People’s Social Forum, Ottawa August 21-24!

In case you haven’t heard, the People’s Social Forum — part of the global movement of social forums that have emerged at different levels since the first World Social Forum (WSF) was held in Porto Alegre (Brazil) in January 2001 — will be happening in Ottawa from August 21-24, i.e. next week!

The Social Forum will be centered at the University of Ottawa, but will also include events happening throughout the city. There are over 400 workshops planned (!) as well as marches, films, book and magazine launches, and all of the informal and spontaneous things that will happen at this kind of event.

It promises to be one of the largest and broadest left gatherings in canada for some time, and we will be there, tabling with books from Kersplebedeb and numerous other radical publishers (PM Press, AK Press, Haymarket, City Lights, Arsenal Pulp, etc.). Come by and say hello, and check out our books, in the Jock Turcot University Centre (UCU), 1st floor

yeah, where our tables will be is the building in red…

There is an overwhelming amount of stuff planned as part of the social forum, but a few things i would especially like to call attention to are the Migrant Justice stream of workshops, films, dialogues and assemblies being coordinated by the No One Is Illegal | Personne n’est illégal | Nadie es ilegal from Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver (Coast Salish Territories) and other migrant justice organizers; and Saturday the book launch of JMP’s The Communist Necessity (hot off the presses from Kersplebedeb!) followed later that evening by film screenings and a launch of the latest issue of Upping the Anti.

Beyond that, some anarchists have organized for there to be an “Anarchy Camp” in the days before the social forum (Aug. 18-20) and have put together an analysis of why they feel anarchists should participate in the PSF. As part of this, the same group has also assembled “A List of Skill-shares, Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Colonial, Anti-Authoritrian, and Anti Oppressive Workshops” and of “Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Solidarity Workshops”.

For more information about the Social Forum, check out their website or else download their programme in english or french.