The numbers of people present, combined with their composition and demographics, were the most dramatic positive highlight of the US Social Forum in Atlanta at the end of June. From where we were, over half of those present were young, under 35, and that's very encouraging. Probably about 40 percent were people of color, and that's way better than most left and progressive gatherings in this country. Just to be sure, we checked back on the Black Radical Congress in 1998, thinking there may have been 5,000 or more there. But there were 2,000 present in Chicago, so the USSF was very impressive in this regard. There may have been that many Black activists in Atlanta; plus at least comparable numbers of brown activists, and a majority of white activists. The representation of women and LGBTQ people was also exemplary, in leadership and in the rank and file. As would, perhaps, be expected, the majority of those present were organizers, either staff or leadership, though there was a good deal of excellent participation from the rank and file of various movements and organizations as well.

It seemed to us that the overwhelming majority of those present were social movement activists and/or the social movement Left, not organized "party" Left. Our main participation with the "party" Left was with Freedom Road (FRSO/OSCL), of course, and the workshop on revolutionary organization was really good. "Building Revolutionary Organization in the 21st Century" was presented by FRSO/OSCL, Bring the Ruckus, Labor/Community Strategy Center, LRNA, and Solidarity. Well over 200 people crowded into the hallways as well as into the room. There seemed to be a lot of unity in the room on the need for some sort of national revolutionary organization, but exactly what kind of organization and how to get there was still the subject of a lot of debate and a wide variety of ideas.

"Building 21st Century Socialism in Latin America": Over the past 20-30 years, the social movements have far eclipsed the organized Left as the leading force for revolutionary change. The social movements used to be "fronts" or "transmission belts" for the party Left, with the theory and strategy being developed through the parties. This is no longer true. Most of the theory and strategy, as well as the struggle, are coming out of the social movements themselves.

"Networking Sessions on Movement Building Centers" was presented by the Center for Political Education and SOUL (both from the Bay Area), the Brecht Forum (New York City), and the Centro para la Justicia Global (Mexico). Although we have been, so far, unable to sustain a core of people sufficient to continue a similar project here in St. Louis, we do believe that development of these types of organizing schools, cultural forums, and spaces “dedicated to building strong movements and the Left through education, analysis, theory, dialogue, and activism” is critical to Left Refoundation. We hope there will be some follow-up e-mails from the people who organized it.

"The Critical Classroom: Education for Liberation & Movement Building" was presented by Project South. Like some other workshops, this room was over-packed with 150+ people, a majority under 35. And very diverse. This workshop walked people through topics like:

• the "aha moment" and social history timeline tools
  
  
• the obstacles and challenges we face as educators for social justice and critical thinking
  
  
• best practices
  
  

Where we were, we encountered way too much anarchism for our taste, or for the welfare of the movement. The practice reflected from the anarchist forces was very shallow and lacked responsibility and accountability to the masses of people. We also talked with lots of people of color about how too many workshops failed to address white supremacy and racism and their specificity within various movements and struggles. Of course, both of these problems were especially evident among young white activists.

A couple of things from the USSF stand out as regards the overall state of the movement in this country. First, we participated in great workshops from the movements of rural people fighting for land and food sovereignty. The workshop "Saving Black Owned Land," organized by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, presented the history of struggles to save Black-owned land, including the Pigford lawsuit against USDA and efforts to move legislatively for further reparations for Black farmers. Other workshops on food sovereignty reflected and presented some of the theory that has been developed from within these social movements. In particular there is the concept that food, and other basic necessities such as water, and some would say land, should not be subjected to profit and the market, but should be produced and distributed based on democratic principles and basic human needs and rights. Such rights should include the concept of food sovereignty--the right of peoples to determine how to produce their own food. Much of the leadership in this movement has come from Latin America, including Cuba, as well as Asia and is represented organizationally by Via Campesina. The US Farm Bill is an immediate fight that is very important to this struggle and to this movement.

We also participated in great workshops from the movements that included forces that are coming together under the banner of "the right to the cities." In particular, one of us attended a kick-ass workshop on building a national campaign targeting HUD and housing issues, that included a lot of militant leadership from low-income urban activists from Chicago, New York, Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, and elsewhere. Through our public-sector union work, we have developed strong relations with people fighting for rural housing, as well as with the family farmers. We have a strong interest in exploring ways to bring these urban and rural movements together in even more powerful ways.

Second, we went on a search for workshops that would go deeply into the type of community organizing work that we are attempting to build here in St. Louis. Place-based organizing, in the community as well as the workplace. Neighbor-to-neighbor organizing, building block units, precinct organizations, ward organizations--a politics of neo-Rainbow organizing as some have called for. Building "interest circles," as they call them in Cuba, among neighbors where there are enough people interested in a particular issue--housing, health care, police brutality, etc.--to take it on in addition to the horizontal, block-by-block organizing.

We did not find as much of this deep, basic block-by-block organizing work as we had hoped to find. The "right to the cities" motion is cool, but at least where we were, it appears to be based on the interest circles aspect but not, as far as we could tell, also on the block-by-block organizing aspect, except perhaps among the public housing residents.

A revolutionary party that can actually contend for power and build socialism, even a neo-Rainbow party, would surely need to be organized block-by-block as well as issue-by-issue. How deep is our movement in this country?

"Serving the People: Defending & Changing the Public Sector in the Face of Neo-Liberalism" was presented by American Federation of Government Employees, AFSCME, SEIU, UE, and Atlanta Jobs with Justice. The sponsoring unions were joined by community allies in presenting lessons from successful, long-term worker-community alliances around city workers, healthcare workers at the local and federal levels, the US Department of Agriculture, the MARTA public transportation system in Atlanta, and childcare providers in Maryland. SEIU presented an excellent survey tool they use to help workers identify ways to be involved in the community. There seemed to be two main conclusions from this workshop:

• Union workers must begin to organize in the community, block by block, precinct by precinct, neighborhood by neighborhood, if workers are to win the political power that is needed to turn around conditions in this country. Workers should not see our struggles as separate from what happens in our community. We should organize around and educate the community about our fights and be intimately involved in and bring our community's issues to our union.
  
  
• We must also organize and build a powerful movement for taxing the rich if we are to ever rebuild a public sector for the public good in this country.
  
  

However, this workshop was not well attended and did not create new, ongoing organized movement, even though some good ideas were presented.

Finally, we have seen from an initial report-back gathering in our city some new potential for Left Refoundation and greater unified work with some young Black activists from the Organization for Black Struggle as a result of their participation in the US Social Forum. Unfortunately, even though Jobs with Justice helped fund this Black activist participation in the US Social Forum, the local JwJ chapter did not come out to participate in the report-back.

Although we have not been part of it, we certainly hope that there are some resources and energy going into continuing to build whatever unity in action ideas came out of the US Social Forum, through Grassroots Global Justice or other forms of organization. There is much potential, and much work to be done.

Michael Spohn is a founding member of FRSO/OSCL and a long-time public-sector union activist with deep ties to the family farm and rural housing movements.

Deborah Spencer is a newer member of FRSO/OSCL, a social justice minister, and a community organizer.