Info pack

SSF launch, 27th March 2004: workshops | programme | resources | indymedia lab | film room | tech rota | info pack | logistics

Intro
At the launch we need to provide everyone with some sort of information pack, at the very least with a programme. Conversations between Kevin and Sarah Jane have resulted in the following suggestions.

Format-wise an A5 booklet (i.e. A4 landscape pages folded in half) might be best; suggest a 2 sheet, 8 side booklet. Plus we need a feedback form of some sort. Perhaps this should be an inserted, double-sided, A5 sheet.

Side One (Front Cover)
Dan's suggestion:



Side Two (Intro)
What is a social forum? Given that its the question everybody asks, we should offer some sort of respons. Sarah Jane suggests that rather than try to come up with a definitive statement we each throw in our thoughts and somehow select some choice quotes that sum up various angles on the answer. People's thought on this should be added here or posted to the [mailto:sheffieldoscialforum@yahoogroups.com list].

SJ also suggests having some information about Hilary and some examples of what other people are doing - see below - I (SJ) have unashamedly ripped most of this content from various websites - thanks/apologies etc.. We might not want all of this on the leaflets, but think it would be useful to have all/most of this printed for people to read on the walls. Additionally I think that this could be side two, side three, side eight...? People's thought on this should be added here or posted to the [mailto:sheffieldoscialforum@yahoogroups.com list].

Possible content The social forum movement unites under the banner of "Another World [or City] is possible". There are no rules, but generally social forums are spaces for people to meet, exchange experiences and develop ways of working together that are about people not profit. Sheffield Social Forum will be whatever we make it and we hope that as well as making a difference we can also have some fun (grin). Below are some examples of what is going on around the world already to help our debate.

World Social Forum The World Social Forum is not an organisation, not a united front platform, but "…an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo- liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a society centred on the human person". (From the WSF Charter of Principles).

1st person testimony from Port Allegro 2002 [other more recent might be good here] It's hard to miss 50,000 people. It's even harder to miss them when they're wearing colourful traditional garb or t-shirts emblazonedwith slogans on every issue from racism to co-operative farming to revolutionary zeal. And there were those slinging megaphones, organizing impromptu parades and rallies, and circulating leaflets...The more than 50,000 delegates in attendance not only "represented" millions of people around the world in the more patronizing sense of the word, but arrived in PortoAlegre with a mandate andfirsthand experience about the kind of change they want to see. Most impressive was the way in which so many peoples' movements of the global south - landless peasants, indigenous organizations, farmers, workers, teachers, studnetrs, women - had scraped together enough money and time, held preparatory events to gather input, and organized their delegations to Porto Alegre. Because so many delegates had struggled just to get to the Forum, the overall mood was dynamic and feisty.

European Social Forum ? ?Paris SF something

In 2004, it looks like the European Social Forum will be held in London. The current word on the street is that it will take place on October 15-17, centred at Alexandra Palace, with fees around £30/40 for unwaged/waged (£10 cheaper if pre-paid), accommodating 20-40 000 people without using "spillover areas". This contrasts with Paris where the average fee was around 10 euros and 52,000 people attended - but the Paris organisers were given millions of euros from the government.

Local Social Forums - outside the UK There are 20 social forums in Paris alone - and 100s in Italy. Below are some examples of what's going on in English-speaking countries.

New York City Social Forum Another City Is Possible: The New York City Social Forum is following in the footsteps of social forums that have taken place in Spain, Mexico, Italy, South Africa, and Brazil, which brought together tens of thousands of people who developed coalitions and networks and shared new ideas to combat the problems faced by the people of the world. The New York City Social Forum is a process of building genuine democracy at the local level, while engaging in global debates and strategizing to overcome international issues.

Toronto Social Forum - launching March 29-30 By "Mobilizing for a Better Toronto and a Better World," hundreds of individuals, students, academics, community activists, free-thinkers, philosophers, and organizations are getting together at the Toronto Social Forum (TSF) to explore concrete alternatives for our communities to corporate globalization. The Toronto Social Forum is an initiative to bring the principles and spirit of the WSF to Toronto. The Social Forum is a space and not an organization or a campaign. It has no particular issues but focuses only on the issues that community groups, NGOs, and social movements think are important. The aim of the TSF is to bring together diverse social justice groups in activity and conversation to develop alternatives and discuss strategies. It tries to link local issues to global issues and in this way participate in the movement to do this," said conference organizer, Ryerson professor, and Alternatives Newspaper columnist Judy Rebick.

Boston Social Forum - launching July 23-25

Just before the Democratic National Convention a coalition of Boston area, progressive community organizations, non-profits, and unions will be hosting what promises to be an exciting event the Boston Social Forum (BSF). A regional forum within the World Social Forum process, the BSF has been called to help progressive activists to begin to answer some very basic questions: What kind of future do we want for Boston? For our region? For our nation? For the world? What is our vision of a better society?

London Social Forum We are a group of individuals, from a variety of backgrounds and a passion for changing the world we live in. We sign this document not in the name of our many political activities, but only in our own names, as we do not represent anything else but ourselves. We all live in London, and we met on many occasions of conviviality and struggles. We all aspire for a new world of justice, freedom and dignity as well as for a new way of making it. Indeed, we regard these aims and means as inseparable. Social fora are not coalitions, understood in the traditional sense of various organizations building an alliance for some pre-given common aim. Social fora are organizational devices that continuously redefine their aims. The people participating are open to learn from each other, to recognize and respect each other, and to put aside disagreements over political/ideological lines. To make our participation meaningful [internationally], we need to have our own experience of local fora, in which we debate and discuss our own problems, in which we discover our own ways to relate to each other, in which we invent our own ways to overcome the compartmentalisation of issues into labour, gender, migrants, environment, youth, poverty, etc. Unlike a delegate conference, social fora are forms of permanent mobilisation, in which the definition of the goals (what we advocate) is continuously redefined and coloured through inclusive and horizontal participation of diverse groups and constituencies. We should be planning how to share visions, ideas, methods of struggles, problems and solutions that we generate here on the ground, receive feedbacks, inspire and be inspired, as part of creating another world that we all believe "is possible

Cardiff Social Forum Cardiff Social Forum was launched out of the South Wales Coalition to Stop The War in May 2003. Modelled on the Italian social forums which built the huge anti-G8 demo in Genoa, it is a network of activists for social justice and against global corporate domination. The forum is a space for debate and education, but also a body which plans actions and organises practical workshops. It is democratic in its methods and open to all individuals and groups who share its aims.

Manchester Social Forum In the the Social Forum we discuss, create and support action against those who protect the interests of multi-national corporations, who exploit and kill people for profit and power, who destroy ancient woodlands and community open spaces, who sell weapons and pretend that their hands are clean. These people are only there because most of us are silent. Manchester Social Forum is a local, grassroots group, practising direct democracy and working on a wide range of issues. Essentially the Social Forum is a space, where people get together. There’s nothing to join. No party politics. Manchester Social Forum has been involved with the campaign to defend the right to protest by supporting the court battle of the M & S picket, KickStart squatted social centre, the locked out Manchester electricians, Nine Ladies anti-quarrying protest. The Social Forum has used street theatre in actions against the occupation of Palestine, and against the erosian of our freedoms and the promotion of a neo-liberal agenda in the creation of the Ministry of Truth. Manchester Social Forum organised actions at the Labour Party Conference this month - see their website for pic

Leeds Social Forum

People in Leeds need an organisation based where we live, work or study, where we can organise to campaign on issues that effect us. To answer this need social forums are springing up across Britain, as part of a growing international movement against a "free-market", profit-driven world. Social forums are open meetings that bring together many different campaigning groups and ordinary people to discuss ideas and organise action. The Leeds Social Forum has just started up and so far involves trade unionists, student campaigners and anti-war activists from several countries who want to build this movement in Leeds. If you are against: The lack of affordable, decent housing and social care; poverty and privatisation; rising taxes and falling pensions and services; racism and war...Then the Leeds Social Forum is the place for you! Whether you are in a community organisation, Trade Union, NGO, anti-racist campaign, or just someone who wants to make a difference, get involved. Leeds social forum is what you make it!

''FAQs from NYC SF's Website - this needs big amends - but a FAQ sheet is a REALLY good idea I think e.g. - what is neo-liberalism wot people keep talking about? i dunno...''

Social Forum frequently asked questions (faq)

What is a "social forum"? A social forum is an open, participatory gathering that brings together a wide variety of people and organizations from a wide variety of struggles to share all sorts of new ideas, as well as organizational skills and techniques. A social forum is really just a simple concept for building sustainable and respectable communications and social connections between diverse groups struggling against exploitation, oppression, capitalism, and the state.

Why is it different from a conference? Social forums are not conferences in the usual sense. Conferences traditionally offer one way communications between "experts" or "specialists" in the fields of scholarship or social struggle- directed primarily at those who care to listen. Conferences have their place within political and social struggles, in that they fulfill much needed theoretical purposes. What a social forum offers instead is a participatory medium of communication between and among diverse and autonomous social movements, (for instance, an anti-gentrification group networking with an anti-eviction group within the same community). There is, of course, always a need for analysis and theoretical investigation, but many social forums have been criticized for an over-emphasis on theory (much of the criticism of the World Social Forum has centered on just this). This concern notwithstanding, for a social forum to truly be "representative" requires a broad enough brush stroke that everyone feels involved (including scholars!), but narrow enough that concrete work gets done, like networking and coalition building.

What’s the difference between a social forum and a community or neighborhood assembly? Not much. Actually, the social forum idea is very similar to the town hall meetings of yesteryear, in that ideally the entire community gets together to discuss problems that that particular community may face, such as police brutality, or garbage disposal, or whatnot. What’s important is that the entire community, from the most active, to the least, are given the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns, to debate and argue viewpoints, and ultimately the freedom to act through coalition with all others within the community.

Why “social” in social forum? Traditionally the realm of “politics”, that is, the area of rule that dictates the terms of decisions based on running for political office or position, has its drawbacks. One is that within politics there exhibit tendencies toward specialization and bureaucratization that increase proportionally to an inverse amount of power ordinary people have. The more “politics” is relegated to “politicians”, the less power real people tend to have. The social forum concept counter poses to this the realm of the “social”, where everyday concerns like housing, fresh water, domestic violence, etc, are concerns for the entire “social” community to discuss and resolve, not reserved for the exclusive realm of politics (and politicians). Therefore, the social forum is a forum where ordinary people (those not particularly tied to the interests of political parties- whether revolutionary of not) can effect, in significant ways, the terms and rules of discussion, agenda, and focus, and ultimately carry out, through cooperation, their own solutions. The social forum concept, like others, assumes that we should have a say in decisions proportional to the amount that that decision will ultimately effect us.

Is the social forum an organization? Not really. A social forum is more like a “coalition of coalitions”, in that many different struggles, and the organizations that participate in them, can “network”, communicate, dialogue, and eventually make common action. What’s this thing about "non-ownership"?

The concept of "non-ownership" implies that no one group or organization can “own” the social forum idea as its central identity ("oh, that’s the social forum group") or even as a group directly connected with it in anything other than a participating way. Rather, the social forum derives its legitimacy from the pluralism and diversity of the participating organizations that actively take part in it. Without this diversity and openness, it’s not a social forum. This may seem difficult (at best) to accomplish, if not conceptualize, but must be stressed in order that specific groups don’t end up “hegemonizing” the concept and reality (and use the idea as currency for its own pursuits) or take a disproportionate amount of credit for its part. This non-ownership of the social forum is what gives it legitimacy in regards to bringing so many different groups together, some of which may be political rivals, or even outright hostile to one another.

What is "cross fertilization"? Social forums offer an opportunity to "cross-fertilize" the experiences of political and social groups that may be struggling simultaneously, even in the same community, but may not know about each other’s existence. These groups can get together, share their experiences, and change one another’s approach to the work they do, without jeopardizing the singular identities of each respective group. Cross fertilization celebrates the diversity, and upholds the autonomy, of the organizations doing the networking, while simultaneously encouraging a sharing and exchanging of skills and experiences in the struggle.

What is pluralism? Pluralism is simply the idea that we all have differing viewpoints on issues and their implications, and it’s a good thing to respect other people’s opinions and suggestions for solutions to what are most certainly common problems. It’s the notion that regardless of the experience you have, or where you’ve been, we all still have much to learn from each other in the struggle. In order for pluralism to work, one has to listen as well as speak.

Do you vote or use "consensus"? Because of the nature of the social forum concept (that of gathering ALL voices of opposition and struggle together) the best way to ensure it’s success is to come to conclusions on common courses of action with a 100% (or very near) agreement. How decisions are made are always predicated on the purpose of coalition in the first place. As for the social forum, since the idea is to facilitate the space for these viewpoints to speak up, decisions need to reflect such purpose. In this way, making decisions on proposals for action require the agreement of all parties involved, otherwise the social forum would not represent the common interest of all, but become a domain of politics and majority rule (and electioneering). Let’s say a decision to have an event is objected to by one particular group. If the rest of the social forum organizing group fails to find common concern and revise its proposal to meet this concern, that particular group will probably end up leaving, and the social forum will have lost one part of the whole (and therefore be less of a social forum).

What is the World Social Forum Charter of Principles? The WSF Charter is a simple document of principles that the WSF International Organizing Committee proposed and the WSF adopted, in April of 2001. It essentially represents “criteria” for participation in the World Social Forum process. However, there really hasn’t been a process by which these criteria are enforced, even if such enforcement were possible. See the full text of this document: http://www.nycsocialforum.org/about_wsf/wsf_charter.html What are the differences between the NYC Social Forum and the WSF? While the World Social Forum has taken on the look and feel of an international event of significant proportions, and has underlined, in many cases, the global “stars” of activism, the NYC Social Forum has focused instead on the grassroots and local struggles right here in NYC, and their connections to global policies. For a more in depth look at the danger of "big", please see http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/wsf/el_foro.htm Hilary Wainwright words [please help/edit (Dave T?) she may want to OK?] Hilary Wainwright describes herself as a socialist feminist and a strong believer in popular democracy combined with parliamentary democracy. She is the editor of Red Pepper, a regular commentator on radio and television, and a contributor to the Guardian. She has been regularly published over the past 20 years; most recently last summer with the book Reclaim the State: Adventures in Popular Democracy.

Hilary is not just a chronicler and commentator however - she has for many years been involved with the extra-parliamentary Left. Hilary worked with the shop stewards collaborating with Tony Benn on alternative industrial policies when he was Industry Minister and also with the Greater London Council's Popular Planning Unit during the Margaret Thatcher years. Hilary is also a fellow of the International Labour Studies Centre at Manchester University, the Change Centre at the Manchester Business School, the Centre for Local Governance at the London School of Economics and the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. She was a founding member of Charter 88 and is on the editorial board of the UK political think tank, The Catalyst Trust.

Extremely relevant to our launch today is that Hilary has been involved with the Social Forum movement since its inception and will be leaving us has to leave us to go to a meeting in Birmingham about the upcoming third edition of the European Social Forum, which will be held in London, in October 2004.

Side Three
This page to be given over entirely to ways in which people can get involved.

"Get Involved..."

Everyone here today will have different levels of commitment - maybe you want to give a lot of time; maybe you just want to be kept informed of the SSF's activities.

Either way, please take time to fill out the feedback form.

How do I get involved?

Step 1: Throw your lot into today! Most of the workshops are designed so that there will be some outcome. There will also be a chance at the end of the day, where we'll be breaking down into small groups to 're-imagine Sheffield'. Keep a note of all of your ideas.

Step 2: Come along to the next planning meeting. If there's some campaign idea that you've got, or another idea appeals to you, the next planning meeting will be the place where the future action of the SSF will begin to be worked out.

Step 3: Sign up to the e-mail discussion list. Here's how...

Side Four (Centrefold)
Programme We could use Dan's chart (see here), obviously with the topics for workshops filled in.

Dave suggests that we have a note here encouraging people to find out about issues they may not immediately be drawn to.

Side Five (Centrefold)
Programme Continued

Side Six
Workshop Details

Side Seven
Workshop Details Continued

Side Eight (Back)
Forum Facts
 * Some interesting bits of information about social forums.

Next steps
 * what we’re doing to ensure that you can stay in touch and have the level of involvement you want; what will happen next (i.e. next planning meeting; contact details etc)

Perhaps we should also have a donation appeal here: "Please note that the Sheffield Social Forum recieves no funding at present, this event is being paid for entirely through personal donations. Your generosity would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you."

Or something else... Add your thoughts here or on the [mailto:sheffieldoscialforum@yahoogroups.com list].

Side One
About you. Should include the following:
 * Name
 * postal address
 * phone number – home/work/mobile
 * e-mail address work
 * e-mail address personal
 * preferred way of contacting (box?)
 * we should say explicitly given at will and not passed on to other orgs (there is a legal data protection act (DP) thing here which I have a friend/colleague who knows all about if you/we don’t and can find out re: all this stuff)

Plus some dreamspace (Future vision of Sheffield):
 * What I love about Sheffield is:
 * What I would love to see in Sheffield is:

Side Two
About the event. Should include the following (scale of happy to unhappy on a 4 point scale – great, *satisfactory, not good, no opinion?):
 * how convenient venue
 * how good facilitation
 * food
 * other facilities
 * keynote speaker
 * workshops 1/2/3 (please state workshop)
 * plenary (or other name – as per agenda)
 * comments for each and general comments section

Indymedia: Don't hate the media, be the media!
Indymedia is a collective of independent media organisations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth. It grew from a single website in 1999 to a huge network of sites across the world. There are currently about over 100 local Independent Media Centers around the world, and more on the way. In essence it is an alternative news website for people fed up with the mainstream news and its corporate bias, misreporting, censorship and omissions.

Sheffield Indymedia (http://sheffield.indymedia.org.uk/) was set up one year ago to provide a space for local people and groups to report on the issues affecting our community. As with all other Independant Media Centres, the content of the Sheffield Indymedia website is created through a system of open publishing: anyone can upload a written, audio and video report or a picture directly to the site through an openly accessible web interface. This is very easy to do and easy to follow instructions are provided on the website. It is simply a case of typing in your news to a form provided on the website and hitting the 'publish' button and in a short space of time you will see it appear on the Newswire!

Publish your news today at the SSF launch event
The Sheffield Indymedia Lab at the Sheffield Social Forum launch event is there to indroduce you to our website, to show you how to load your news on to the site and understand more about the concept of grassroots participatory media and the radical software behind the network. Come along and visit the lab, and let us help you publish your news on what is happening in our community or in your local organisation. Alternatively use this insert to write a story and let us publish it for you. But remember, Indymedia is about news and not just for the promotion of local groups.

[Elements lifted from the Indymedia Handbook (pdf)]