The Road Back From Detroit, A Youth Report Back

On Monday July 26 The Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition hosted a report back from the 2010 United States Social Forum which was held a month earlier in Detroit. This was no ordinary report back, instead of getting an academic analysis of the events in Detroit attendees were treated to more personal narratives from the young people who road to Detroit in the AFSC organized van.
The reason Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition decided to have a report back in this format was two fold.

1. The United State's Social Forum was HUGE! It would be so difficult to give an accurate summery of what went down. As Amber Keller said, " You could ask ten people and get ten different opinions". It seems the best way to get a comprehensive report on the many aspects of the Forum and the actions items that are coming out of it is to visit the official USSF 2010 site:

http://www.ussf2010.org/

2. For those of us that went there was a general feeling that this year's USSF was much more youthful then the last, and perhaps more youthful then other national progressive mobilizations. We wanted to create a venue where young people could discuss how the experience effected them, and how they plan to apply the lessons of Detroit here in Atlanta.


Erica Schoon, With American Friends Service Committee, played emcee for the evening and members of the Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition provided a pretty amazing dinner spread. It was an evening of tummy warming food and heart warming stories.











Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

AFSC Works to get Youth to Detroit!

A few months before the 2nd US Social Forum, the AFSC decided we needed to add to the momentum of the 2nd US Social Forum by gathering more Georgians, especially youth, to attend the event in Detroit. The first US Social Forum in 2007 was in Atlanta, so it only seemed fitting to continue the involvement of the local community. So we began to put the word out that there would be an AFSC caravan, announcing it through listserves and facebook and eventually promoting the event at group meetings and through Brian Sherman's radio show on WRFG, Atlanta's progressive radio.

We worked with the Georgia State University Progressive Student Alliance organized a 7-passenger van leaving Atlanta on Monday and a 15-passenger van leaving on Wednesday. We struggled with resources and were only able to offer these limited number of seats but were glad to see interest mount as the event approached. Our final caravan included an eclectic mix of people from around Georgia, as well as a few from South Carolina and Alabama. Thanks to a few generous donors, we did not have to turn away anyone who could not afford the trip. By carpooling in vans and staying in the USSF Solidarity Housing, we were able to make it an affordable trip....Vans and solidarity housing also allow LOTS of opportunities for bonding and networking!

After a long drive to Detroit, we finally arrived at the "Olympics of Social Justice Work," the US Social Forum. As soon as we stepped into the crowd of like-minded activists from all over the country (and world!), it became clear that all the organizing was worth it. We hope the week's events and workshops will allow these 20 or so folks from the Atlanta caravan to return with a wealth of knowledge and inspiration to share back home...Check back for highlights from USSF events!!

Erica Schoon
American Friends Service Committee