‘Another U.S. is necessary’/
Social Forum expects thousands
By
Dianne Mathiowetz
Atlanta
Published Jun 7, 2007 1:48 AM
From June 27 to July 1, Atlanta will host the first-ever Social Forum held in
the United States. The U.S. Social Forum will gather thousands of grassroots
and community activists from across the country who will engage each other in
political discussion and strategy planning. The operating slogan for the
five-day event is, “For another world to be possible, another U.S. is
necessary.”
The major sites for the Social Forum are in downtown Atlanta at the Civic
Center and adjoining parks, plus space in nearby hotels, churches, libraries
and theaters.
Delegates will be coming from other parts of the world, including many
countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Europe as well as
Mexico and Canada.
The Social Forum offers hundreds of workshops organized by a wide range of
local and national groups engaged in issues such as the reconstruction of the
Gulf Coast, union organizing, immigrant rights, health care, anti-war and
counter-recruiting, anti-imperialist solidarity, sex and gender discrimination,
creating progressive media and people’s survival institutions.
In addition, participants in the U.S. Social Forum will be able to experience
cultural exchanges with planned and spontaneous musical and dance events,
poetry slams, a film festival, sports activities, drumming circles and jam
sessions.
A Youth Camp and 13 Focus Tents offer specific programming on Palestine,
Africa, Peace and Justice, Health and Wellness, and other issues.
An opening march through downtown Atlanta on Wednesday, June 27, will
incorporate local struggles for quality and accessible healthcare, education,
housing and public transportation for all with national and international
demands for these and other human rights.
The march organizers are encouraging those coming to the Social Forum to bring
their banners, signs, flags, puppets, drums and other creative expressions to
illustrate the vibrancy, diversity and passion for fundamental change that
motivate this gathering.
Among the many dynamic methods to mobilize for the U.S. Social Forum used by
women’s organizations, youth and student groups, and the lesbian, gay, bi
and trans community is a People’s Freedom Caravan. Leaving from
Albuquerque, N.M. and going through Texas and the Gulf Coast, it will join
together as many as 1,000 people—Indigenous people, Katrina survivors,
immigrants, low-wage workers and environmentalists—in a caravan of buses
and vans.
A Family Reunion scheduled for Saturday, June 30, will bring together those
impacted by the “injustice” system in the U.S., which imprisons
more people than any other country. Those formerly incarcerated, together with
families and friends of prisoners, will assemble to take up the urgent need to
struggle against police brutality and harassment, the death penalty, sentencing
and drug policies.
The World Social Forum movement developed as a response to the closed summits
held by the governments and corporate elite of the dominant industrial
capitalist countries, where decisions impacting billions of people are made in
secret.
In January 2001, in Porto Alegro, Brazil, some 12,000 people from around the
world met to discuss the disastrous impact of capitalist globalization in
response to a call that “another world is possible.”
Annual World Social Forums now draw many tens of thousands of people and
national, regional and local social forums are common in many areas of the
world. However, not until 2007 has there been an attempt to focus the many
movements in the U.S. on gathering together and taking up the critical question
of how to build an effective challenge to those in power.
Many will come to this event with serious expectations, wanting more than
interesting and stimulating discussion and a chance to make good contacts.
A delegation from Workers World Party will be participating in the Social
Forum, in workshops and informal gatherings, eager to learn more about the many
struggles engaged in by working and oppressed peoples, to introduce the
perspective of socialism and workers’ power as a solution, and to meet
like-minded activists with whom common strategies can be developed.
Anyone wishing to prearrange a meeting with WWP at the Social Forum can contact
the party at [email protected].
For more information about the U.S. Social Forum, including registration,
volunteering, workshops and other planned events, go to www.ussf2007.org.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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