What is in Store for the Future?

Okay, so the huge one week of chaos, strategizing and networking is over and now it is time to ask, what’s next?

For one, there will be no World Social Forum for next year 2008. Instead, a weeklong of solidarity activities is being planned by the International Committee (IC) of the WSF. Hopefully the IC will not continue to be dominated by Europeans and NGO’s as it was in this past WSF. Which leads me to two questions that have been asked by many, including Michael– a lead organizer of GGJ during his reflections of the WSF: Who does the WSF belong to? Is it a space for the social movements to organize, or is it a broader open space for political expression? Most would argue that it is a combination of both. But just how broad a space is created at the WSF? Most of these questions will lead to even further questions but one thing is for sure: the movement for social justice change should not stop just because a global forum was hijacked by corporations and a corrupt local government.

The next big step many US activists and social justice organizers are taking is the road to Atlanta to the US Social Forum happening this June of 2007. The US Social Forum will be a space where many issues will be brought to the table, such as the lack of response and lack of national solidarity by US progressives during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina.

The US Social Forum should be an opportunity for all who attend to reflect and share ideas on how we can change national agendas in the future. The National Planning Committee has defined 5 core issues and will organize plenary discussions on these topics: 1) Gulf Coast Reconstruction, 2) The War and Militarism, 3) Immigrant Rights, 4) Energy Exploitation and Indigenous Sovereignty, and 5) Workers Rights.If you would like to attend the US Social Forum in Atlanta, or want to participate as a workshop presenter, please visit the website at http://www.ussf2007.org/