Movement
2.0
U.S. Social Forum lays the foundation for lasting change
By Willie Colón Reyes
For Viola Casares, it was a gathering of hope.
From June 27 through July 1, Casares was one of an estimated 15,000
people who met in Atlanta, Georgia, for the first-ever U.S. Social
Forum (USSF). Her goals echoed the Forum’s reason for being:
to help those working for social change build relationships, learn
from each other’s experiences, and develop joint strategies.
AFSC's Dreams and Nightmares
exhibit at the U.S. Social Forum.
Photo: Keith Harvey
“Sometimes we get so involved with our own work that it’s
hard to make those connections,” says Casares, a founder of
the San Antonio, Texas-based Fuerza Unida [United Force], which
has worked with AFSC on a variety of projects. The group organizes
workers, mostly women, to advocate for their rights. Its projects
include a sewing cooperative and leadership training for youth.
“I came back [from Atlanta] with hope that it’s not
only Fuerza Unida working on these issues,” she adds. “It
gave me more faith and courage to continue the work we’re
doing.”
The USSF evolved from the World Social Forum, which began in 2001
and brings together grassroots groups, youth, nongovernmental organizations,
women’s groups, and many others to develop alternatives to
corporate globalization and militarization. AFSC has been a
part of the World Social Forum process since 2002, and the organization
participated in and helped organize the USSF.
“With so many world events either defined or driven by U.S.
policies, finding ways to worktogether here in the U.S. and to counter
those policies is of paramount importance,” explains Bal Pinguel,
coordinator of AFSC’s Peacebuilding and Demilitarization Program.
The Forum’s five days were filled with more than 1,000 workshops
and plenaries on topics ranging from immigration and the U.S. prison
system, to the environment and debt relief for impoverished nations.
Culture and celebration were also part of the mix and included a
two-mile march that opened the Forum, hundreds of information tables
inside the Atlanta Civic Center, and an art exhibit and film series.
Members of the AFSC delegation agree that the benefits of the USSF
will become more apparent in time as people build on the relationships
established in Atlanta.
The well-patronized AFSC literature table.
Photo: Willie Colón Reyes
However, some key issues that AFSC works on got an immediate boost.
For example, efforts to abolish foreign U.S. military bases took
a step forward with the beginning of a nationwide coalition, and
plans for joint speaking tours and workshops. And AFSC immigration
staff members are developing plans with immigrants’ rights
groups they met in Atlanta.
With plans in motion for a second USSF in 2010, many people stress
that the success of this process lies in sticking with what worked
in Atlanta.
“The USSF was not a ‘celebrity’ event—not even social
justice celebrities,” says Eisha Mason, associate director of AFSC’s
Pacific Southwest Region based in Los Angeles. “It really was a ‘people’s’ event
because the leadership was grassroots. The USSF was evidence that we have
realized the ones who are going to save us is us—the real us.”
Willie Colón Reyes is the editor of Quaker Action.
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