Blog
Dan's Reflections on the US Social Forum 2010
By Dan Reilly (Video Coordinator)
Attending the US Social Forum this past week in Detroit, Michigan was a truly inspirational experience – one that I am sure to carry with me for years to come.
First off, I unexpectedly reconnected with a number of individuals from around the country that I have worked with in the past. I guess I’ve never really stopped to think about how long I’ve been working on social justice issues and how many wonderful people I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with during that time. Seeing all those people again really brought back a lot of positive memories and has renewed my commitment to forge new relationships with others in the future.
Secondly, my experience in Detroit reinforced personal ideologies that have guided my work in the past and will continue to guide it in the future. To briefly list just a few that arose during workshops and discussions with fellow anarchists:
- The principle of “Social Insertion.” Anarchists should be there to demonstrate our value to movements by bringing our belief systems, material support, and experience as activists and organizers to those movements.
- Revolution comes from people’s movements. Anarchists don’t start revolutions; we offer those movements ideas and support.
- The principle of “Transformative Justice”. Basically the belief that we can derive a structural analysis from interpersonal relationships and struggles and use that analysis to promote positive transformations of individuals and groups.
- From a current member of SDS: “I don’t see any such thing as a radical tactic. There’s only effective tactics and ineffective tactics.”
- One of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal is the ability to “frame shift.”
- Effective communication is about moving and triggering people’s core values.
- Social Justice Leaders (anarchists included) need to be strategic, creative and disciplined.
To hear a brief description of anarchism and an overview of its general principles by Collin from Buffalo Class Action, click here.
Lastly, I left Detroit with a renewed understanding that there is much work to be done to map out the landscape of social justice issues. Many of us need to focus on building a cross-platform foundation for what we generally consider the social justice movement. We need to continue to find points of contact between groups working many “different” issues and causes. If we can find those points of contact and strengthen the relationships between different elements of the larger social justice movement, we will all be more effective in building the better world that we envision.
