View from the People's Media Center of the US Social Forum

I had hoped to be able to blog more from the US Social Forum, but as a member of the Communications Working Group and the Documentation and Evaluation Committee, I was busy behind the scenes. In addition to coordinating a team of students from around the country who were helping document the participants and the more than 1000 workshops and cultural activities taking place during the Forum's five days, I helped produce the USSF newspaper and support the communications effort of the US Social Forum.

The People's Media Center provided a large space for both movement and professional media makers to do their work. It contained a press briefing room where groups could hold press conferences and where reporters could get the latest updates on Forum activities. And throughout the week one could see crews using the spaces reserved for recording live audio interviews and film.
The incredible team of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) volunteers set up banks of computers for people to upload photos and video and to post stories on the activities at the Forum. They also provided USSF participants with ready access to internet contact throughout Cobo Hall and other USSF spaces. It was incredible to see the intensity and tireless dedication of the tech volunteers, who built "tech house" in an old warehouse in Detroit's Eastern Market.

The PMC was a rather unique space in that it was a democratic media space. The USSF did not issue press passes or provide special access to media professionals. Organizers of the Forum stressed that we need activists to "become the media" and to innovate new ways of communicating to diverse publics and communities. This strategy emerges from the recognition that mainstream media is owned and operated by the corporations which benefit from the global economic and political order we are working to change. They're not likely, therefore, to report on our movements in an unbiased and truthful way--and indeed, for the most part they have ignored the massive grassroots movements that have been mobilizing in recent years.

While the mainstream corporate media was not very present at the USSF, alternative media--including Free Speech TV, Democracy Now, and a variety of international news and movement sources recognized the USSF as a newsworthy event. Detroit's local media also deployed many reporters throughout the week, recognizing --as did many of my Detroit-based co-organizers -- that nothing like this has happened in Detroit for a very very long time. I was able to give a few live radio interviews during the week, and include some links below.

 Radio Mundo in Uruguay --reported on the USSF and activists who traveled from Detroit to the G20 meeting in Toronto, which took place at the same time as the USSF. My interview appears at about 22 minutes.

Please also go to the following site for more links to news reports on the USSF:

http://www.ussf2010.org/newsarchive