March 2005

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

From the Editor's Desk

Nora Cortiñas from Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (right) and other demonstrators at the 60th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF, Washington DC, April 2004. Photo: Orin Langelle/Global Justice Ecology Project (www.globaljusticeecology.org)

Around the world and especially in the global South, activists are pushing forward with new determination and clarity, and they are fundamentally changing the movements of which they are a part. In December 2004, participants at the Africa Social Forum in Zambia denounced the ways that "re-colonization" -- perpetrated by international financial institutions and abetted, in many cases, by African governments and elites -- is killing people. Mandisa Mbali and Amanda Alexander report that these same participants also challenged the power dynamics and the structures of the Forum itself. For instance, AIDS activists and others told presenters who spoke for "engaging" with the World Bank that they were out of step with the majority of those in attendance, who were ready to shut the Bank down. Feminists (as feminists will do) rearranged chairs into a circle and made sure every member of that circle could be heard -- an exercise which produced some of the gathering's only concrete plans of action. Mbali and Alexander raise up a stirring vision of new analyses and strategies to reclaim the continent's physical and political resources. To help us understand the international context for this struggle, we draw on an update from the 50 Years is Enough network on proposals being considered by the world's richest nations for partial or total global debt relief.

Many activists at the Africa gathering made clear that to be relevant for them, the Social Forums need to take action, not just to provide a "space" for discussion. This presaged a major question raised at the World Social Forum, held in Brazil the following month. Arnie Alpert, who attended as a water activist, shows us the real progress that can be made through the global, grassroots, face-to-face organizing that the WSF allows. He also tells us about the growing movement to make more cohesive use of the power these gatherings generate.

Here North America, Noah Merrill reports that United for Peace and Justice, the largest US peace coalition, has renewed energy and a sharpened vision: its sole priority for the next two years is to bring the troops home from Iraq, but its strategy is to spread out, uniting the struggle against that war with those campaigns already underway in our communities against racism, poverty, and the erosion of services and civil liberties. On March 19 and 20, hundreds of thousands across the US and around the world will join in diverse actions to mark the second anniversary of the war in Iraq, calling with one voice for its immediate end.

Joe Gerson gives a useful overview of the current, high-stakes fight to preserve the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), the last major remaining international treaty restraining worldwide nuclear escalation. On May 1, ambassadors from the nations of the world will gather at the UN for the "NPT Review Conference," and we must be right there with them. Plan now to bring everyone you know to New York.

Need examples and suggestions from other activists as you plan your own actions? Check out Steve Clemens' report on his group's successful use of an international law defense in two civil disobedience cases, and read Katya Komisaruk's practical advice on "jail and court solidarity" for activists arrested together. As April approaches, we also offer reports and inspiration from tax resisters and an alternative income tax return you can use (whether you send in all, part, or none of your tax payments) to register your dismay at military spending and your support for a national Peace Tax Fund.

There is plenty to do, as always. But there are plenty of us to do it! There are young activists with energy, skills, and a vibrant commitment to change, like the new generation of anti-landmine activists featured in this issue. And there are those we have lost but who inspire us still. Marking, this month, the 25th anniversary of the assassination of El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero, people find new ways to fulfill his vision of resurrection. The courageous and always eloquent Ossie Davis has died, but Harry Belafonte reminds us that like so many who have come before, he has left us the tools we need to carry on his work, and the challenge of his example. Having witnessed a life lived so fully and generously, Belafonte reminds us, "We can never say, 'we do not know how.'"

-- Sara Burke, Co-editor

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