U.S. Social Forum Writers Network 'WRITER’s MEMO & Muse January 27, 2010
This is a semi-monthly memo to the U.S. Social Forum Writers Network. USSF Writers commit to helping spread the news about the USSF, which will be held in Detroit June 22-26, 2010. Please try to submit at least one piece of work per month to a local or national newspaper, community or professional newsletter, internet blog, or other media source—including social media. The suggested “hooks” provided here are yours to adapt to help reach diverse audiences and support the social movements behind the U.S. and World Social Forum process.
Send your ideas for future USSF writers story “hooks” or links to pieces you’ve published to writers@ussf2010.org.
PLEASE INVITE others to join the writers network: Go to www.ussf2010.org and click “Get involved”.
Another world is possible! We need YOU to help make it happen!
REGISTRATION OPENS for 2nd U.S. Social Forum. [See ussf2010.org for details]
World Social Forum celebrates tenth anniversary—Events around the world helped mark the 10th year of the World Social Forum process. Reflections on the accomplishments, challenges, and limitations of the WSF are at: IPS News- Terra Viva: [1] “Social Activists Celebrate 10 Years of Flagship Movement” [2]
Following MLK day, here’s some inspiration from history:
- “We must move past indecision to action.… Now, let us begin. Now, let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter-but beautiful-struggle for a new world... Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4th, 1967 (Quoted in [3])
Devastation in Haiti & Supreme Court’s Defense of corporate personhood provide further evidence that “change we can believe in” requires grassroots popular mobilization. The USSF provides a space where Americans can come together to build a mass movement for real change.
Many activists involved in organizing for the U.S. Social Forum knew all along that the sorts of changes many who voted for Barack Obama hoped to see would not come at the initiative of those in Washington. Instead, change most people could believe in will require a popular movement to draw policymakers’ attention away from the demands of Wall Street and its powerful corporate lobbyists so they can see the real state of affairs on “Main Street America.” Rising joblessness and hunger and a corrosion of our public infrastructures are predictable results of the policies advanced by the “corporate persons” at the head of our ship of state.
The following two stories illustrate this point that recurs throughout history: If people’s basic needs are to be met, it will require concerted action by communities to help each other and hold political leaders accountable to the popular will. Waiting for relief from above will only risk further exploitation and devastation of communities. These stories highlight how communities stood up to take charge of their lives, demand their rights, and defend their access to local economic and material resources.
- *Revisiting The Shock Doctrine in the Wake of Haiti Disaster by Naomi Klein http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/22-11 Editor's note: In the aftermath of the January 12th earthquake that ravaged (and continues to ravage) Haiti, as we witness the bravery and dignity of survivors and relief workers, we are wise to examine the deeper outlines of the historical roots that created the conditions for such a massive loss of life. We must simultaneously, however, begin to ponder what lies ahead for the people of Haiti as they emerge from the immediate calamity of the quake. As Naomi Klein meticulously revealed in her 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine, we understand that disasters of this kind can be moments of great upheaval and uncertainty, and that in these moments space is created that paves the way for new policies and new realities to emerge. In the following excerpt from her book, Klein explores those who were able to resist the worst inclinations of "disaster capitalism" - in this case Thai villagers whose homes were decimated by the India Ocean tsunami - by harnessing the power of community and solidarity to supplant the role that financial interests and neo-liberal elites sought to play in the aftermath of crisis.
- *Spokane Considers Community Bill of Rights
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/spokane-considers-community-bill-of-rights In Spokane, Washington, despite intense opposition from business interests, a coalition of residents succeeded in bringing an innovative “Community Bill of Rights” to the ballot. Proposition 4 would have amended the city’s Home Rule Charter (akin to a local constitution) to recognize nine basic rights, ranging from the right of the environment to exist and flourish to the rights of residents to have a locally based economy and to determine the future of their neighborhoods.
- • First. Residents have the right to a locally-based economy. Recognizes the rights of residents to protect their local economy by denying permits to big-box and chain stores.
- • Second. Residents have the right to affordable preventive health care. Creates a fee-for-service program for the thousands of Spokane residents who lack health insurance and currently rely on the emergency room for health care.
- • Third. Residents have the right to affordable housing. In response to the loss of thousands of units of affordable housing in Spokane over the past few years, the city would have been obliged, through incentives or other measures, to ensure that an adequate supply of affordable housing is available for those most in need.
- • Fourth. Residents have the right to affordable and renewable energy. Requires the city and local utilities to make renewable energy accessible to residents.
- • Fifth. The natural environment has the right to exist and flourish. Under current law, nature has no legal standing—to prove environmental damage, a person has to prove that he or she has been harmed. The Fifth Amendment would have protected the Spokane River, one of the most polluted in the nation following years of mining and toxic dumping, would have been protected under the Bill of Rights.
- • Sixth. Residents have the right to determine the future of their neighborhoods. Patty Norton and her neighbors—and other residents of Spokane—would have been able to enforce their decisions about what’s best for them. (The condominium complex hasn’t been built yet, but it is approved. The Sixth Amendment would have done what years of protesting haven’t been able to: allow the residents to say, “No.”)
- • Seventh. Workers have the right to be paid the prevailing wage and to work as apprentices on certain construction projects. As skilled labor leaves Spokane, the Bill of Rights would have protected workers’ right to competitive wages and created apprenticeship opportunities so that young people could learn a trade and stay in the city.
- • Eighth. Workers have the right to employer neutrality when unionizing, and the right to constitutional protections within the workplace. Workers would have been free from interference by employers when seeking to form a labor union, as well as from having to attend “captive audience” meetings.
- • Ninth. Residents, workers, neighborhoods, neighborhood councils, and the city of Spokane shall have the right to enforce the Community Bill of Rights. For the first time, residents would have the legal authority to enforce their own decisions.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/spokane-considers-community-bill-of-rightsSpokane Considers Community Bill of Rights
Thinking ahead to ….UPCOMING EVENTS/ Story opportunities
FEBRUARY 15 Presidents’ Day - support Obama in doing what’s right - listen to the growing voice of civil society
MARCH 8: International Women’s Day
MAY 1- May Day: - speak to the left, the progressives, the workers, consolidate support for USSF
MAY 31: Memorial Day - Veterans for Peace & Iraq Vets against the war plug USSF
TIPS FOR WRITERS:
“How to Pitch a Story” [4]
SEND YOUR SUGGESTIONS AND PUBLICATIONS TO: writers@ussf2010.org