translocales writes:

Building for a North American Social Forum

Translocales

The Party’s Over
Suggestions to Dry your Eyes & Organize
A North American Social Forum?

The election is over and Bush is back. It really stinks.
Despite the almost complete lack of expectations most of us had in Kerry, it was at least a message to people around the world that yes — people in the US would like to do a diplomatic act of service by at the very least ridding the world of Bush as president after all that had been done and said — so much for that.The levels of frustration, disappointment, rage, or sadness varies a lot… many friends and family have really lost heart with what happened, they put so much energy into it, invested so many emotions, hope you could say….

That’s what’s often said about election mobilizing — but it really seems that all this incredible and beautiful energy was placed into organizing for a ‘day’ and not for a plan. It resonates with some of the critiques made of summit-hopping — doesn’t it? Many made the constrained decision though to surrender to the electoral machine temporally. We’d even heard of members of NEFAC (anarchist federation) making a tactical manouveur to fight electorally to depose Bush (!), if for no other reason than to give ourselves and our organizing some ‘breathing room’.

So how disempowered does it leave many of us, but especially those who were just recently getting excited about politics, the Big Day — the Battle — etc. was lost — and you can’t even count on all the cool workshops from a countersummit as a consolation prize…

Now there’s rage, in January there’ll be rage around inauguration and rage or zeal can be very positive — but what else?

The nationwide call for the actions ‘Beyond Voting’ on November 3rd to gather in public spaces regardless of who would have won the election was a fantastic idea — our hats go off.

Definitely it was an empowering space in a devastating moment, we can definitely vouch for having witnessed that here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It seemed that energy picked up a bit almost. Rage and disappointment (even for non-believers in electoral change) began to be channeled …lists are signed, email lists set up, phone numbers jotted, meetings-called…

As a guess, and without trying to proclaim any sort of self-fulfilling prophecy — it’s possible to venture that some high-energy will pick-up in quite a few activist circles and last at least until Thanksgiving–Christmas time. Even if it does die down around there (which is understandable) it will likely pick-up for inauguration protests — and our hats also go off likewise to those who have already called (even way before the election) for those protests. And then what…?

At the post-election rally some voices came out calling for getting back to work “dry your eyes, and organize” — imagining alternatives outside the system, direct and creative solutions to our problems, thinking outside the electoral box, DIY autonomous projects…some suggested strengthening community gardens and others soup kitchen projects — It feels that its ‘there’ where ‘its at’- at least in the long-haul.

Building on this call for autonomous spaces, we have several questions to ponder:

How can we capitalize on this energy of working together against the Bush machine? How to value this diversity of voices fighting against Bush? How do we build up for more than just a reaction?- How could we create spaces that build our movements without depending on the ‘man’s’ calendar and agenda

What follows are some inspirations — on how to turn rage into energy — and ‘getting back to work’ — not as a retreat but as opening up all sort of new possibilities.

A NORTH AMERICAN SOCIAL FORUM

It might be time to revisit the idea of a North American Social Forum.

What could a Social Forum ‘here’ mean ‘now’?

* A space to build our own autonomy from an increasingly alienating electoral process.

*A networking opportunity for social movements, community organizations, NGOs — call it what you like

*A possibility to bridge among ‘experienced’ community organizers/activists, and many of the people who were excited by politics recently.

*A message — to be sent internationally, that finally the only continent not having held a Social Forum would finally do so in such a bleak moment

This is a very initial proposal, if people feel like engaging the ‘Forum’ idea (or something else), what concerns might need to be addressed:

— A process versus an event — a space of encounter and not an institution — all North America..the US..who?

What do people think? Is worth to do some sort of consulta (formal or informal) process to figure out if we’re into this or some other process?

Because their politics aren’t ours!