Detroit is the new New Orleans, ground zero in the war on working people and the devastation wrought by failed policy and a failed economic system. Detroit continues to have the highest unemployment rate of any major city in the country. Male unemployment in 2008 was estimated at a staggering 48.5%.
The stark realities of this city reach far into communities all across the United States, sign and symbol of all that has gone wrong. That’s why the AFL-CIO is joining nearly 100 other organizations in building for a convergence of social movements and activists called the United States Social Forum, to be held June 22-26 at Cobo Hall and Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit.
The U.S. Social Forum is not a conference. It is a movement building process, a space of resistance to economic and social inequality, a time to find common ground and common strategies, a way to practice democracy and create a broad movement for justice.
Labor’s participation is vital to this movement building process. The AFL-CIO, as well as union sponsors like AFSCME and Jobs with Justice, want to put the issue of jobs squarely on the agenda of the Forum and help build an alliance and movement for real change. Unions will have a significant presence for the five days, including a labor “tent” and a variety of workshops and other activities sponsored by the AFL-CIO.
United Auto Workers Region 1A Director Rory Gamble sees the Forum as an opportunity for labor to build relationships with other movements and encourage “a strong, fight-back attitude toward the intense corporate agenda that is blocking change on health care, labor rights, fair trade policies and a host of issues that we believe in.”
“Detroit is a birthplace of the modern labor movement,” Gamble states in a letter circulating to mobilize labor participation, “and an important focus for the civil rights movement and social change.” It was chosen as the USSF site, “not just as the most visible example of the nation’s economic and social challenges, but how we confront and organize solutions to the problems facing us.”
Three years ago, the very first U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta attracted 12,000 people from across the country who came together to organize, teach, share strategies, debate solutions and imagine the slogan for the Forum, "Another World Is Possible! Another U.S. Is Necessary!" The U.S. Forum grew out of the World Social Forum process, an international movement against the G-8 formula for the concentration of wealth and power, unbridled free trade, labor exploitation, racism, environmental degradation and other problems of capitalism.
Since 2001, the World Social Forum has been a significant locus of resistance, alternative thinking, movement building and international grass roots cooperation. As many as 155,000 people participated in the 2005 Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The World Social Forum and its U.S. counterpart are linked by common challenges and by the creativity of ordinary people who are taking charge of their own lives, their own streets and neighborhoods to imagine alternatives in the midst of ruin. That’s what Detroit is all about. According to Social Forum organizers, “The Midwest site marks a fierce resistance movement for social, racial, gender, and
economic justice.”
A local committee has been operating in the Twin Cities to mobilize for the Detroit Forum and organized labor is beginning to encourage members to attend. As part of that mobilization and to prepare for the Social Forum, a “People’s Movement Assembly” will be held in the Twin Cities June 5 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis. Public planning meetings also will be held at Waite House from 6 to 8 p.m. on May 6, May 17 and June 3.
The purpose of the Twin Cities Assembly is to come up with local demands, commitments, and visions to be prepared for full participation in the US Social Forum in Detroit. People are welcome to attend even if they are unable to go to Detroit. Other cities also will hold Assemblies leading up to the Forum.
Howard Kling is director of the Labor Education Service, which publishes Workday Minnesota.
For more information
E-mail Deborah Rosenstein for more on the Twin Cities People’s Movement Assembly
Visit the Forum website
Get additional labor-related information at the Jobs with Justice blog and the Labor Heritage Foundation website
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Detroit is the new New Orleans, ground zero in the war on working people and the devastation wrought by failed policy and a failed economic system. Detroit continues to have the highest unemployment rate of any major city in the country. Male unemployment in 2008 was estimated at a staggering 48.5%.
The stark realities of this city reach far into communities all across the United States, sign and symbol of all that has gone wrong. That’s why the AFL-CIO is joining nearly 100 other organizations in building for a convergence of social movements and activists called the United States Social Forum, to be held June 22-26 at Cobo Hall and Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit.
The U.S. Social Forum is not a conference. It is a movement building process, a space of resistance to economic and social inequality, a time to find common ground and common strategies, a way to practice democracy and create a broad movement for justice.
Labor’s participation is vital to this movement building process. The AFL-CIO, as well as union sponsors like AFSCME and Jobs with Justice, want to put the issue of jobs squarely on the agenda of the Forum and help build an alliance and movement for real change. Unions will have a significant presence for the five days, including a labor “tent” and a variety of workshops and other activities sponsored by the AFL-CIO.
United Auto Workers Region 1A Director Rory Gamble sees the Forum as an opportunity for labor to build relationships with other movements and encourage “a strong, fight-back attitude toward the intense corporate agenda that is blocking change on health care, labor rights, fair trade policies and a host of issues that we believe in.”
“Detroit is a birthplace of the modern labor movement,” Gamble states in a letter circulating to mobilize labor participation, “and an important focus for the civil rights movement and social change.” It was chosen as the USSF site, “not just as the most visible example of the nation’s economic and social challenges, but how we confront and organize solutions to the problems facing us.”
Three years ago, the very first U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta attracted 12,000 people from across the country who came together to organize, teach, share strategies, debate solutions and imagine the slogan for the Forum, "Another World Is Possible! Another U.S. Is Necessary!" The U.S. Forum grew out of the World Social Forum process, an international movement against the G-8 formula for the concentration of wealth and power, unbridled free trade, labor exploitation, racism, environmental degradation and other problems of capitalism.
Since 2001, the World Social Forum has been a significant locus of resistance, alternative thinking, movement building and international grass roots cooperation. As many as 155,000 people participated in the 2005 Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The World Social Forum and its U.S. counterpart are linked by common challenges and by the creativity of ordinary people who are taking charge of their own lives, their own streets and neighborhoods to imagine alternatives in the midst of ruin. That’s what Detroit is all about. According to Social Forum organizers, “The Midwest site marks a fierce resistance movement for social, racial, gender, and economic justice.”
A local committee has been operating in the Twin Cities to mobilize for the Detroit Forum and organized labor is beginning to encourage members to attend. As part of that mobilization and to prepare for the Social Forum, a “People’s Movement Assembly” will be held in the Twin Cities June 5 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis. Public planning meetings also will be held at Waite House from 6 to 8 p.m. on May 6, May 17 and June 3.
The purpose of the Twin Cities Assembly is to come up with local demands, commitments, and visions to be prepared for full participation in the US Social Forum in Detroit. People are welcome to attend even if they are unable to go to Detroit. Other cities also will hold Assemblies leading up to the Forum.
Howard Kling is director of the Labor Education Service, which publishes Workday Minnesota.
For more information
E-mail Deborah Rosenstein for more on the Twin Cities People’s Movement Assembly
Get additional labor-related information at the Jobs with Justice blog and the Labor Heritage Foundation website