The World Cup is getting lots of coverage these days. But we’re not hearing enough about the demonstrations taking place in South Africa.

There have been a “series of  strikes at almost half of the World Cup stadiums as guards are being paid less than one tenth of what they were promised when they were employed,” reports AllAfrica.com. Seems like a newsworthy event, but the camera lens is focused on the soccer stars, not the working stiffs.

Yesterday during a sports panel hosted by journalists Davey D, Dave Zirin, and artist Favianna Rodriguez, longtime activist Trevor Ngwane joined us live via Skype from South Africa. It was so cool.

Ngwane talked about the “FIFA mafia” and said he “wouldn’t wish the World Cup on any country.”

The Anti-Privatisation Forum and other groups have been protesting throughout the games.

“The government has the wrong priorities,” said Ngwane. “The government shouldn’t prioritize mega-sports and mega-sports stars.”

Ngwane listed what the South African government should be prioritizing: housing, education, health care; youth unemployment is above 80% he said.

He added that there needs to be a more sustainable basis for unity for the poor besides the World Cup.

More marches are planned for next week in J-burg. Now if we could only get some coverage of that.

Speaking of television coverage, Dave Zirin mentioned a really shocking and sad statistic: only 40,000 Africans outside of the host country are watching the World Cup on TV. The TV rights are too expensive. There are probably more Americans watching the World Cup in New York City than in Africa (outside of South Africa).

And that’s one of the problems with these big games, be it World Cup or Olympics. Corporate rights get prioritized over human rights.

The U.S. Social Forum kicked off Tuesday, June 22, in Detroit. The social forum is a gathering of activists from around the country. It’s a chance to catch up, network, and organize under the banner of “another world is possible.” Organizers are expecting as many as 20,000 people to participate.

I tried to register today several times but the lines were incredibly long. At one point registration was closed so folks could participate in the opening march.

Why Detroit? It’s easy to think Detroit as a city of decay, poverty, and violence. But there is so much more to the city.

To give but one example, Detroit has a vibrant community garden scene. Today I went to a workshop about the Greening of Detroit.

Detroit’s population has shrunk to about a quarter of what it was forty or fifty years ago, leaving lots of open green space. But neighborhood groups are transforming these vacant lots into community gardens.

The Detroit Garden Resource Program Collaborative is the hub of this effort. In 2003, four organizations–the Greening of Detroit, Detroit Agriculture Network, EarthWorks Urban Farm/Capuchin Soup Kitchen, and Michigan State University–began working together to provide support for the city’s urban gardeners.

Seven years ago there were 8o community gardens, consisting of neighborhood gardens, backyard patches, and school gardens. By 2009, there were 800 community gardens. This year there are 1200, including some urban farms.

Education, nutrition information, shared tools, workshops (on topics ranging from how to build hoop houses to composting lessons) are some of the things the garden resource program excels at.

A few years ago, gardeners decided to sell the food they produced, starting at local farmers markets. In the first year, they made just under $1000. This year, they expect to rake in between $60,000–$80,000.

And they’ve branched out beyond farmers markets. They’ve created relationships with Detroit restaurants to sell locally produced veggies and fruits.

Ultimately, these community gardens are a way to do community organizing. And that’s what makes it so inspiring–and necessary. And community organizing is at the heart of the US Social Forum.