US Social Forum

Wednesday was the first day of the US Social Forum and our workshop was first thing in the morning.  We had a good group to discuss the impact of national mobilizations on local organizing in DC and it was really great.  We had a wonderful organizer from Detroit on our panel, Diana Copeland, who talked about the process of USSF working with local Detroit organizers to strengthen the local movement here through this national conference.  She had a lot of really great ideas and thoughts of what had worked and what was challenging that I think we'll be able to incorporate into a model of how to do national work in solidarity with local grassroots movements, recognizing how that is mutually beneficial to all of us.  We came out of the workshop with a lot of energy and commitments to work further on this when back in DC.  Full notes forthcoming!  

I also went to a really interesting workshop on how foundations can fund social justice and movement building work.  It was pretty eye-opening for me, since it's been hard to find any foundations that are interested in funding the work of the Washington Peace Center, even though it seems so crucial to those of us on the ground.  

I finished off the evening getting to hang out with a bunch of IVAW friends and listening to some great political music while there was a tornado warning outside.  Today (Thursday) I'm off to meet with the other member centers of UFPJ to talk peace, strategy and taking over the world!

Sonia