The People's Summit was an experience that we would not have missed. It was sometimes frustrating, sometimes stressful, always intense, but mostly it was empowering, enjoyable, rewarding, informative and, well . . . intense. It is truly amazing how the P7 evolved in to the actual event of June 10 - 17, 1995. But this evolution is a good illustration of the character and dynamics that the People's Summit developed over its life. Was the People's Summit a success? We think so, for a couple of reasons.
There was the participation - our estimates are that over 4000 people attended People's Summit events, and at least 37 different countries were represented! We did not attract a great number of local people who are not already activists in the struggle for Social Justice, as we had originally planned. But citizens in Halifax-Dartmouth definitely knew we were there, and all over the world, Social Justice activists were thinking about the People's Summit and the alternative vision we presented, and were wishing us well.
The most important indicator of our success in our opinion, is the relationships that developed among all the people involved in the P7, whether it was at the Forum or within committees. Over the life of the People's Summit, from its early planning stages through the actual event and even afterwards, everyone worked with a common vision. Yes, there were disagreements and many conflicts, but the willingness of everyone to work for "the cause", enabled us to get past the difficult moments, and ultimately, strengthened us and the project. The People's Summit was the closest we have ever come to true concensus, and in this fact, we really did achieve our stated goal of expressing our vision through our own actions.