world social forum

The Mesopotamia Social Forum in Kurdistan: A Report and Photo Gallery

The forum's message was “Freedom Will Prevail” and its program contained around 80 activities that gathered 2,000 participants from 170 organizations. (According to the local organizing committee). The opening march was met with strong state police presence, although the local governments were supportive of the forum. Also, a march against violence on women, highlighting that Kurdistan is a place where honor crimes are a reality, was also faced with control and confrontations by riot police. Both confrontations with the Turkish state enforcements were without incident. And these confrontations highlight the tension between the local Kurdish government, who were supportive of the forum events, and the Turkish state government, which regarded the forum with suspicion.

Don't miss this week's Community Bridge radio show with Christopher Renner this Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 5:00 pm.

http://communitybridge.blogspot.com/

I'll be talking about the World Social Forum from Dakar in February 2011 as well as what's happening next. Another World Is Possible!

FSM Dakar - Ritimo 2011 from Cedidelp on Vimeo.

Opening Event
March 26, 2010 from 5 - 7 pm CDT
Main Street Cafe, St. Francis
event runs through May 1st

About May First/People Link

May First/People Link is a membership organization based in the United States. It is one of the oldest progressive providers of Internet to non-profits in the world. Our membership consists of over 500 members, most of which are organizations, while others are individuals. By joining as a member and paying yearly dues, an organization receives free, unlimited website and email hosting. Our vision is to build a network that values an Open Internet by committing to the use of Free and Open Source Software and making principled decisions regarding policy and practices that affect online communication.

We believe that the Internet is humanity's way of facilitating the communication necessary to build movements to save the human race and the world. The converging crises in the major capitalist economies, the precarious state of the world environment, the political crisis in government in so many of the world's countries and the usurpation of government authority by international banks and committees have brought humanity to a point of urgency and increasing certainty that something must be done to save itself. When all else fails, human beings come together to communicate and figure out how to survive; that is our legacy as a species.

Our Work: Technology within the WSF

Humanity has been forging ahead in doing that with world-wide efforts like the World Social Forum and the Climate Control movement and, of course, the Internet. The Internet, a community of more than 1.9 billion people world-wide, is among humanity's principle responses; it's humanity's way of facilitating the communication necessary to make all this collaboration possible.

All photographs taken in this series of the World Social Forum are available to view here: http://malloryknodel.net/image/tid/586

All pictures are available in high-quality by emailing mallory@mayfirst.org.

You can download the IMC-related photographs in high quality as a compressed .zip file by clicking this link: http://malloryknodel.net/sites/default/files/imc-chosen.zip

Members of the Communications Commission of the World Social Forum met with the Africa Indypendent Media Center participants at the convergence space this evening, February 5, 2011.

• The Taybeh Beer Festival in early October was a great day trip to a small Christian village near Ramallah.

EXPANDED/INTERLINK REPORT

Political Climate
The political climate of the Palestine World Education Forum was the inspiration for a decentralized event. Because Palestinians have been displaced all over the world, a truly Palestinian forum event needed to be held in multiple locaitons. Therefore, workshops and conferences were scheduled in dozens of cities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Palestine 1948 territory, and Lebanon.

The World Education Forum follows the model of the World Social Forum to provide the conditions necessary for a movement of movements. Within Palestine, the thematic topic of education is important in many ways, however the forum itself addresses all issues within the context of its occupation.

Sometimes there is no water on Tuesday. In Ramallah, like the rest of the West Bank occupied territory of Palestine, Israel gives us only one day of water per week on Wednesdays. During this one day, excess is stored in black tanks on the roofs of businesses and homes to conserve it for use throughout the rest of the week. Mostly, we're fine. But sometimes we don't have water to flush the toilet, shower, or clean. Like in every place, I am drinking the tap water in Palestine. I'm not in danger of getting sick, but the plastic black tanks give the water a strange taste.

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(26 April, 2010) Cochabamba, Bolivia - Movement activists in the United States continue to build alternatives to crisis through global collaborations such as at last week's Climate Change conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Alfredo Lopez of May First/People Link writes, "The converging crises in the major capitalist economies, the precarious state of the world environment, the political crisis in government in so many of the world's countries and the usurpation of government authority by international banks and committees have brought humanity to a point of urgency and the Internet, a commun

On April 20, 2010, at 7:00 pm Eastern time people in various cities of the United States will gather for a direct interaction via the Internet with participants in the Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre Cambio Climático y Derechos de la Madre Tierra. This multi-city event will be one of the first fully interactive convergences of its type, moving our Hemispheric movement forward a step.

Interview with Mallory Knodel

Community Bridge Radio in Manhattan, Kansas with Christopher Renner

An Interview with Mallory Knodel on the US Social Forum 2010.

(partial) Transcript

Next we change gears somewhat and discuss the US Social Forum. The US Social Forum is a movement building process. IT is not a conference but is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis.

Dear Friends, We write to invite you to attend a workshop that will take place at the annual Left Forum conference this weekend in NYC. The session, Movement-Building Centers and Rekindling the Imagination of the Left, takes place on Saturday during Session 4, from 5:00 to 6:50 pm in room W604. The workshop focuses attention on Movement-Building Centers ?

As the final months approach in planning for the second United States Social Forum, deep debate broke out among its organizers. The topic of the debate addresses the political paradox of corporate social networking and its role in progressive organizing: Whether or not to link corporate, social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook on the USSF website's homepage. Organizing for the second US Social Forum is increasing in intensity as the forum, to be held at Cobo Hall and Hart Plaza in Detroit, June 22 - 26, 2010, approaches.

United States Social Forum Detroit - June 22-26, 2010 Edited by the USSF Book Committee: Marina Karides, Walda Katz-Fishman, Rose M.

Thursday, March 4, 2010 7:00pm - 9:30pm The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (Between Bank and Bethune) New York, NY Join Left Turn magazine, US Social Forum organizers from Detroit and Philadelphia, and New York City community-based organizations for information sharing and dialogue about the second USSF taking place in Detroit on June 22-26th, 2010. New York-based community organizers will share their experiences and learnings from USSF 2007 and what their organizations and movements are planning for 2010 in Detroit.

Coming: May 2010 www.womenwhotech.com Why? WOMEN ARE UNDERREPRESENTED Some of the most gifted folks in technology are women yet they are rarely quoted as experts by the mainstream media and blogs. Furthermore women are significantly underrepresented on panels at major technology conferences. Get ready for the 2010 Women Who Tech TeleSummit happening in May 2010.

Local activists and organizers are invited to participate in a five-part series to sustainably build towards the second United States Social Forum. In June 2010, national and international organizations will be gathering in Detroit, Michigan to network and campaign in the spirit of "Another World is Possible. Another US is Necessary!" Grassroots groups are challenged to organize and strategize in their communities in the months leading up to Detroit in order to build lasting alliances in the larger struggle against globalization.

World Social Forum 2010 starts with great event in the Greater Porto Alegre - Brazil

The USSF Writers Network is part of the Communications Working Group for the US Social Forum. We will work to help raise public awareness about the USSF and the issues it addresses among the many diverse groups that make up our country.

Participate in Shaping the US Social Forum Workshop Tracks

The US Social Forum, MF/PL member, is preparing for June 2010 in Detroit by asking for feedback on its programming themes.

On October 16 & 17 at Northeastern University in Boston the Grassroots Use of Technology Conference built social change by identifying the following goals:

• bringing hundreds of organizers together
• connecting them to each others' skills, knowledge and experience
• thinking critically about the latest, state-of-the-art tech tools
• prioritizing economic and racial justice

One of the most important talks was given by pioneering journalist and organizer, Roberto Lovato.

Detroit

Babson, Steve with Ron Alpern, Dave Elsila, & John Revitte. 1986. Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town. Wayne State University. Boggs, Grace Lee. 1998. Living for Change: An Autobiography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Boggs, James. 1963. The American Revolution. New York: Monthly Review Press. Davis, Mike. 1986. Prisoners of the American Dream: Politics and Economy in the History of the U.S. Working Class. New York: The New Press. (online) Davis, Mike. 2003.

The second day of International Council meetings for the World Social Forum showed the breadth with which the social forum process has become a movement. Organizers from all over the world are meeting in Montreal, Quebec this week to discuss upcoming WSF events in 2010 and 2011. Twenty-four thematic and regional forums are scheduled for 2010.

Delegates from the United States Social Forum participate in the International Council meetings of the World Social Forum to discuss global movement responses to current crises. In 2001 The World Social Forum (WSF) was created in Brazil in direct response to the neo-liberal strategic meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Brazilian feminists marched for their rights along the main road running through the UFRA campus during the 2009 World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil. A young activist says in an interview "In Brazil, abortion is not legalized and it should be legalized." Other inequalities exist in Brazil such as equal pay for equal work.