Atlanta, historic seat of the Civil Rights movement and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, played host last week to the first-ever United States Social Forum. Atlanta is a city not unfamiliar to the CIW and SFA, and not only for the visits made there on several Truth Tours -- connecting the ongoing struggle for civil rights in the US to today's movement for human rights in the fields -- but also because Atlanta was the site of the CIW's victory in the McDonald's campaign just a few months ago.

And they don't call it "Hotlanta" for nothing. On the USSF's opening day, thousands poured into the streets under the sweltering sun for a huge, celebratory opening march. While most CIW members can be found laboring under an equally hot summer sun in states outside of Florida at this time of year, a few intrepid members together with friends from SFA and Interfaith Action made their way to ATL and the USSF.

On the first day of workshops, an increasingly familiar sight: an overflowing crowd showed up to hear the latest news on the Campaign for Fair Food at the CIW workshop. CIW members as well as allies from SFA and IA discussed the growing campaign against Burger King and how people can take action for Fair Food in their own communities.

At the workshop, CIW member Norberto Jimenez described a farmworker's daily experience of strenuous work in horrible conditions for sub-poverty wages and its connection to fast-food profits...

...while across town, Lucas Benitez of the CIW shared thoughts on the CIW's non-hierarchical, popular-education-based organizing philosophy and methods with a packed ballroom of organizers at the "Another Politics is Possible" workshop (Click here to listen to a recording of the session). CIW/SFA had the privilege of co-sponsoring this session and an accompanying "track" at he USSF, along with such organizations as LA Garment Workers Center - INCITE! - Left Turn - Sista II Sista - Center 4 Immigrant Families - Regeneración Childcare NYC - Harm Free Zone - Catalyst Project - Sisterfire.

We look forward to collaborating further with these great organizations in the future and advancing our shared visions of liberation...

Speaking of shared visions, and shared struggles, Veronica Ramirez of the CIW sat on this panel with participants in the National Gathering of Domestic/Household Workers taking place at the USSF. These courageous and powerful women shared their experiences with "organizing in the shadows of slavery" -- Domestic workers, like farmworkers, are excluded from many basic protections and rights such as the right to overtime pay and the right to organize and, also like farmworkers, many times find themselves in the most extreme violation of their human rights as workers -- modern-day slavery.

A special shout-out goes to our new friends from Domestic Workers United...

CIW and SFA participated in a number of other panels, including ones with small farmers from around the world and the US affected by free trade agreements, and one with allies from the Poor Peoples' Economic Human Rights Campaign on on the fight for fair wages and economic rights.

Of course, no large gathering of social justice organizers would be complete without an action. So, together with the aforementioned PPEHRC, we hit the still-steaming streets Friday afternoon for a spirited march to Coca-Cola headquarters to protest that corporation's complicity with human rights violations in its supply chain (sound familiar?).

The march briefly stopped at a downtown Burger King, where CIW members riled up the crowd and promised that the Campaign for Fair Food would continue until the slogan on this sign becomes reality.

Saturday night, the CIW was joined on a major plenary session on "workers' rights in a global economy" by speakers from Jobs with Justice, SEIU, the National Day Laborers Network, Domestic Workers United, and the AFL-CIO.

Audience members were given the chance to let Burger King know how they feel about their refusal to work with the CIW to improve wages and working conditions for farmworkers as CIW members and allies distributed Burger King postcards to all those in attendance...

...and mailed over 600 of them -- addressed to the Burger King CEO at BK headquarters in Miami -- the next day as we headed home. (Contact us for your own BK postcards and organizing materials!)

And so we bid ATL and the USSF a fond farewell, taking with us new friendships and allies and new insights into our work and its connection to larger realities and movements - like this gathering that brought together young organizers from SFA, USAS, SLAP, and other organizations. As in the Taco Bell and McDonald's campaigns, youth and students organizing alongside farmworkers will continue to help forge another world and another US, one victory at a time...