Activism Lives! (maybe)

When the Harvard Social Forum (HSF) was conceived last March, its founders did not expect it to outlive its first weekend. As far as they were concerned, the organization would begin and end with a massive three-day retreat; seminars on activism would be held, workshops teaching political involvement attended and progressive speeches delivered and that would be that.

Indeed, that conference was the Forum until its creators got ambitious and decided to convert it into a full-time student group coalition. They would appeal to every relevant student group on campus and encourage them to pool their resources—connecting their leaders so they could work more cooperatively for their various social justice causes. By the end of last school year, the Forum had organized a massive labor rally in the Yard and, just a few weeks ago, they hosted an Alternative Activities Fair.

With about 20 groups signed on as allies, the HSF coalition functions as the United Nations of all political, cultural and “socially conscious” organizations on campus. Its principals — Rachel Bolden-Kramer ’06, Michael Gould-Wartofsky ’07 and Aaron Tanaka ’04 — are in the midst of securing a house at 45 Mt. Auburn Street, and in addition to another school-wide conference this spring, they are planning to host regular “alternative parties,” open mics and “weekly speakouts” and a self-produced ’zine called the Disorientation Guide featuring articles by members of the Forum.

They’re budding in all directions, in other words, but according to Gould-Wartofsky, their future lies in the Mt. Auburn house, a former fraternity purchased by the Foundation for Civic Leadership that the Forum has been using since they started working together. If the house comes through—Gould-Wartofsky would not comment on how likely that is at this point—it would unite the groups in the Forum in a much more palpable way. After all, the coalition’s roster, which features everybody from the Harvard Initiative for Peace & Justice and the Harvard Progressive Advocacy Group to CityStep and the Socialist Alternative, is extremely diverse and somewhat disjointed. Their goals are obviously all different, Gould-Wartofsky admits, but on a greater scale, they are all after change—and the Forum allows them to help each other and share their resources.

This is no rival to Phillips Brooks House. Rather, it is a meeting place for the Harvard left, and its growing momentum suggests that Crimson activism is hardly a dream of the “Red Square” past. Forum organizers imagine that when one group stages a protest, other members will help out, adding manpower and faces to the movement. That could mean the average living-wage protest along Mass Ave might have dozens rather than a handful of marchers—and it might even make more noise than a Lyndon LaRouche demonstration.

Meanwhile, the coalition is starting to look rather like its own student group. Already its most involved members have split off into various working groups called caucuses, and each of them has a pocketful of ideas for the upcoming year. The Arts Collective, for example, might be putting a “perpetual piece of art” somewhere on campus that people could add to as they walked by, while the Education Committee organizes training sessions on activism for democracy, racial equality and alternative schooling. The Social Committee will be organizing parties, musical events, as well as an upcoming film series to be shown at 45 Mt. Auburn Street.

The Forum has also erected a Coordinating Committee, which will decide which groups the coalition wants in its fold and which causes it will endorse. The Committee is open to everybody, and there is no power hierarchy—but leaders do still emerge because they simply spend more time there than anyone else, Gould-Wartofsky says.

“It’s not a platform,” Gould-Wartofsky says, explaining that although HSF as a whole does take political positions on certain issues, the satellite groups are not necessarily part of the endorsement. People do disagree, he says, and HSF’s support of a cause never implies broader member-group support.

Still, social justice remains the Forum’s guiding focus and raison d’être.

“This may be the most powerful of Universities, but for a long time it’s denied workers and students the power of each other,” Gould-Wartofsky says. “We’re building a different kind of power with HSF. This is possibly the most democratic place you’ll find at Harvard. We also just have more fun.”

Harvard Social Forum: participating groups

Association of Black Harvard Women

Asian American Association

Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender & Supporters Alliance

Black Students Association Political Action Committee

CityStep

Coalition Against Sexual Violence

FirstYear Urban Program

Harvard AIDS Coalition

Harvard College Democrats

Harvard Fair Trade Initiative

Harvard Initiative for Peace & Justice

Harvard Progressive Advocacy Group

Perspective Magazine

Progressive Jewish Alliance

Progressive Student Labor Movement

Radcliffe Union of Students

Socialist Alternative

Society of Arab Students

Spoken Word Society

Students for Choice