Reflections on 1st Border Social Forum

La llegada
The journey of 35 members of SWU to the Border Social Forum in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico came to a grinding halt when our charter bus broke down at mile 231 along I-10 west at 3:30am. For those unfamiliar with west Texas, this essential means we were in the absolute middle of nowhere. Chilled by the cool dry air under the starry night, we waited with tumble weeds, coyote howling and the soothing sound of passing diesel trucks. We watched the sun rise, still no one came. Eventually an ambulance went by acting on a report that a drunk diabetic bus driver was passed out at the steering wheel. While the driver was completely useless (bus is still broken down), he was awake and functioning. At 10:30am, there were no vans, buses or repairmen in a 150 mile radius. Facing near hopelessness, salvation came in the form of a large white bus. Responding to our erradatic arm movements, the driver actually pulled over. As we arrived running to the door, it opened with a smoothness one would associate with a spaceship. Joyous screams followed his agreement to take us to El Paso. 10 hours later, we saw the broken arrow (our bus) fade away as the San Antonio delegation was once again on the road.

El Foro
The Border Social Forum served as a open space to converge social justice organizations from both sides of the border to discuss how to improve the region on both sides. Hosted in Ciudad Juarez, this border city of many millions is a modern day neoliberal experiment, plagued by extreme violence and poverty. Far away from both DC and DF (Mexico City), the border and its communities face increasing attacks, militarization and is the newest front on the 'war against terror.' To counteract these trends, grassroots leaders came to discuss themes like migration, women, worker justice and indigenous rights. From Latin America to the US South to New York, representatives flocked to Juarez. Throughout the forum there were 100s of workshops, panels and films organized and attended by over 90 organizations and 750 delegates. SWU and its members organized a workshops of Living Wage, Migrant Rights, Black-Brown Alliance Building and Climate Justice. SWU's own member's band, Time of the Month, performed live. The forum was funded and coordinated by volunteers and organizers from both sides of the border from food to transportation to progrmas. We made it possible and endless thanks goes out to all the supporters of the event.

La Marcha
The energy of the forum was carried to the streets on Saturday evening. Occupying the streets of downtown, hundreds marched to drum beats demanding to 'tear down the border walls.' SWU marched in style with our red shirts carrying the same message. Arriving at the International Bridge, that once passed over the flowing Rio Grande River, we took it over to give statements and demands for a just and dignified border.

Shout Outs
Many thanks to SWOP for transporting us, Cipri for letting us take over her house and office, Carlos & Blanca for their endless support, Lara for all her energy and patience, Antonio at UACJ for his late nights and dedication, Gero & Lalas for the website coordination, all the translators, and everyone who volunteered to pull this event together.

Media
The forum also showed that another media is possible. Radio Bemba, Radio Bilingue, Pacifica Radio and Indymedia all produced live broadcasts and provided constant feeds about the forum. Media from Telesur (Venezuela), Sweden and across the US documented the event. Local residents established a pirate radio station so all the Juarez could listen to the happenings and constantly updated the website. Check out some of the links below, both indy and mainstream media coverage...

Indy
RadioBemba, Radio Bilingue, Houston IndyMedia, Pacifica Radio, SWOPblogger, Ciranda, Narco News, No Racism.net

News Articles
Cimac Noticias: 1
Corrientes Noticias: 1
El Diario (Juarez): 1, 2, 3, 4
El Diario CoLatino: 1, 2
El Manana de Matamoros: 1
El Provenir: 1
El Sol de Mexico: 1
Granma: 1, 2, 3, 4
International Herald Tribune: 1
La Opcion de Chihuahua: 1
La Prensa Latina: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
People's Daily Online (China): 1
Por Esto: 1
Pulsar: 1
Tiempo: 1
Universal: 1, 2
Univision: 1