The context was very favorable. The Maple Spring had just taken place in Quebec, and young people were still strongly mobilized. The Idle No More aboriginal movement had rekindled First Nations resistance to pipeline projects crossing (and destroying) their ancestral territories. Labour organizations feared the repressive measures that the re-election of an ultra-neoliberal Conservative party would bring in its wake. The result exceeded all expectations as more than 6,000 people from across Canada took part in the multiple workshops, conferences and assemblies of this social forum held in Ottawa from August 21 to 24, 2014. Fourteen months later, Harper was defeated in the general election. The PSF was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the many contributors to this federal Conservative defeat.

Without false modesty, the PSF initiative came from Alternatives, which drew on the prestige of the Social Forums process amongst social movements in Quebec to launch the idea right here in Montreal and form the first organizing nucleus, which met on its premises. From this solid base in Quebec, the idea spread to Ottawa and Toronto, west to Vancouver and east to Halifax. A huge asset was the unwavering support of Quebec’s central labour bodies and the participation of large pan-Canadian unions covering nearly all sectors of the working population. Together, these unions financed the event and gave it a solid organizational framework.

What relevance does this event, held over ten years ago, have for us today? We’re facing far more dramatic challenges than in 2014: the neoliberal crisis has mutated into a polycrisis where ecological, social, geostrategic and political dimensions collide. Skyrocketing social inequalities combine with multiple wars, sometimes genocidal as in Gaza, and increasingly severe climatic disasters to create a feeling of insecurity and real political decay. This is reflected in the rise of the extreme right, with its trail of xenophobia, racism, hatred and multiple phobias. And it’s literally at our doorstep, with a belligerent Trump 2.0 in the south and an almost triumphant Poilièvre in Ottawa.

More than ever, we need to unite social movements against rotting neoliberalism and the rising far right. Let the success of FSP 2014 serve as our inspiration.

Roger Rashi

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