Changes between Version 3 and Version 4 of ussf_npc_position_paper


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Timestamp:
Nov 25, 2011, 7:06:11 PM (14 years ago)
Author:
alfredo
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  • ussf_npc_position_paper

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    33A) What impact did the USSF process have on your organization or sector, or on organization's you affiliate with that develop and/or support social movement building? What relationships did you develop that support your work, sector or the building of our social movement?
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    5 The impact was inestimable. We greatly enhanced our network, recruited at least a score of new members,
    6 and broadened the discussion of the political issues we consider important and our response to them. Our work at USSF drove our entry into World Social Forum work which links to our other International work.
     5The impact was inestimable. We greatly enhanced our network, recruited at least a score of new members, and broadened the discussion of the political issues we consider important and our response to them. Our work at USSF drove our entry into World Social Forum work which links to our other International work and enormously raised our profile within progressive movements world-wide, especially here in the United States.
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    8 Among the most important outcomes was the many relationships we developed on the NPC and its related work groups. This draws the map for a lot of the work we've been doing currently in MF/PL.
     7Among the most important outcomes was the many relationships we developed on the NPC and its related work groups. This draws the map for a lot of the work we've been doing currently in MF/PL. Additionally, the experience allowed us to broaden and strengthen our own technologist working group (within MF/PL) which is fundamental to our organization's ongoing work.
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    … …  
    1312externally and internally as well as the most vibrant social movements of this moment (i.e., fronts of struggle).
    1413
    15 We see the entire world in obvious forward motion and have always believed that the Internet is proof of this forward motion as a community or movement created by humanity. The economic crisis has bankrupted the social and political structures that run the world and gives humanity an ultimatum to either move forward or face greater crisis. The human race is responding through several strategic reactions.
     14We see the entire world in obvious forward motion and have always believed that the Internet is proof of this forward motion as a community or movement created by humanity. The economic crisis has bankrupted the social and political structures that run the world and gives humanity an ultimatum to either move forward or face greater crisis. War, blanketing much of the world, has proven completely incapable of improving humanity's life. All the traditional institutions of governance, communications and law have clearly defaulted and many are completely broken.
    1615
     16The human race is responding through several strategic reactions. At this point, the most visible are many powerful popular demonstrations and "uprising" ("revolutions" in the parlance of the participants). This forest fire of popular movements, reminiscent of the world-wide movement of youth struggle in 1968 - 1970, is an obvious first step in major and potentially tumultuous mass movements challenging the world's structures of power. There are other companion developments -- the axis of progressive governments in Latin America, the Climate Change movement, the world-wide movement of Indigenous peoples -- that precede these popular uprisings and, in the long term, may actually enter into coordination with them.
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     18We are in a period when communication among movements is essential and that's why our organization is about.
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    1920C) The 2007 and 2010 USSF brought many attendees, some for the first time and others to a more in-depth
    … …  
    2324How do we then connect in meaningful ways to grassroots struggles inside and outside of the US?
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     26We think the USSF already connects with all kinds of grassroots struggles and we think it already plays the role of "gathering place" for these movements. That's its role: a place to come together periodically with a very strong agenda of interactions. The last USSF was so much more politically developed than the first one that it proves the importance of the Social Forum in this country.
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     28Outside the US, the Social Forum should participate in the development of the "border challenge" Social Forum movement -- a movement that refuses to recognize the artificial borders that divide us.
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    2530D) As the nation approaches critical elections in 2012, how can the USSF separate itself from traditional
    2631bourgeois understandings of social change (i.e. demands for reform rather than transformation of the
    … …  
    2934what should the Social Forum’s relationship be to the 2012 electoral process?
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     36It should steer clear of all elections. Electoral work, while an acceptable tactic in the eyes of many, is not a unifying concept for the Social Forum movement and, when not place appropriately in the politics of an organization, it can drain resources, raise false expectations and allow the ruling class to define the parameters of the political discourse. That's one of the lessons we can draw from the Obama candidacy/Presidency. People should work around elections; the USSF let people use its lists, etc. But nothing more.
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    3138E) How has your understanding of the role of the National Planning Committee (NPC) changed over time?
    3239What alterations should it undergo as a national planning body for the USSF? What is your understanding of
    3340the NPC's relationship to the PMA (Peoples Movement Assembly) process? How can the NPC be a better
    3441vehicle to support social movement work?
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     43The NPC should set the dates for the Social Forums, make the arrangements and make sure everything is secure and efficient. That has been its traditional role and should be moving into the proximate future. We believe the PMA is a highly dynamic and significant contribution US
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    3645F) Lastly, the big one...is it time to start a discussion about a 3rd USSF, which would include talks about what
    3746should be changed and why? What form might a 3rd USSF take (regional, national), and why? What criteria
    3847might we discuss and list to help guide any discussions about if, when, and where?
     48F