Looking Forward to the European Social Forum
In July 2007 a United to End Racism (UER) delegation participated in the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The reports from that event and from similar events that happened earlier, beginning with the first UER delegation to Durban, South Africa, in 2001, have been inspiring and encouraging.
United to End Racism projects have been wonderful opportunities for us as RCers to reach out to activists, share our perspective on how crucial eliminating racism is for changing the world, and offer our tools to people who are already passionate about world change.
The double focus of (1) reaching people, "going public," and being influential and (2) becoming experts in talking about what we know, including the need for discharge if changes in people's minds and organisations are going to be sustainable, has proven effective. We have connected well with other people, developed our leadership and Communities, and moved our individual re-emergence forward.
We will now send a UER delegation to the upcoming European Social Forum in Malmoe, Sweden, in September 2008. I will lead the delegation of twenty people who are from several European countries. It will include black people and white people, younger and older people, women and men. Diane Shisk,* widely experienced in leading UER delegations, will be at my side and will lead a two-day RC workshop for our delegation prior to the forum.
About twenty thousand people will be attending the forum. We UER delegates will be visible, hopeful, and powerful. It will be a great opportunity for us to grow and re-emerge together. My goal is for us to get to know as many people as possible, be as bold and public as possible, and reach out to people in our own activist organisations so that they will have a good picture of what RC has to offer.
I expect us to work hard and enjoy knowing that we are in this together, that we have each other, and that we can model what we stand for: United to End Racism!
Susanne Langer
Regional Reference Person for Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark