*Refers to the bastón, a ceremonial symbol of authority, NEVER to be used as a weapon.
Indigenous organizer, Cauca,
October 2003
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Solidaridad
Colombia
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"International solidarity is not an act of
charity. It is an act of unity among allies fighting on
different terrains toward the same objectives. The foremost of these objectives
is to aid the development of humanity to the highest level possible."
~ Samora Moises Machel
Visit our timeline to learn about the diverse work we've been involved with since we first came together Jan. 17th, 2001.
To subscribe to our email
list (very low traffic), send a blank email to:
pazparacolombia-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Contact your Senators and Representative on Colombia.
Local photographer, farmer and activist Rachel Chandler-Worth visited Colombia on an American Friends Service Committee delegation in October of 2003. The delegation focused on Indigenous and Afro-Colombian Communities in Nonviolent Resistance, the title of her remarkable presentation.
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“Our strength is in unity because in our blood
we carry the spirit of the warrior . . . . We confront with a stick*, those
who have guns. Violence is illogic.” *Refers to the bastón, a ceremonial symbol of authority, NEVER to be used as a weapon. Indigenous organizer, Cauca, |
Beehive Collective - The bees were hard at work in South America gathering stories and ideas and returned with an incredibly beautiful and thorough poster about Plan Colombia. The poster, banners, and patches of the Colombia poster can be ordered by downloading order forms from the website. The poster itself is available for download.
March 22-26, 2004 - Jim Harney
returned to Western MA
Profiles of Dignity: Grassroots Non-violent Resistance to Free Trade
Slide presentations by Jim Harney with photos and stories gathered in Argentina
during a 6 week visit in November-December 2003.
Jim's photos and personal stories are bridges for the heart and mind, encouraging
dialogue and solidarity with others working for a better, more just world. schedule
of local events
Feb. 29-March 1, 2004 - Amanda Romero
of the AFSC Colombia Peace Mobilization Team visited
Western MA
and spoke on the Truth and Consequences of Plan Colombia, Globalization
& the US War on Terror.
Listen On-line (mp3 format): Talk (44
MB) Q&A
(19 MB)
November 22-23, 2003 - Fort Benning, Columbus,
GA
Annual School
of Americas Watch vigil to close the School of Americas (SOA).
Ten thousand people from across the Americas vigiled at the gates of the US
military base Fort Benning in Georgia - home of the notorious School of the
Americas (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) - to
stand in solidarity with the victims of the "School of Assassins"
and to speak out against terror and violence. Many engaged in nonviolent direct
action; 44 people were
arrested for the charge of trespassing on federal property.
November 20-21, 2003 - Stop
the FTAA!
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) ministerial meeting took
place in Miami. Amnesty International called for a full and independent inquiry
into allegations of excessive use of force by police during the accompanying
demonstrations (press
release).
October 10-13, 2003 - Western MA portion of Fall Speaker's
Tour
The Witness
for Peace New England speaker tour hosted Nancy Sanchéz
Méndez of the Association for the Promotion of Social Alternatives (MINGA)
where she is focusing on projects in Southern Colombia and on the borders. Ms
Sanchéz has spent her working life as an advocate for Colombians through
many organizations and recieved the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award this
September in Washington, DC. This award honors her commitment to defend human
rights and for the unconditional support she offers to the people of Putumayo,
Colombia. The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award commends her efforts to stop
the violent acts performed by the Colombian armed actors against the people
of Putumayo and honors her activities. She is commended for the sacrifices she
makes daily to remain engaged in the war against social injustice, putting the
price of non-violence and justice higher than her own life.
September 2003 - Issue 13 of the Valley War Bulletin dedicated to Colombia (created by Solidaridad Colombia members and the Valley War Bulletin volunteer crew)
August 10, 2003 - The War
on Farmers: Images from Colombia
Kate Harris shared her slide
presentation at the Annual Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference
at Hampshire College. The presentation is based on her three delegations to
Colombia between March 2001 and January 2003. She visited Putumayo and met with
subsistence farmers and indigenous communities whose home, families, domestic
animals, legal crops, grazing lands and water sources have been contaminated
by the aerial spraying of an undisclosed chemical mixtures, at the behest of
the U.S. government. She also shared a 15-minute "60 Minutes" investigative
story on the aerial spraying campaign.
July 22, 2003
- International Day of Action against Coca~Cola
The Second World Social Forum declared July 22 the International
Day Against Coca~Cola. The historic lawsuit
against Coca-Cola and its Colombian bottler was filed on July 20, 2001 in the
U.S. under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) by the United
Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the International
Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) on behalf of Sinaltrainal,
Colombia's National Union of Food and Beverage Workers. July 22nd is also the
anniversary of the murder of Sinaltrainal union leader Hector Daniel Useche
Beron in Bugalagrande in 1986.
June 1, 2003 - Solidaridad Colombia reunion, retreat & social
May 14, 2003 - From Bogota to Baghdad: US Foreign Policy in Latin America & Iraq Maryknoll priest and veteran activist for peace and justice Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of Americas Watch, spoke here in Western MA at Food for Thought Books in downtown Amherst. Recently returned from Iraq, he will spoke on "US Foreign Policy in Latin America and Iraq."
May 8, 2003 - Is the US Aiding
Colombia? Reports from the People
Kate Harris gave a slide lecture on US policy in Colombia at UMass Amherst.
Sponsored by the Radical Student Union.
April 27, 2003 - Is
the US Aiding Colombia? Reports from the People
Kate Harris gave a slide lecture on US policy in Colombia
at Smith College in Northampton. Local global justice activist, Kate Harris,
has travelled to Colombia three times in the past three years. The first visit
as a Witness for Peace delegate on an historic 100 person delegation, the other
two as a delegation coordinator for Witness
for Peace / Global Exchange
joint delegations. She has created a slide lecture to share what she has learned
with fellow US citizens at the behest of those she has met. Sponsored by Nosotras.
April 17, 2003 - Update on US
policy in Colombia and the War on Drugs
Sanho Tree, Director
of the Drug Policy Project
at the Institute for Policy Studies in D.C. presented with Rachel Massey, who
authored "Echoes
of Vietnam" and local Colombia solidarity activist Kate Harris at Hampshire
College. Sponsored by Students for a Sensible
Drug Policy.