15,000 people lined the streets, crowding over and under the underpass in front of us, nearly surrounding the small police escort sent to accompany us through downtown Quito. The rainbow of nationalities in the crowd nearly matched the multitude of colours being waved in the air.

Halfway through the Social Forum of the Americas, for many, including myself, this march was a kind of climax. It was a sign of solidarity where at one moment all of those who had made the trek from either a few blocks or from thousands of kilometres away were finally united in one place. That’s what the whole thing was about, when you boiled it down: unity. Meeting with others facing the same battles, the same hurdles, and trying to spread the odd recipe for success we may have come across in our own work.

From July 24 to July 30, the city of Quito, Ecuador, hosted the first ever Social Forum of the Americas. It was a long-anticipated project after years of hearing about the success of the European Social Forum and having the World Social Forum begin in our own backyard. It was only a matter of time before a social forum was held with the specific intention of bringing together social movements from across the Americas.

By all accounts the forum was a success, if a little overwhelming for social forum neophytes such as myself. With 11,000 people attending more than 300 workshops, panels, roundtables, seminars and cultural events over five days it was obvious that activists from across the Americas had been waiting for this chance to unite.

But the question remains: unite for what?

The official motto of the forum was Otro America es Posible: Another America is Possible, and surely everyone in attendance believed that. With more and more people across the Americas clearly working against neo-liberalism and its tools like the Free Trade Area of the Americas and Plan Puebla Panama, there is a resistance that is continuously building and is presenting a serious opposition. But if it is clear that there is a system we are working against, it is not so apparent what the common end-product would be.

The social forum movement itself originated both as a reaction to something and a dream of being something more: an event in and of itself and not simply a reaction. Although the impetus was to counter the World Economic Forum which takes place every year in Davos, Switzerland, the dream — and more and more the reality — was that social forums would provide an independent area where individuals working on socially progressive issues could meet, plan and organize.

To a degree the Social Forum of the Americas embodied that. But there still remained the underlying feeling that what united us was more what we were against than what we were for. Through many of the workshops, panel discussions and speeches I attended, there was discussion of the problems with the current system and exhortations about why it is important that we work together, but with little specifics on what it is we are moving towards.

I have as little idea of what the solution is as anyone else, and my intention is not to fault those in attendance for not having the answers I am missing as well. But at times there seemed to even exist a lack of willingness to discuss these important issues, including a hint that some are unable to accept that there are still fundamental issues to resolve before we can accomplish our common goals.

Walking with the crowds as we marched through the streets of Quito, I was overcome by an odd mix of energy and inspiration, and a vague feeling that although we were marching together we weren’t quite sure where we were going. The chants and banners focused on what we need to get rid of, not on what we would replace it with. And while there were obviously some groups who were clear on what system they would put in place should the revolution happen, they too were sparse and fragmented.

In looking back, though, I have lost the feeling of despair that was slowly creeping in. Instead what has taken root is the energy and potential of the event. What I keep reminding myself is that this was only the first Social Forum of the Americas. That if this initial event is what we have to build on, then the potential is there to build something great. Even the entire social forum movement itself is relatively young when compared with what it is we are battling against. Although there is a pervading feeling that time is running out and that we need to act now, if we continue to build on what we have towards something more concrete in the future we will be able to overcome our current hurdles.