AMY GOODMAN: We’re on the road in Detroit, where more than
10,000 people from across the country and the world marched here
yesterday to kick off the opening ceremony of the US Social Forum. The
colorful, joyous, sometimes raucous procession down Detroit’s Woodward
Avenue included social movements and community organizations struggling
for justice on everything from healthcare, the environment, fair trade,
labor solidarity, immigrant rights and racial profiling to Palestine
solidarity, ending the wars, police brutality, and the devastating
impact of the recession on people’s lives and sense of security. After
nearly two hours of walking, chanting and dancing in the blazing summer
heat, an estimated crowd of over 10,000 arrived at Cobo Hall, the
headquarters of the Social Forum activities this week.
Voices from the opening march at the US Social Forum here in
Detroit.
FRANCISCO ROMERO: My name is Francisco Romero from
Oxnard, California. I’m here with the Unión del Barrio contingent,
alongside with a lot of other organizations that have come from
California to join in this year’s US Social Forum. It’s a space where
everybody could get to know each other, network, and build the movement
to a stronger level and a stronger capacity. So, right here, what you
have today is the opening day. And we expect more, thousands more, to
come. As you can see, everybody’s flowing in right now from across the
globe to the US Social Forum here in Detroit.
ABAYOMI AZIKYWE: My name is Abayomi Azikywe. I’m with the
Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility
Shutoffs. We’re based here in the city of Detroit. Detroit is the
epicenter of the current economic crisis. It’s also ground zero for the
emerging fightback movement. We have to build broad coalitions. We have
to fight against this terrible economic crisis that we’re facing right
now. It’s manifesting itself in so many different ways here in the city
of Detroit and in the state of Michigan. We have schools that are
closing. We have the highest unemployment rate in the country. We have
escalating police repression. We have efforts to downsize and right-size
the city.
So it’s very important that all these social movements and
organizations are coming here to Detroit. They can learn a lot from the
people here in this city, the struggles that have been waged over the
last several decades, and also to regroup, to move forward, and to fight
for a just world, to end the exploitation and the oppression. We have
to move forward in this country, and I think this is a good starting
point. There are thousands of people who are out here representing many
different social movements and political organizations, environmental
groups, groups struggling to release political prisoners, who are
fighting against the prison-industrial complex, immigrant rights. All of
these issues are very, very important. So I think this is a great
sight. It paints a picture of what we want to see in America in the
future.
AHMINA MAXEY: My name’s Ahmina Maxey. I’m a member of the
Zero Waste Detroit Coalition. We are planning, next Saturday, the Clean
Air, Good Jobs, Justice march to the incinerator to demand that the city
of Detroit clean up its air. In Southwest Detroit, that area has over
five of the worst zip codes for air pollution in the whole state. The
communities that live, especially in 48217, in Southwest Detroit, they
are largely African American communities, communities of color. These
issues are environmental justice issues, because they are continually
burdened with more and more environmental hazard, after the fact that
they’re out of attainment for a lot of air quality issues. So a lot of
this is an environmental justice issue. And not only that, it’s a human
rights issue.
What the Social Forum has done for Detroit is highlight all the
awesome work that’s already happening in the city, all the awesome
activism that’s going on. In addition to that, it’s brought us
connections with people across the nation that we can share our
knowledge with, and they can share their knowledge with us.
KIM FORD: My name is Kim Ford. I’m here in Detroit with
the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New Orleans, Louisiana. When I
came to Detroit, I was kind of surprised, because Detroit looks a lot
like New Orleans, in such a state of disrepair, with so many abandoned
buildings. And I was shocked by that. You know, I didn’t realize it. I
know that there were some financial difficulties, but it’s such a
similarity. And it’s sad that across our country we still have the same
sort of disproportionate disparities, you know, and it’s a little
frightening. It’s a little frightening. And then, it’s like, in our
country, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer,
because restaurant workers across the country are still paid $2.13 an
hour. You know, and it’s time for that to—the minimum wage for
restaurant workers to be lifted. So we have people from all over the
country, from ROC United in New York, ROC-New York, ROC-Miami, ROC—we
have a ROC here in Michigan also. So it’s been an enlightening
experience. The whole convening has just been very great and very
motivating, so that when we go back to our communities, we want to be
able to help organize restaurant workers.
MIKE BOLTON: I’m Mike Bolton. I’m the director for
District 2, which covers Wisconsin and Michigan. I’m with the
steelworkers. And my issue and one of our issues, many issues, is fair
trade. And we’ve got to do something about trade, or we’re not going to
have any more jobs. So that’s really why I’m here. I’m going to be
talking tomorrow about a community of 6,000 that lost a paper mill that
has been there over a hundred years. Seventy percent of those people—the
paper mill shut down two years ago because of trade. Seventy percent of
those 600 people are still not working today. Small businesses have
been closed down, small mom-and-pop restaurants, gas stations. The
community is decimated because of it. And if we would have had fair
trade, that paper mill would have still been working.
MARIBEL HERMOSILLO: My name is Maribel Hermosillo, and I’m
from San Antonio, Texas. And I’m here with the People’s Freedom
Caravan, coming from San Antonio, Texas, all the way here to Detroit.
The importance of the US Social Forum is to bring everybody together,
because we need to change the United States. And it’s—you know, there
was the World Social Forum, and then everybody was like, "Well, your
country needs your own social forum." You know, like the United States
is mostly the reason for a lot of the things that are going on around
the world. So we need to change the United States, first and foremost.
LOREAN DARBY-HENRY: My name is Lorean Darby-Henry from
Miami, Florida. I’m with the Miami Workers Center, the organization
LIFT. We’re here fighting for equal housing. They’re trying to tear down
Miami and build these high-end rental places that the people can’t
afford. Same thing is happening here in Detroit. They know that Detroit
is basically starving because of the car industry. Housing is an equal
right for us, for here and in Detroit.
GREY: My name is Grey. I’m with the Florida Immigrant
Coalition, Students Working for Equal Rights. And I’m here because
obviously 20,000 of us knew that we needed to fight for justice. I
definitely expect for my mind to be blown over the next five days. I
really want to learn more. I want to grow with the community of folks
that are here, and I definitely want to—you know, I have a lot of
expectations, so I can bring back to my organization.
HELENA WONG: My name is Helena Wong. I’m with CAAAV
Organizing Asian Communities. Being a part of the Social Forum has been
really great for us in Atlanta 2007, and really looking forward to this
one, because it’s really an opportunity for us to interact with other
social movements. As an Asian organization, there aren’t a lot of other
Asian organizations, especially in New York, so we’re here with our
allies from around the country, and we’re really excited to be here.
KATE KANELSTEIN: My name Kate Kanelstein, and I’m with the
Vermont Workers’ Center. And we’re here with our members of the
Workers’ Center and the Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign building a
movement with our brothers and sisters from across the country. We just
had a huge victory on our Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign in
Vermont. Folks are probably hearing about it. We just passed one of the
first state legislation to design a universal healthcare, single-payer
system that meets human rights standards, and it’s happening right now.
It was the work of our Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign. And we’re
here because we want to lead the way for the country in creating another
world in terms of healthcare, in the way we treat it in the United
States as a commodity rather than the human right that it really is.
SOPHIA BRYANT: My name is Sophia Bryant. I’m with Picture
the Homeless. It’s an organization led and founded by homeless and
previous—formerly homeless people. Right now I’m in between. I lost my
housing. I’m here today with my organization to fight the injustices
that are going on in this country and around the world, for people in
general, but especially for people who need housing, people in shelters
and on the street. They don’t look at us, you know? It’s like we’re
invisible. And then when they do see homeless people, they judge them.
They’re still people, whether they’re laying on the sidewalk, in the
subway, or if they’re in shelters, OK? We all need decent, affordable
housing, permanent housing, not shelters. We want housing, not shelters.
We the people just need to take back our power, and we could do it. We
need the numbers. That’s all we need to wake people up and make them
realize. Where are we going to be in five or ten years, if we don’t
start, you know, coming together and demanding our rights? That’s what
it’s all about today.
ALLISON JULIEN: My name is Allison Julien. I’m with
Domestic Workers United in New York. And for us, being at the Social
Forum this year is huge, because we just had our bill passed in the
Senate. And this is exciting for us to let the world know that domestic
workers are here, and we need real protection for the jobs that we do.
Being a part of the Detroit 2010 Social Forum is amazing. The energy is
high. The excitement is here. The adrenaline is here. And knowing that
we’re in Detroit giving back to this community and rebuilding as workers
and as a movement is really fantastic. Words can’t express the
adrenaline that’s here and the energy that I’m feeling right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Voices from the opening march at the US Social
Forum here in Detroit. Special thanks to Democracy Now!’s Anjali
Kamat and Jacquie Soohen for that report.