Detroit Selected as Host Site for 2010 US Social Forum
Local kick-off event marks one-year countdown, organizers say process starts today
06.22.2009 – 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. A local kick off event is scheduled for today, June 22, 2009, in Detroit.
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.
To volunteer or get involved, contact one of the local host organizations go to the website at ussf2010.org.
The fiscal and political responsibilities of the USSF are overseen by representatives from over 40 social movement organizations and who make up the National Planning Committee. They include:
* AFL-CIO (International)
* American Friends Services Committee
* AlternateROOTS (regional)
* CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities (New York City, NY)
* Center for Community Change (National)
* Center for Media Justice (National)
* Center for Social Justice (Seattle, WA)
* Center for Third World Organizing (National)
* Centro Obrero (Detroit, MI)--Anchor organization
* Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (Detroit, MI)--Anchor organization
* East Michigan Environmental Action Council (Detroit, MI)--Anchor organization
* Grassroots Global Justice (National)
* Indigenous Environmental Network (International)
* Independent Progressive Politics Network (National)
* Jobs with Justice (National)
* Labor and Community Strategy Center (Los Angeles, CA)
* Miami Workers Center (Miami, FL)
* Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (Detroit, MI)--Anchor organization
* National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (National)
* Padres Unidos (Denver, CO)
* People's Institute for Survival and Beyond (New Orleans, LA)
* People Organized to Win Employment Rights, POWER (San Francisco, CA)
* People Organizing to Demand Economic and Environmental Rights, PODER (San Francisco, CA)
* Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, PPEHRC (National)
* Project South (Regional)
* REDOIL (Alaska)
* Ruckus Society (National)
* SisterSong (National)
* St. Peters Housing Committee (San Francisco, CA)
* Sociologists Without Borders (National)
* Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice (Detroit, MI)--Anchor Organization
* Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (Regional)
* SouthWest Organizing Project (Albuquerque, NM)
* Southwest Workers Union (San Antonio, TX)
* Technology Working Group (May First/People Link)
* The Praxis Project (National)
* TOPS (Dothan, Alabama)
* Union de Trabajadores Agricolas Fronterizos (El Paso, TX)
* Women Watch Afrika, (International)
* Women's Media Equity Collaborative
- Twitter Pitch
- Another. World. Is. Possible. June 22, 2010. Detroit, Michigan. #USSF2010 (PLZ RT often) @ussf
- News Facts
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- Contacts: Maureen Taylor and William Copeland, USSF staff coordinators at DetroitInfo@ussf2010.org
Interview Requests: karlos@centerformediajustice.org, 505 363 4962
June 22 - 26, 2010, Detroit Michigan. - Detroit has the highest unemployment of any major city in the country (March 2009) with nearly one in four Detroiters unable to find work.
- Michigan has had the highest number of unemployed people in all 50 states for nearly four years.
- Thousands of living wage jobs have been permanently lost in the automotive industry and related sectors.
- Contacts: Maureen Taylor and William Copeland, USSF staff coordinators at DetroitInfo@ussf2010.org
- Resource Links
- @ussf Twitter Feed
- USSF2007
- USSF2010
- World Social Forum
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- USSF2010, US Social Forum, United States, Detroit, Politics, Movement, Democracy
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