The US Social Forum kicked off yesterday with DIA literally in the house. The locals here call it the 'Civic Center' and it’s where an estimated 10,000 activists, organizers and revolutionary tourists will be spending part of the next few days. Among them yours truly and Kip Williams, on a mission to spread the gospel of online organizing as a powerful agent of change. Kip spent the morning helping with registration, a process that could have been a disaster. But it wasn’t! Key members of the Information & Communication Technology team, including Ana Willem, made sure that all went well. Here and there he still had a chance to make beautiful music ... Most of my day was spent sitting at the DIA table and talking to folks about technology. I’ve been able to meet some great folks: a Hawai'i native scholar and activist, AFSC folks who work on Africa issues, and one of April's old teachers the Friends World College. (Kathleen says hello!)
Charles holding up the Technology for Another World, the publication of the tech committee at the USSF. The energy highlight of the day was a march for economic human rights through downtown Atlanta. Despite the Atlanta heat, folks were in good spirits and happy to start off 5 days of workshops and meetings with a real live protest. As the slogan goes, "get off the internet – I’ll see you in the streets!"