Jackie Smith

About 75 Michiana residents gathered at the downtown public library on Saturday, January 26 to participate in a “global day of action” that marked the eighth annual World Social Forum.  The event, “Michiana and the World Social Forums” culminated a week of action that began on Martin Luther King Day and included events supporting worker rights, promoting environmental actions, and calling for an end to the war in Iraq.

Tables on display demonstrated the vibrancy of local work on all these issues. In addition to the groups that were part of the formal program, Just Goods and Ten Thousand Villages, local shops providing fair trade and sustainably produced goods, showed how people can help bring about social change through their daily choices about what they consume. Other organizers promoting community gardens and alternatives to plastic bags also showed how people can help make “another world possible.” The Teamsters and Building & Construction Trades unions demonstrated their work to enhance workers’ lives and sought support for their organizing initiatives.

Participants learned about the history of the World Social Forums, a global movement that seeks to unite diverse movements—such as those promoting labor rights, environmentalism, indigenous rights, anti-racism, etc.—around a common agenda for greater democracy and respect for human rights. They also heard from Notre Dame students Ana Velitchkova, Chris Hausmann, and Sarah Van Mill who attended the first United States Social Forum in Atlanta this past summer.

The main part of the program highlighted actions and groups that were part of the week of action, with the aim of identifying common themes around which groups might come together to promote change in our region. The speakers addressed calls for human rights, peace, and sustainability in our region.

Local demands for human rights showed how relevant the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remain in our day. It is clear today as it was at the height of the civil rights struggle that "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people" (Letter from a Birmingham Jail). Catherine Pittman, of South Bend Equality recalled the failed effort to pass a local ordinance that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. A resolution that seemed to be a “no brainer” was defeated to the surprise of many who are now mobilizing more intensively to re-introduce the measure.

In one of the day’s most moving accounts, Rodolfo Monterosa, an immigration lawyer, expressed his dismay at the failure of this country to allow new immigrants the chance at the “American Dream” that his parents enjoyed. He drew emotional responses from the audience as he alluded to the famous poem by Martin Niemöller: “First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. […] Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.” While many were aware of the racism and harassment faced by immigrants in our region, few had considered the human implications of policies that criminalize unauthorized immigration. The “good people” cannot remain silent in the face of this ongoing discrimination.

Worker rights and the right to organize were also part of the human rights agenda, and Joe Carbone of the St. Joe Valley Project-Jobs with Justice recalled the week’s action in support of Housing Authority workers’ right to organize, a campaign being advanced by the Teamsters Union. He recalled that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed as he was speaking on behalf of the rights of public sector workers to organize a union, showing how little progress has been made to protect workers since King’s time. Building & Construction Trades and other unions in this region are also calling for living wage policies. Living wage demands are part of the effort led by the Community Forum on Economic Development to reform regional tax abatement ordinances so that they are used to attract businesses that provide good jobs and support healthy communities. Marty Wolfson, who is leading this initiative, noted how current practices subsidize businesses that pay low wages and create few jobs for the neediest residents.

While people need human rights to enjoy dignified lives, it is also becoming apparent that we need major changes in our treatment of the natural environment. Christine Fiordalis of the Sierra Club introduced the Cool Cities Campaign which calls for local efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in conformity with international treaty guidelines. She also discussed how Sierra Club is working with the United Steelworkers to promote green jobs in this country. Joe Carbone echoed this theme in highlighting the blue-green alliance of labor and environmentalists that aims to shift public debates and emphasize the complementarities between pro-labor policies and sustainability. Neither environmental concerns nor worker needs are met when, for instance, GE closes its incandescent bulb plants here and shifts compact florescent light bulb production to China.

Jobs with Justice also helped bring in Chicago-based LuCynda Hohmann, of Environment America to discuss their work in the blue-green alliance to promote renewable energy production in this region. The industry could bring thousands of new jobs to the region and substantially reduce utility costs for all Americans. Judith Rubleski reported on the program she organized on “eating green,” which demonstrated how individuals can reduce their contributions to global warming through their daily meal choices. What was encouraging in each of these campaigns was that they didn’t just stress what is wrong with current policies, but provided concrete actions people can take to help promote better environmental practices.

Peace was also a key theme of the day, and Peter Smith of the Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition remarked on the tragic irony of the fact that one could replace the word “Vietnam” in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s anti-war speeches with “Iraq,” and they would be no less relevant today.  Kathy Liggett spoke of the work of Women’s Action for New Directions to raise awareness of the hundreds of billions of dollars our government spends each year on the military. “Our budgets reflect our society’s priorities,” she argued, and when we look at our federal budget it is clear that we need to alter our spending to emphasize education and social well-being over militarization and war.

The final section of the program provided space for participants to provide their input into what is being called the “Michiana Social Forum process.” Following the model of the World Social Forums, event co-organizers stressed the need to consider “who is not here today, and how we can bring them to the table?”  Small group discussions considered the questions of “What unites us?” “What divides us?” and “Where do we go from here?” The conversation circles facilitated by Kathy Liggett generated lots of creativity and energy from participants, and helped craft an agenda for the follow-up meeting planned for Saturday, February 23 at IUSB. Participants were urged to reach out to people who were not represented in the day’s discussion—particularly African American, immigrant, youth, and low-income groups-- and encourage them to attend.

Organizers plan to work on building relationships among diverse organizations in the Michiana region, focusing on upcoming dates of March 19, the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, and May 1, when immigrant rights rallies are planned. They are considering a “human rights city” initiative that builds on a model used in cities around the world to make human rights a priority in local policy decisions.

The local week of action was one of more than 700 events organized in around 100 different countries. Motivated by the World Social Forum slogan, “another world is possible,” people in places as far-flung as Antarctica, Iraq, Palestine, Bangladesh, and Mali joined in a common day of action for a better world. South Africa’s leading trade union, COSATU, organized a march through Johannesburg to promote worker rights. The International Trade Union Confederation urged its 300 national affiliates to take actions to promote decent work and fair trade rules against the predominant model of economic globalization. In Atlanta, protesters demanded housing rights, health care, good jobs. Namibians organized a jazz concert against domestic violence. A World Social Forum website allowed these groups to record their events ( www.wsf2008.net ).

For more information about the Michiana Social Forum, see www.michianasocialforum.org.