01.25.2010 – Detroit, seen by many as ground zero for the current economic crisis, has been named as the site for the 2nd
United States Social Forum. As many as 20,000 are expected to participate in the Forum, which runs from June 22nd through June 26, 2010.
See the local press release
here.
Organizers hail the Social Forum process as a powerful vehicle for
change and as the next stage in community organizing, community
governance and American democracy.
"Despite President Obama's historic election, our democracy continues
to be hijacked by big money and a type of corporate governance that has
resulted in the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and
decreased services for everyone - Detroit embodies both the problem and
potential for solutions," says Maureen Taylor, USSF staff coordinator.
"We believe the Social Forum process will stimulate some hope for the
people of Detroit and help the people turn this city around."
The Social Forum movement - conceived as an alternative to the World
Economic Forum - is a space for social movements and progressive
sectors of civil society to meet and share ideas, stories and solutions
to confront the world's continued economic, ecological and human rights
crises.
According to the USSF2010.org website, "The US Social Forum is a very
special kind of gathering. It isn't a conference with an agenda and a
program of events; it's a gathering whose participants produce our own
agenda and our own programs."
The first
World Social Forum was held in January 2001, in Porto Alegre,
Brazil, during the early stages of Brazil's democratic transformation
that would ultimately lead to the election of lathe operator and union
organizer, Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva.
Millions have since participated in the social forum process all across
the world - from local and smaller regional forums to
larger national,
hemispheric, and global forums.
"Wherever a social forum has been held, we've seen a wave of
transformation that follows," added William Copeland, USSF staff
coordinator. "[The Social Forum], and other events leading up to it,
will be seen as a people's bailout for Detroit. Detroit can be a model
for a just transition to a green 21st Century economy."
As many as 12,000 participated in the first United States Social Forum in Atlanta, Georgia in 2007.