June
27th- July 1st 2007
The USSF will provide space to build relationships, learn from each
other's experiences,
share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring
renewed insight
and inspiration. It will help develop leadership and develop
consciousness, vision, and
strategy needed to realize another world.
The USSF sends a message to other people's movements around the
world that there is
an active movement in the US opposing US Policies at home and abroad.
We must declare what we want our world to look like and begin planning
the path to
get there. A global movement is rising. The USSF is our opportunity to
demonstrate to
the world Another World is Possible!
Social movements grow in power and influence because organizers and
activists seize
the moments that confront them. In the last few years, progressive
organizers and
activists have experienced critical opportunities to build a more
vibrant and effective
movement in the United States. We have enjoyed some successes; and we
have suffered
many setbacks. As organizers, activists, and movement builders we have
not yet drawn
the lessons from these experiences to develop plans for moving forward.
The U.S. Social Forum will shine the light on six key movement
building moments to
learn the lessons. These six struggles --
1. Gulf Coast Reconstruction in
the Post-Katrina Era
2. War, Militarism and the Prison Industrial Complex
3. Indigenous
Voices: From the Heart of Mother Earth
4. Immigrant and Migrant Rights in a Global
Society
5. Liberating Gender and Sexuality: Integrating Gender and Sexual
Justice Across
Our Movements
6. Workers' Rights in the Global Economy
-- are not the only
important issues facing the movement today. They are deeply
interconnected and
related to all the crises in our communities within today's reality of
globalization and
repressive neo-liberal policies -- growing poverty; multiple
oppressions
rooted in
class, race, nationality, gender, sexuality, ability, and age;
environmental
destruction;
and increasing militarism.
Through workshops, presentations, performances,
and debates during the U.S. Social
Forum we will explore all these critical issues
and their interrelationship.
WHAT
WILL HAPPEN?
June 27 will feature site visits around Atlanta, issues tents,
green
vendors, a march,
opening ceremonies, a concert, and more.
June 28 - June 30 -- Each day will be devoted to a principle of
movement
building and
include two plenary sessions focused on major issues.
June 28 -- sessions and activities that seek to educate and
raise our
consciousness
June 29 -- sessions and activities that call us to create a
vision of
another world
June 30 -- sessions and activities that help shape strategies
for change
July 1 --- Plan to attend the assembly of social movements in
the USA
to craft integrated
agendas and build a national calendar of activities, actions, and unity.