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| Volume 11, No. 49 |
September 1-7, 2010 |
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| | To Detroit!: Show benefits El Paso activists headed to national Forum | | By Meagan O’Toole-Pitts | | The El Paso downtown music scene has an agenda – literally. Socially conscious performers will play at The Tap Saturday night to raise money to send community activists to the second annual United States Social Forum in Detroit.
“The forum represents people who want to manifest their vision of the change that needs to happen, and people on border need to be represented,” said singer and guitarist Suzie Aquilina. “Our music tells a story about the border, about the oppression here on the border, and how we should do something about it.”
Aquilina’s group, a duo called Suzie and Joel, will join a lineup that includes La Morra Maliya, La Familia, Chrissy Gurrola and the Infiltrators. The donation-based fundraiser will feature an eclectic mix of reggae, regional indie and folk music. As a part of the event, fire dancers will perform at Aztec Calendar Park.
“The fundraiser … will not only help raise funds for participants to attend, but we also aim to bringing awareness of the U.S. Social Forum,” said El Paso USSF delegation organizer Monica Garcia. “It’s important to our communities and getting people excited about joining the caravan to Detroit.”
The forum is the community-based equivalent of the G8 Summit, Garcia said, providing a place for communities across the nation to come together to resolve social inequities.
“The Social Forum came about because governments were not listening to their people. The richest industrialized nations gather in closed meetings at the G8 Summit and discuss economic expansion, poverty, globalization, health, natural resources and the environment – and only the richest nations get to participate,” Garcia said. “At the community level we felt a need to develop our own summit, which would focus on the same issues, but as a movement building alternatives and shifting the power paradigm from the bottom up. And these alternatives are focused on the people and against neo-liberal patterns of economic growth, issues like environmental justice and sustainability, labor and worker disparities, queer rights, gender justice and militarism.”
The USSF forum is an outlet for serious talk about ways to fight oppressive policies, said Detroit USSF Organizer William Copeland.
“The US Social Forum’s major political stance is to be a people’s response to globalization and neo-liberal (neocolonial) economic policies. It does not advocate a single position, but is a space for civil society to share experiences and devise common strategies,” Copeland said. “In Detroit we have emphasized leadership of impoverished (underdeveloped) communities with a special focus on communities of color.”
About 25,000 people are hoped to attend USSF 2010, June 22-26, more than twice the number of participants from the previous year.
El Paso groups Students for Sensible Drug Policy, UTEP Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MECHA), MUSSA (Mujeres Unidas Supporting Society through Art) and Colectivo El Ahuizote will collaborate with other community leaders at the forum to better the borderland.
“The militarization of both sides of the border needs to be discussed. The militarization of Juarez and the violence it has perpetuated affects everyone,” Garcia said. “The increase in poverty on both sides of the border because of NAFTA, has maintained people on both sides without a living wage. El Paso sits as the fourth poorest city in the nation according to the U.S. Census and this is something to be addressed at a global scale.”
The forum in Detroit begins with a demonstrative march and features hundreds of workshops from community organizations.
USSF participants put words into action in a number of ways, Garcia said.
“Community members and organizations create community gardens to sustain themselves. They create alternatives to what is in place systematically,” Garcia said. “There are workshops on creating your own media and radio programs to counter how the framing industry is manipulated. Folks use renewable energy, alternative transportation, and film and music to communicate the issues.”
The USSF is open to anyone. For information about the USSF visit ussf2010.org.
Corrections: The print edition of this story incorrectly refers to the G8 Summit as the Global Accounts (GA) Summit. It also incorrectly states that the acronym MUSSA stood for Mujeres Unidas Supporting Society, when it stands for Mujeres Unidas Supporting Society through Art. We apologize for the errors.
US Social Forum fundraiser
With fire dancers and music by La Morra Maliya,
La Familia, Suzie and Joel, Chrissy Gurrola and the Infiltrators
The Tap, 400 E. San Antonio St.
Saturday, March 13, 10 p.m.
Donations requested
Comments or questions about this story? E-mail Secret@whatsuppub.com
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