the reach and scale of the resistance to foreign military presence around the world. With the trend of rising militarization and resort to the use of force around the world, there is now an urgent and compelling need to establish and strengthen an international network of campaigners, organizations, and movements working with a special and strategic focus on foreign military presence and, ultimately, working towards a lasting and just system of peace.

“…In an international anti-war meeting in Jakarta in May 2003, just a few weeks after the start of the invasion of Iraq, a global campaign against military bases was proposed as a priority action of the global anti-war and justice and solidarity movements.…

“A project to comprehensively map the locations and forms of foreign military installations around the world is currently in full operation. Efforts to organize and expand the Network are also ongoing, with workshops and seminars on foreign military bases now a regular presence in various Social Forums such as the European Social Forum in Paris in 2003 and in London in 2004, the Americas Social Forum in Ecuador in August 2004 and the Mediterranean Social Forum in Spain 2005.

“One of the biggest gatherings of anti-bases activists … has been the series of workshops on military bases held at the World Social Forum in India in January 2004. …One year after the gathering in Mumbai, four sessions were organized by the Network during the World Social Forum in Por to Alegre, Brazil. The sessions managed to draw in new participants, and exchange updated analyses between Network members. …”

This past week, Marc Becker reported to Free Speech Radio News from Asuncion, Paraguay, “Ten thousand people gathered in Paraguay for the Americas Social Forum,” part of World Social forums that began as civil society’s response to neoliberal economic policies and militarization. “Even under sympathetic ‘leftist’ governments, the struggle for demilitarization in Latin America remains a key issue at World Social forums.”


Sources and notes
Free Speech Radio News, Marc Becker reported from Asuncion, Paraguay, August 16, 2010, http://www.fsrn.org/audio/americas-social-forum-targets-militarization-latin-america/7325


No Bases, The international network for the abolition of foreign military bases
http://www.no-bases.org/, March 2007, Call to an international gathering for the abolition of all foreign military bases, Ecuador, March 5 - 9, 2007


NO BASES NETWORK
International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases
No Bases Coalition Ecuador
American Friends Service Committee (USA) Asian Peace Alliance - Japan
Bangladesh Krishok Federation Bangladesh Sramajibi Kendra (Bangladesh)
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK) Focus on the Global South (Filipinas)
Campaña por la Desmilitarización de las Américas (CADA) For Mother Earth (Belgium)
Fellowship for Reconciliation (US) Gathering for Peace (The Philippines)
Japan Peace Committee (Japan) LALIT (Diego Garcia / Mauritius)
Movimiento cubano por la Paz y la Soberanía (Cuba) Nonviolence International (US)
Pakistan Peace Coalition (Pakistan) SEATINI (South Africa)
People's Task Force for Bases Clean-Up (Philippines) Stop the War Coalition (Greece)
Transnational Institute US Peace Council (US)
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/American_Empire/NO_BASES_Network.html


“The Americas Social Forum (ASF) is part of the World Social Forum (WSF) process initiated in 2001 and has become the largest space for the articulation of social initiatives, the development of critical thinking, and the construction of alternatives to the neoliberal order, under the common belief that ‘Another World is Possible,’” http://www.forosocialamericas.org/the-americas-social-forum


Britannica notes:

Diego Garcia is the largest and southernmost member of the Chagos Archipelago in the central Indian Ocean. It occupies an area of about 10.5 square miles (27 square km) and has a waterway that is open at the north end. In the late 1990s, islanders from the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, sued for the right to return home. In 2000, a British court ruled that the 1971 ordinance banning them from the islands was unlawful. U.S. and British officials fought attempts for resettlement. In 2003, a British court rejected the islanders’ lawsuit.


Jakarta whose area is 256 square miles (664 square km), estimated. Population 9,604,900, was formerly (until 1949) Batavia or (1949–72) Djakarta. It is the largest city and capital of Indonesia. Coextensive with the metropolitan district of Jakarta Raya, it lies at the mouth of the Ciliwung (Liwung River) on the northwest coast of Java. Jakarta has long been a major trade and financial center and has become an important industrial city and a center for education.
Pôrto Alegre city, the capital of the Rio Grande do Sul state, is in southern Brazil. Pôrto Alegre lies near the Atlantic Ocean coast at the northern end of the freshwater Patos Lagoon [shallow connecting waterway] along an arm of the lagoon known as the Guaíba River. The city sits at the junction of five short but deep rivers that flow into the Patos Lagoon. Colonists from the Azores [Portuguese in North Atlantic] founded it in 1742–43, first known as Pôrto dos Casais (or Pôrto dos Cazaes). German immigrants settled near the site in 1825 and Italian settlers followed. The administrative centre of Rio Grande do Sul moved in 1773 from Rio Grande to Pôrto Alegre, officially becoming the state capital in 1807.

Rio Grande is a port city of southeastern Rio Grande do Sul estado (state) in southern Brazil. The city lies along the Rio Grande (river), which is the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean of the Patos Lagoon. Rio Grande sits on a low peninsula, barely 5 feet (1.5 metres) above sea level and 8 miles (13 km) from the river’s mouth.

Geographical and geopolitical notes (2008) Encyclopedia Britannica Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica