The US Social Forum in Detroit is the place to become inspired, and to meet, share and learn from activists, community organizers and concerned citizens who are already in motion. If you believe that turning out 20,000 people who want to build a new civil society in a huge and necessary effort then you should join us on the Outreach Working Group.
We see outreach not only a means to publicize the USSF and gain supporters, but also to link the grassroots organizations and individual activists who have been taking on the challenges created by the prolonged economic and social crisis. Our aim is to link community groups, labor unions, organizations of people of color, women’s groups, LGBTQ activist networks and much more. If the USSF in Detroit is to be successful, it will be in large part because groups and individuals have already been organizing both within and between their sectors. The 2007 USSF in Atlanta showed that this approach works. In Detroit, we aim to broaden participation by prioritizing key constituency areas. We believe that three of them in particular are that vitally important to turn out.
Join up with the Outreach Team and learn and how you can help seek out, network, and engage organizations and sectors in order to connect them to movement building work and the US Social Forum process.
National Outreach Co-chair: Tammy Bang Luu (Labor/Community Strategy
Center), Tammy(at)thestrategycenter.org, Phone: 323-309-9854
Detroit Local Organizing Committee: Ahmina Maxey (East Michigan Environmental Action Council), ahmina(at)emeac.org
Date and time of Outreach conference calls: Second Wednesdays of every month @ 1pm EST, 3pm Central, 2pm Mtn, 1pm PST Fourth Tuesdays of every month @ 2:30pm EST, 1:30pm Central, 12:30pm Mtn, 11:30am PST Call in #: (218) 936-4700 Code: 924760#
The Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IPWG) will be comprised of persons knowledgeable of North American and global Indigenous communities and issues. The USSF places special emphasis on the traditions and struggle of the indigenous people of North America, as they provide focus on the untold history of resistance in the U.S. against racism, genocide, slavery and exploitation. Moreover, indigenous people are at the forefront of today’s struggles over land, water and environmental justice as well as age-old struggles to recover territories stolen from them. At a time of prolonged economic crisis, the movement of indigenous peoples takes on a special relevance as working people search for models and inspiration to meet the challenges they face.
The IPWG will provide guidance to the USSF planning process on matters concerning Indigenous Peoples.
Contact Persons:
The Youth Working Group is central to the USSF and the social forum process. Young people are being made to pay an especially high price for the economic crisis: if trends continue, they face a sharply lower standard of living than their parents’ generation. For that reason alone, youth must be a central focus of the USSF. Even more important is the fact that the youth provide the energy and conscience of social justice movements, from the sit-down strikes of the 1930s to the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the immigrant rights movement of today. As the left seeks to rebuild itself to face the challenges of a new era, the USSF will provide a space for today’s young activists and a platform to make their demands heard.
Contact Persons:
Email: youthussf@gmail.com
Date and time of conference calls:
Every 2nd and 4th Monday at 9pm EST, 8pm Central, 7pm Mtn, 6pm PST
Conference Dial-in Number: (218) 339-4300
Participant Access Code: 189810#
Ensure that gender, transgender justice and LGBTQ issues are well integrated into the planning, implementation and program of the USSF. The LGBTQ movement has a special significance for the USSF, as it shows how previously “invisible” oppressed groups can burst onto the scene with their self-activity and create major social change. The recent struggle for marriage equality--including the Equality March of 2009--underscored the continued importance of the LGBTQ struggle as well as providing an important model for the struggles developing today.
Contacts:
Date and time of conference calls:
Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 12pm EST, 11am Central, 10am Mtn, 9am PST
Conference Dial-in Number: 1-605-475-4333
Participant Access Code: 819050#
Peoples Movement Assembly Process
People's Movement Assemblies grew out of the World Social Forum process as a forum in which vast arrays of social movements gather to assess their experience and chart the way forward. The PMA will develop alongside the USSF process in order to build the event and gather forces for a revived and active left.
The Assembly process offers the opportunity to collectively create action plans and political directions for our movements in the US, our regions, and our local communities.
Currently Planned People's Movement Assemblies include:
- Border PMA, San Antonio, Texas, February 13, 2010
- Brownsville PMA, Texas, February 20, 2010
- Houston PMA, Texas, February 27, 2010
- Detroit PMA, Michigan, March 13, 2010
- Portland PMA, Oregon, May 9, 2010
To hold your own Peoples Movement Assembly:
Download the PMA
ORGANIZING KIT
To find out more about the process or to become part of the Peoples Movement Assembly Working Group contact Steph Guilloud at Stephanie@projectsouth.org or Ruben Solis at grulla@swunion.org