USSF News Stories

Thousands Converge in People’s Movement Assemblies to Launch National Action Agenda

June 22, 2010

In the wake of Arizona’s new racial profiling law, the BP oil disaster and the acute financial crisis, thousands of progressive organizers are coming together in a National People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) to set a national action agenda coming out of the US Social Forum (USSF). The National People’s Movement Assembly will be the culmination of nearly 100 local, regional and issue based People’s Movement Assemblies engaging tens of thousands of people nationwide.

Labor and the U.S. Social Forum: International, National, and Detroit Perspectives

The World Social Forum process is now ten years old, and much has been learned and developed as a consequence of relationships and conversations begun in World Social Forum spaces—including those social forums organized at local, national, and regional levels. Parts of the global labor movement have been involved in the WSF process all along. Other parts of it have come into the process more recently, and much of the movement has yet to be mobilized.

Gender Justice at the USSF--Interview with Mayowa Alero Obasaju

A key decision for organizers of the USSF was to create a Gender Justice Working Group. One aim of this group was to advance the intersections and collaborations among activists working for women’s rights and for the rights of lesbian, gay and other non-gender conforming people. USSF2010 News interviewed Mayowa Alero Obasaju about her work on the Gender Justice programming at the USSF.

JS: What does the Gender Justice Working Group have planned for this Social Forum?

Disability Justice at the USSF

At the opening march on Tuesday, disability activists carried a giant paper mache puppet of Justin Dart, an activist who was instrumental in passing the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Next month will mark the 20th anniversary of the landmark bill, which established legal protections against discrimination on the basis of disability. Two decades after this legislation, many disability communities continue to push for recognition of and compliance with the rights enshrined by the ADA, while others also focus on developing alternative or non-state approaches to disability justice. The U.S.

International Perspective on Gender Justice: Interview with Gina Vargas

The US Social Forum is part of a global movement that has been heavily influenced by the international women’s movement and in particular by feminists from Latin America. We interviewed a leading feminist activist and scholar from Peru to gain some international perspective on the gender justice work being done at the US Social Forum.

JS: What do you think is the significance of the second US Social Forum for social justice activists outside the United States?

The US and the World Social Forums—Interviews with Jai Sen, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Elizabeth Smythe

Critical Moment/ USSF2010 News Magazine writer Jackie Smith interviewed several leading authors and activists in the World Social Forum process to help give our readers a bit of historical context and global perspective on the happenings in Detroit during this second United States Social Forum.

JS: I understand that you're coming to Detroit for the US Social Forum. Can you tell our readers a bit about why you decided to be part of the 2nd U.S. Social Forum?

“It’s Time to Make Salt!” Says the People’s Movement Assembly on Food Sovereignty

The first Peoples Movement Assembly dealing with food was held on Wednesday afternoon in the Food Justice canopy. Close to 100 activists from across the United States and as far away as Haiti, India, and Palestine joined representatives of the Navajo and other indigenous nations to discuss ideas and strategies for advancing food sovereignty.

US Social Forum Highlights Detroit as "Solution City"

Crowds of weary-looking activists and organizers mustered the energy for the US Social Forum’s fifth and final day of activities. They spent the morning sessions learning about local organizing and coalition work presented in two dozen “Detroit Highlighted” workshops. These workshops were a feature of the USSF aimed at lifting up Detroit’s stories of success as a counter to popular images of the city’s desolation and decay.

USSF Opening Plenary Spotlights Detroit's Movement History and Present

Wednesday evening’s opening plenary of the US Social Forum was an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol to tell the people’s story of social justice activism—past, present, and future-- in Detroit. Organizers sought to lift up the rich history of radical political activism and organizing in the USSF host city, and to share with USSF participants the insights and inspiration of some of Detroit’s legendary organizers and artists. They also offered analyses of the present political moment and a look to the future.

The Future of the Forums: Learning from the United States Social Forum Process

Following what is now an established tradition at social forums, the second United States Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit in June 2010 included two workshops on the future of the social forums process. The purpose of these discussions was to help define where the social forum process is headed and to assess its progress and course. Over the course of two days, participants examined the social forum process from a global perspective, and looked at how to root the USSF in the everyday practices of people—especially the poor and most marginalized groups.

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