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Eric Griego: Infectious hope
U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta makes me feel optimistic for first time since college By Eric Griego

Albuquerque Tribune
July 13, 2007

http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/jul/13/eric-griego-infectious-hope/

The last week of June, I, and about 10,000 other lunatics from around the country and the world, braved the brutal Atlanta summer weather to take part in the first U.S. Social Forum.

Man, it was hot. But I have to say that a sunburned neck, projectile sweat and the constant threat of heat exhaustion were worth being part of what I believe will go down in history as the launch of a new American social movement.

The forum was more than just a collection of idealistic or disgruntled lefties. Sure, there were lots of those. But most of the 10,000 attendees spent the few days in serious discussion, dissection and, I hope, direction-changing of U.S. policy on several domestic and international issues.

The forum tackled social justice, health care, public education and the environment, as well as several foreign policy issues, the most prominent of which, not surprisingly, was the Iraq War.

Why Atlanta? As one of the battle fronts in the civil rights movement, organizers felt that many of the issues discussed in the forum - such as immigration, racism and economic justice - were part of the ongoing struggle for civil rights for all. It was appropriate that so many citizens and leaders took to the streets in the forum's opening march, in what had to be the most diverse, if not the largest, peaceful demonstration since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The men and women, old and young, gathered in Atlanta's Civic Center were literally of every color, race, religion and social class. For anyone watching, the myth of an angry, white, middle-class-liberal-led progressive movement was dispelled once and for all. Regardless of their places in society or their pigmentation, what most people there shared was a philosophy that the United States and some of its like-minded allies are leading the world alarmingly down the wrong path.

The U.S. Social Forum was part of the larger World Social Forum series that began in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. There was much discussion about what attendees were against - the Iraq War, U.S. policy toward Cuba, the flawed immigration bill. But there was an equal if not greater amount of discussion about alternatives to the status quo and the kind of institutions and organization that would be required to carve a different path.

To generalize, attendees broke down along three lines: About a third were activists who were against the current U.S. and world order but had few realistic plans for changing it; about a third were there just to commiserate about how bad things had become since President Bush has been in power; and a solid third were there to find real, serious solutions to moving the United States in a different direction.

I tried to spend time with the third group as much as possible. It was fun, and sometimes infuriating, listening to the other two groups. But in the end, I was looking for some new ideas that might work back here in New Mexico and maybe in Washington.

After five days in the blistering Atlanta heat, I was ready to get back home to the blistering, but much drier, Albuquerque heat. On the plane back, shivering from the air conditioning, I more hopeful than I've been since my college days. Back then, I thought a small group of people or even 10,000 could change the world if they believed they could.

Maybe Atlanta will mark the week that change began. I hope so.

Griego is an Albuquerque writer and former Albuquerque City Council member.

E.W. Scripps Co.
© 2006 The Albuquerque Tribune

Labels: atlanta, US Social Forum, USSF

The Buzz is HUGE!!! The Social forum is everywhere, things are coming along very nicely. The caravan is on its way(Justice on the Move) our local Atlanta hosts have been amazing opening their offices, homes, hearts, and city to us.

2 days and its ON! The time grows ever more near even as I type this. Walking around the city handing out fliers and posters in my travels the question I've heard the most is "why?". There are many complicated answers to give to this, it has led to many many great conversations.

Right now the only thing that comes into my mind when I'm asked "Why are you doing this?" or "Why in Atlanta?" is the Rage Against the Machine Lyric

"It has to start somewhere/It has to start sometime/What better place than here?/What better time than now? ALL HELL CAN'T STOP US NOW"

Check this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; interviews with key organizers of the forum.

Social Forum aims to help activists blend strengths

By ERNIE SUGGS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
06/24/07

On Wednesday, about 10,000 grass-roots activists will meet in Atlanta
for a major forum that will feature close to 1,000 workshops and, it's
hoped, a lot of understanding.

Understanding, that is, of what they do and of who they are.

"We want to show that we are not the marginalized sector of the crazies
across the street," said Stephanie Guilloud, one of the organizers of
the U.S. Social Forum. "We are your neighbors. I think for a lot of
folks, when we are talking about activists, there seems to be a sense
that we are complainers. But we are putting forth a vision that affects
us all."

The U.S. Social Forum, the first in the United States, begins Wednesday
with a march from the state Capitol to the Atlanta Civic Center, the
site for the bulk of events at the five-day conference.

Organizers are expecting participants from all over the country to come
talk about such issues as immigration, poverty, housing and police
conduct.

Alice Lovelace, an activist and poet who is also the USSF's lead
organizer, said the participants will include, among others, "Native
Americans, domestic workers, school teachers, youth, hip-hop artists,
environmentalists, labor leaders and people who work on immigration."

Lovelace said the main purpose of the forum is to get activists to work
together. In theory, the forum would help a singularly focused housing
activist learn how to "break the isolation" by learning how racism,
education and police conduct fit into his cause.

"This will allow all of them to get together and become better educated
about each other. We want to see how do we improve the world for human
beings," Lovelace said. "We cannot devise a strategy to move forward
until we hear how these issues impact the lives of everyday people."

Tufara Waller-Muhammad will travel from New Market, Tenn., to attend the
forum and talk about civil rights. Waller-Muhammad is a cultural program
leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center, which has been
a training ground for several civil rights leaders.

During the civil rights era, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Pete Seeger
and the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy trained at Highlander. Rosa Parks
credited her time there with shaping her thinking before she sparked the
Montgomery bus boycott.

"We bring together grass-roots leaders to train each other,"
Waller-Muhammad said of the mission of the Highlander. "We believe that
each person has a piece of the pie and when we bring people together, we
get the whole pie. One of the things I am looking forward to is
intergenerational dialogue around some of the civil rights work."

But while she is looking forward to meeting people from across the
country who are working on civil rights issues, Waller-Muhammad is also
eager to meet people outside of civil rights to see how their goals
match.

"We, as people and citizens of this country, are supposed to direct the
way that politicians act. We are supposed to have a direct effect on
politicians and decision-makers," Waller-Muhammad said. "People are
still violating civil rights. Like the attack on voting rights. There
will always be work to be done."

Planning for the forum has been going on for three years, Lovelace said.
"It took a year to educate people to what it was," she said. "Then we
had to figure out if we could do it."

When the forum begins Wednesday with the march, it will have a different
vibe than most people might be used to. True to its mission, the
grass-roots forum will be organic. Registration is only $20, and about
50 groups helped organize the event. Along with big downtown hotels,
some workshops will be held in area churches, libraries and museums.

Several of the Forum's 950 workshops will focus on immigrant and
Hispanic communities; women's health issues and leadership; the Iraq
war; farm workers; and police brutality.

But anybody who wants to put on a workshop can simply add one as part of
the forum's "open spaces."

"This is an open forum," Lovelace said. "We exist only to provide the
space for it to happen."

Organizers are also hoping to make a difference. Both Lovelace and
Guilloud are aware of how the grass-roots movement can be perceived as
nonexistent or nonchalant.

"I think we want to beat that perception, because that is a way to
marginalize voices of the grass roots," said Guilloud, program director
for Project South, a leadership development organization. "We are
pushing for change that is broad and connected. The goal is to shift us
from a reactive stance to a position of strength and vision."

Waller-Muhammad, who said she has been a social activist for half of her
34 years, said the conference will make an international statement that
activism is strong in the United States.

"We who believe in freedom cannot rest," Waller-Muhammad said. "If we
stop standing up for justice and freedom, who knows what will happen to
the world?"

Labels: atlanta, United States Social Forum

This is great....tomorrow is the big day. We're at crunch time and the excitement level is going through the roof. Our national allies are coming in tonight, everyone's packing tonight, and the media is buzzing about it already.

We're about to make history.

Keep coming back to the blog throughout the caravan. We will be posting, pictures, writings from participants, and hopefully some video as well.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to make this a reality.

Show your solidarity with the Carvan and come to Washington Park at 6:45am, for our send off rally!

******************************

Activists Join People’s Caravan

Bus tour to focus on social, economic disparities on way to forum in Atlanta

BY DEBRA DOMINGUEZ-LUND
Journal Staff Writer

They are seeking another form of U.S. democracy — one they say is based on “equality, living wages, sustainability and human rights.”

About 100 community members and civil rights activists will gather as the sun comes up Friday morning at Washington Park near Downtown Albuquerque to launch a “People’s Caravan” across the nation.

The bus caravan, a grassroots effort by participating groups such as the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Southwest Organizing Project, was created in remembrance of the first Freedom Ride that was met with violence in Jackson, Miss., in 1961.

New Mexicans from civil rights advocacy groups like SWOP, Enlace Comunitario, the Martin Luther King Dream Team and Somos un Pueblo Unido, will launch the bus tour from Albuquerque and visit at least six other U.S. cities until reaching their destination: the U.S. Social Forum, which is expected to draw some 1,000 attendees in Atlanta on Wednesday.

“During the tour, we’ll be meeting up with allies in other cities for rallies, press conferences, meetings with legislators and to even do community work,” SWOP communications organizer Jo Ann Gutierrez-Bejar said.

The caravan will make stops in San Antonio, Texas; Houston; Lake Charles, La.; New Orleans; Jackson, Miss.; Selma, Ala., and finally, Atlanta.

“Our primary mission is to bridge the nation’s democratic divide,” Gutierrez-Bejar said. “We live in a country with structural inequities. Lowincome people of color are divided amongst each other.

“We need to bridge the gap between us with this tour and realize we’re all fighting the same struggles and seeking the same opportunities,” she said.

“We want to look at how certain policies in this nation are tailored for the rich by the rich. We want to get the poor involved so policies are tailored to help get them out of poverty.”

Organizers say that as the freedom riders of the 1960s brought a new vision for the South based on desegregation, this year’s “People’s Caravan” will demonstrate that another United States is possible — one that bridges racial, geographic and cultural divides and moves beyond the status quo “pay to play” politics.

“We are going to Atlanta to build a unified voice of the people,” said Agnes Rivera, New York’s Community Voices Heard leader and a caravan participant.

“We want to make connections across the country to create a domino effect of action and organizing.

“On the caravan and at the forum, we will discuss our social safety net, jobs and public housing,” she said. “We’ll learn from each other and strengthen our work for another world.”

Sandra Ortsman, a member of Albuquerque’s immigrantrights group Enlace Comunitario, said costs, harsh working conditions and distance typically keep the poor apart and away from organizing opportunities.

“This caravan will allow us to unite,” she said. “It will give us a chance to form a partnership and come up with strategies and solutions to do away with injustice and inequities in the United States.”

Labels: atlanta, People's Freedom Caravan, US Social Forum, USSF

Casandra is and has been an incredible asset not only to our organization, but to her community.

She has mobilized against the war and has challenge the heightened military recruitment in our low-income schools in Albuquerque.

Casandra is coordinating the SWOP Summer Youth Recreation Program that includes 20 youth from all over Albuquerque. They are learning about Social Justice issues, Youth Rights Campaigns, Poetry and Filmmaking Workshops and next week... Globalization and Immigration.

Casandra will be attending the US Social Forum in the People's Freedom Caravan and is also making a baby that's due in September. :)

Thank you for your contributions to the movement for global justice Casandra! You are amazing.

Click here to read the entire article which highlights our allies like Genaro Lopez Rendon from Southwest Workers Union and Teresa Almaguer from PODER, SF.

********************

Casandra Stewart, Youth Intern with the Southwest Organizing Project, Albuquerque, New Mexico

SWOP is a statewide multi-racial, multi-issue, community based membership organization. Since 1980, SWOP has worked to make it possible for thousands of New Mexicans to begin to have a place and voice in social, economic and environmental decisions that affect their lives. Their mission is “working to empower our communities to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice.”

What is the work you’re involved in?

It’s a grassroots, community based organization. We work to empower the disenfranchised. We work with poor communities of color to make gender and racial equality a reality and to create social and economic justice.

We do door knocking. We talk about issues in the community. We get people involved in issues they see as pressing. We do a lot of empowerment work. We don’t speak for people, we go and find out what people care concerned about and work with them.

We have a youth rights campaign—we want to give young people better options, better choices than war or prison. We’ve been working on getting into schools. The administrations are so afraid to let people hear the other side. We’re working with the school board too—to exercise our right to present alternatives to students. But it’s hard to get access. In lower-income schools, administrations don’t want federal funding revoked. So they’re fearful of any type of criticism. But if you can’t get in through the administration, you get in through the students.

How do you see the work you’re doing intersecting with a larger movement or movements?

In New Mexico we’re good at empowering and strengthening local communities. We want to work on collaborating with national struggles and building strength, especially in the South. All the work we do here in New Mexico around water issues, racism and environmental racism, is all directly related to things going on in the South, New Orleans specifically. Our struggles are very similar.

The Freedom Caravan, which we are co-organizing, is a place to build strong, solid relationships—relationships that demonstrate a willingness to struggle and work together.

How do you see the US Social Forum relating with your work?

The Freedom Caravan started out as an idea of ours to get to the USSF. We want to caravan for the media attention but also for economic reasons—it’s cheaper than flying 100 people out. We’re raising money to make it happen. We made 500 enchiladas for Cinco de Mayo and sold ‘em for $10 a plate. People are committed to raising money for the delegation. Ally organizations and our membership are committed to sending people to Atlanta. All of our members’ costs are subsidized.

When we first pitched the idea of caravanning to other organizations, people were skeptical. How to get people to take 2 weeks off of work? But people totally committed. Here we are a month and a half before and two buses are completely booked by people who are gonna take two weeks to go across the country and to the USSF.

In each place the caravan goes we want to learn about local struggle, learn about how local struggles are similar, how to work together to create change.

Labels: atlanta, Left Turn Magazine, People's Freedom Caravan, USSF

Greetings from Beautiful HotLanta! Ground Zero of a history making event that is less than 19 days away, the FIRST EVER United States Social Forum.

This past week has been an adventure for 3 Swopistas, Monica Cordova, Juliana Lujan,
and Rodrigo Rodriguez(Me). Our first leg of our adventure was the National Planning Committee Meeting in Washington D.C. The NPC touched base one last time before the forum so that we could all go home with finalized plans of action and get ready to hit the ground running for the forum. We also attended a really good meeting with youth from the D.C. area(Pictured above) that are planning on attending the USSF. Almost 30 young people an representing 20+ youth groups were there and rocked it like always!!!

After the meeting we continued on to Atlanta to join the Atlanta Organizing Committee here at the home base.

SWOP has put a lot of resources into the USSF, the three of us are of course evidence of SWOP's commitment to the forum and social justice. We will be here through the forum, organizing the Youth Tent, the Youth Camp, the People's Freedom and Solidarity Tent, and plugging in wherever else the brothers and sisters here in the ATL need.
We will also be getting ready to welcome the SWOP delegates and everyone else coming in on the People's Freedom Caravan.

We will be meeting Saturday the 9th with the folks organizing the opening march, and on Monday we will be diving into the work head first!
We are all extremely excited and grateful to be here.

We've already been on the radio talking about SWOP's involvement in the USSF and will be on again on Monday, Tune in online to www.wrfg.org to peep it.
We'll be updating you guys again soon. LOVE/PEACE.
Swopistas Represent!
Rigo
Monica
Juliana

Labels: atlanta, SWOP, United States Social Forum, youth

Check out this video blog from someone in DC at the USSF National Planning Committee.

It features our very own youth intern Rodrigo Rodriguez who's already left Albuquerque to go organize this historic event. He's joined by Julianna Lujan and Monica Cordova! Right on SWOPISTAS - we'll see you in a few weeks.

Check out the video here at My Urban Report

Here's the repost of his blog, but you've got to check out the video. Rodrigo and Cindy lay it out nicely...you've got to attend...

On June 27-July 1, 15-20-thousand people from around the U.S. and world are expected to converge on the city of Atlanta for the first ever U.S. Social Forum. It’s a gathering of activists, grassroots organizations, and youth who are working for change.

Instead of simply attending, or covering the U.S. Social Forum, I’m putting my media knowlege to use by working in the media center. I’ll be coordinating media check-in, and the video pool. That’s why I’m in DC right now. The last logistical meeting is being held as I write. Some of the events include: A march and rally through the streets of downtown Atlanta, there is a Hip-Hop Social Forum, and too many workshops to count. We’re expecting plenty of independent media, bloggers, and hoping mainstream folks check some of the activities as well.

I’m meeting plenty of interesting people, and it’s good to be back in DC. I only lived here a year, but enjoyed every minute of it. The neighborhood where I lived, U-Street has changed a lot. There are towering condos, chain businesses like Subway, and Starbucks, and like so many cities in America, a big time demographic shift is happening. Some call it economic development, but I’ll quote my brother, “It’s called gentrification.”

Labels: atlanta, United States Social Forum, USSF, Video Blogging

IF ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE - ANOTHER U. S. IS NECESSARY!

United States Social Forum
Atlanta, GA
June 27-July 1, 2007
www.ussf2007.org

Where will the USSF take place?

We will be headquartered in downtown Atlanta at the Atlanta Civic Center, the Westin Hotel, Central Park, Renaissance Park, and the Downtown Marriott. We will also utilize space at the Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Auburn Ave. African-American Research Library, Atlanta Central Library, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, CARE, the APEX Museum, Trinity United Methodist Church, and Amnesty International to name a few. Community and Cultural events are also being planned for Hammonds House African American Gallery, 7 Stages Theatre, Horizons Theatre, Charis Books and More, Gateway Theatre, and Eyedrum.

The Call for Program Proposals is now on the website! Click the link on the left side of the opening page. You can complete your proposal(s) online or download the proposal form in Word and complete to submit by mail. Don't forget to register before you submit you proposal. What happens at the U.S. social forum depends on what you want to happen - share some education about what you do, share your vision for a better world, share strategies ad campaigns that will move us to a better way of organizing for change.
EACH REGISTERED ORGANIZATION CAN SUBMIT UP TO FOUR PROPOSALS FOR THE SOCIAL FORUM PROGRAM!

Where will I stay?

USSF rooms at the Downtown Marriott are sold out!

We still have rooms at the Westin! Hurry before they are sold out too.

The Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
2O10 Peachtree St - Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Phone: (404) 659-1400 - Fax (404) 589-7424
Attendee - for Group Rates US SOCIAL FORUM Visit
http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0702066903&key=7ED14

ROOM TYPE AND RATE
Single, Double, Triple, Quad: $127.00
Suite: $300.00
Roll away beds: $15.00 per day additional fee

Other Hotels (http://www.ussf2007.org/other_hotels)

the following list of hotels also offer USSF Group Rates
*QUALITY HOTEL DOWNTOWN ATLANTA
*ATLANTA HOLIDAY INN DOWNTOWN
*DAYS INN ATLANTA DOWNTOWN
*CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL ATLANTA AIRPORT
*COURTYARD (MARRIOTT) EXECUTIVE PARK

I understand only organizations can present programs and events at the USSF, but what is the minimum organization registration you can pay?

The lowest posted organizational rate is $125 for 3 people. Any organization that finds that rate a hardship can write and request a solidarity discount.

How do I get my ideas for a USSF program on the schedule?

Your organization can register for the USSF on-line then access the Call for Proposals, also on the website. You can submit as many proposals as your organization can support.

Then what happens?

The Program Working group along with help from other working groups will review the proposals and group them according to the themes and purpose. June 28 - programs that seek to educate us and raise our consciousness; June 29 programs that call us for us to create a vision for the near future; and on June 30 programs that help us shape strategies for change.

More information -- www.ussf2007.org

Transportation, call for films and videos, youth hostel, call for submissions, vendor application, ride and housing share board and more...
--
Alice Lovelace
National Lead Staff Organizer
United States Social Forum
(404) 586-0460, Ext. 32 office
(404) 525-4728 fax

Labels: atlanta, United States Social Forum, USSF, World Social Forum