A very important meeting for labour and
social movements is taking place from August 21-24th in Ottawa. The People’s Social Forum (PSF)
expects to attract 10,000 activists from across the country and will host
hundreds of workshops over a four day period. As the Forum itself says, “the
PSF is an inclusive space that must be occupied by all people and activist
organizations convinced that another Canada is not only possible, but
above all, necessary”.
With the economic and environmental crisis
raging across Canada,
and Federal elections taking place next year, there is no better time for a
mass meeting like this. The recent mass mobilizations of social movements
(namely the Occupy movement in 2011, the Quebec Student Strike in 2012 and Idle
No more in 2012-2013) the decisive drift right of the principle party of social
democracy in Canada, and a renewed interest in labour militancy (as seen in the
recent elections at the CLC) will no doubt be discussed in depth at the
conference.
The caucus structure of PSF organizing is designed to encourage the
democratic participation of Original Peoples, youth, labour, people of colour,
people with disabilities and women. The local organizing committees are working
to ensure the broadest possible mobilization for the Forum in communities
across Canada.
