Dispatches from Detroit, parte dos

This is a continuation of my previous post - a thunderstorm apparently moved up from Indiana and discouraged me from trying to go anywhere tonight, so lots of time for blogging. I attended two sessions today, both relating to organizing. The first was Strengthening Organizing in Asian Communities. Half the presentation was in Mandarin Chinese, with continuous translation the whole time between Mandarin and English. We started off with some small group introductions, and I have to admit I was proud when we broke into small groups by region and the West Coast had more people than all the other regions combined—proof that it is, indeed, the best coast.

Dispatches from Detroit, part 1

Hello friends! After an action-packed two days here in Detroit I’ve finally found a minute to sit down and ponder my first experiences here. Yesterday left me feeling a bit disoriented after the early-morning drive up here followed by an orientation meeting for the research team and then wandering in the Detroit sun (Midwestern summer, such a delight) for a few hours before catching the tail end of the opening march, which was quite a sight for sore eyes. The constant mainstream media coverage of Tea Partiers and their attempts to pass off their largely corporate and GOP-backed shenanigans (documented in a nice piece over at The Exiled here and another at AlterNet here) as real grassroots activism had left me fearful of what I might find when I returned from South America last month. Suffice to say that the sight of thousands of people (estimates range from 10,000-30,000) converging in Detroit to share experiences, knowledge, and passions; strategize; build coalitions; and generally take to the streets for some good-old fashioned agitating—all for any progressive cause imaginable—was a much-needed antidote.

Opening Ceremonies

The journey began at 6:30AM Tuesday morning as we piled into two minivans and headed on our way to the Motor City, site of the 2010 US Social Forum. Upon arrival we wasted no time in getting involved as we held our initial collaboration meeting with the UC Riverside and our other counterparts. The central message of our group's first meeting challenged my past research experiences. Being a science major, and participating in chemistry research over the last year, I am quite used to the "white lab-coat" approach to research in which one is totally removed from what he or she is observing. For our team to accomplish its mission at the USSF this week I will need to remove this typical attitude and immerse myself within the experiment. I can no longer attain my status as a neutral, unattached observer, because I do have political interests and passions that I will attempt to take a stance on in Detroit, while becoming more enlightened about the issues from the many grassroots groups in the process. Our research collaboration, like the USSF itself, aims to better grasp the totality of the various social movements that are occurring all around us. Being an active participant will help me better understand whether the USSF is a table for progress to be made, or if it is developing into an organization with particular views and reputations. Either way a common theme to look for this week will be the emphasis the forum places on the intentionality of hearing other voices that have, in the past, lacked a voice. Off to the opening ceremony march... more to come later.