Re: US Social Forum a Mechanism for Change

On Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:11:26 -0700, Dan Clore
Fifteen thousand social movement activists descended on Detroit during
the fourth week of June for the second United States Social Forum (USSF)
to discuss and debate proposals for how to build a better world. The
slogan for the forum added "Another Detroit is happening"

Among conservatives, "a Detroit" means the chaos, violence, economic
ruin and physical destruction that results from progressives taking
charge.

http://www.detroityes.com/home.htm

In 1963, left wing redistributionist policies and aggressive
affirmative action drove business and the middle class out of the
city. In 1967, a dreadful riot occurred, in which a large portion of
the city was burnt. The riot supposedly ended - but rather than
ending tapered off in a permanent very high crime rate. People
continued to leave, and are still leaving today. Vast areas of the
city have returned to wilderness, magnificent buildings are falling
into ruin.

The structure of a social forum originated a decade ago in the global
south as a response to the exclusionary and militaristic policies of the
World Economic Forum (WEF) that meets at the end of January each year in
Davos, Switzerland. From its first meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil in
2001, the idea of holding social forums quickly caught fire and spread
across the world. This organizing strategy effectively shifted the terms
of debate regarding the Washington Consensus away from social, economic,
and political policies that benefitted a wealthy elite.

Observe that China is turning into a first world country, while
Detroit has become a third world country inside the US.

Class Struggle Anarchism in the 21st Century: Re-Centering on People’s

This workshop will focus on what has been at the heart of anarchism
since its birth in the 19th century – a commitment to furthering the
class struggle of working peoples.

"class struggle" is a code word for the heavy hand of government, the
heavy hand that destroyed Detroit.

Real Anarchism consists of opposition to the state. What destroyed
Detroit *is* the state, . Here are the urban planners of Detroit,
confidently telling us their plans for the future, casually destroying
the plans of the private individuals who built detroit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUbsw28PCpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0d1rfBC0Lw

The past year has seen the fight for access to education taken to a new
level as students from kindergarten through PhD programs have united
with educators to say no to cuts in education.

And to say no to vouchers - it is not cuts in education that worry
you, it is cuts in state control of education.
.