The second ever United States Social Forum (USSF) was convened from June 22nd through June 26th in Detroit, Michigan, bringing together over 15,000 activists from across the US and from around the world. More than just a conference, the USSF was a historic convergence and a movement-building process, aimed at strengthening collaborative efforts towards social and economic justice, both within the US and abroad.
New York Pursue Program Officer Audrey Sasson, with community members Kerry Birnbach and Rishauna Zumberg (who blogged about Race and Food here) high-tailed it to the home of Motown to participate in the Food Justice track. They joined more than 60 other New York-area food justice activists in a caravan to Detroit, some of whom stayed in a vacant house owned by a local urban farmer.
Why are we writing about the US Social Forum NOW? The food justice networks that converged in Detroit are launching the newly named, US Food Sovereignty Alliance this week. This working group emerges from the USSF as an approach to ending poverty by rebuilding local food economies. They are celebrating the launch with 4 days of action, leading up to Sunday October 17th, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty:
October 12: Day of Indigenous Resistance to Conquest
October 15: World Rural Women’s Day
October 16: World Food Day
October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
October 12: Day of Indigenous Resistance to Conquest is celebrated across the Americas with actions toward recovering the land, water, and autonomy that belonged to indigenous peoples and their displaced urban allies. Currently, corporations are grabbing land in the U.S. and all over the world, depriving all people of their rights and their livelihoods. Some suggested actions:
- Celebrate “liberated land” – community gardens, public parks, or protected indigenous lands
- Join existing land campaigns and alliances like Right to the City (www.righttothecity.org), Take Back the Land (www.takebacktheland.org), and FIAN International (www.fian.org)
- Circulate petitions denouncing genetically engineered food, fish, and trees
October 15: World Rural Women’s Day
Rural women make up more than a quarter of the world population. They hold a key role in food production and contribute to the wellbeing of their families, rural economies, and food security. Some suggested actions:
- Write a letter to the editor of your local or regional paper about the importance of rural women in our states and around the world for food production and food security
- Invite women farmers to discuss their lives and struggles
- Create an award for exceptional local rural women or women’s groups
- Link up with sister organizations for a joint event like a community meal
- Inform local media, the mayor, city council, and local business associations about what you’re doing and why
October 16: Ending Poverty by Rebuilding Local Food Economies/World Food Day. La Via Campesina—a global movement fighting for food sovereignty and agrarian reform—calls for actions against transnational corporations responsible for privatizing seeds, promoting a chemical-dependent, industrial-scale form of agriculture and aquabusiness/industrial fisheries that bankrupt and displace fishers, farmers, and farmworkers. Local food economies are the solution. Some suggested actions:
- Declare Who Fishes Matters by signing the petition (www.change.org/nama) and uploading your own short video about why the concentration, consolidation, and industrial-scale takeover of our fisheries is a bad idea. For more action steps, see www.namanet.org.
- Support CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food (www.ciw-online.org/tools.html) against supermarkets that refuse to pay higher wages to farm workers
- Host a Food Justice Workshop to share food and information about taking back our local food systems
- Celebrate and organize community meals with local chefs, gardeners, farmers, and eaters to build community and dismantle racism and sexism (See www.bit.ly/GrubParties)
- Promote local food with Farmers’ Market Fair Food Festivals (www.bit.ly/EatRealFestival)
- Protest BP in solidarity with fishermen, farmers, restaurant workers, and others in the Gulf of Mexico food system
October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
More information here.
