Looking Back on the US Social Forum

Detroit is often portrayed as a city in crisis. Presently, Detroit has the highest unemployment rate of any major city with 23.2% (nearly 1 in 4 citizens) of the population without jobs. Michigan has held the number one position in the nation for unemployed for nearly 4 years.

Calling for social justice and demanding their rights, the people of Detroit have developed a culture of resistance. This mobilization extends to a variety of issues including "combating violence against youth, struggling against utility shutoffs, opposing pickups by the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] in southwest Detroit and fighting the closing of schools." Detroit is one of the most active sites of social mobilization in the nation and the perfect site for the second US Social Forum that ended just this past weekend.

The US Social Forum allowed participants to actively engage in a five day discussion on multiple social, racial, gender, economic, and ecological concerns. Defined as a "multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement" the US Social Forum is a regional component of the similarly structured World Social Forum.

Attendees of the US Social forum are estimated to have amounted to over 20,000 with more than 1,000 workshops held.  While organized groups and interested individuals spanned both nationally and globally, about 17% of registered participants hailed from Detroit. Indeed, local activists utilized this opportunity to highlight the conditions within the city.

The US Social Forum was structured as an interactive conference in which participants were encouraged to lead discussions. The many broad themes of these workshops include democracy and governance, climate justice, and Indigenous sovereignty.

The topic of gender and women's rights was present throughout these various themes. On the second day of the forum MADRE human rights advocacy lawyer Lisa Davis participated in a panel on sex work. Calls were made for the increased accountability of the United States government through close scrutiny of its human rights record. Additional discussions concerning gender included the topic of media and the politics of race and gender. 

The US Social Forum provides individuals, ignored by legislative policies and continually silenced and victimized by mainstream media coverage, with a legitimate outlet to voice their concerns. Imagining a different world is integral to create social change. As the US Social Forum slogan reads, "Another World is Possible. Another US is Necessary."