For Grassroots Movement-Building and Sharing of Resources Within the US-Latin America Solidarity Community
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Dear Readers...
As we watch cities all over the world occupying the streets we can't do better than to remember and quote Howard Zinn: Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag toward a more decent society. We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.
Peter and Gail Mott
Co-editors
¡Presente! Dean Brackley, Peter HInde, OCarm., a founder of CRISPAZ who knew Dean Brackley from his days of study at the Chicago Theological Union, followed by his years of ministry in the South Bronx, NY, said of him, "We were thrilled by his quick response to replace a brother Jesuit murdered at the UCA in November 1989. He has been the voice and spirit of Archbishop Oscar Romero...and he insisted that all who came to know the Salvadoran people had their hearts broken and left ruined for life. By that he meant that visitors could no longer accept a consumer life style and be passive before the aggression of an economic, political system destructive of these peoples. His life was given for them."
- by Brian Concannon, Jr.
One of Latin America’s most important, and desperate, anti-occupation struggles is being waged in Haiti, against an unlikely opponent: a UN force led by soldiers from progressive Latin American countries sent to Haiti to do the Bush Administration’s dirty work. [more...]
- by Chuck Kaufman
The one-year old New Priorities Network (NPN) held a strategy meeting Oct. 1-2 in Washington, DC, facing a dramatically different political environment than it did at its founding. A year ago the discussion was about ways to get ending the wars and cutting the bloated Pentagon budget onto the public agenda. This year, thanks to the crisis over raising the debt ceiling and constant threats of government shut-down, the cost of the wars and the military budget are very much part of the public agenda. [more...]
One of the speakers at the opening rally of Occupy 2011 in DC quoted Gandhi's now-famous observation:
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
The corporate-owned media have moved from ignoring to ridicule, especially since they do not see that we have a cohesive message, as the protesters did in Tahrir Square, for example, with their unified demand that "Mubarak must go!" [more...]
[Ed. note: This piece is excerpted from a video interview of Charles Bowden, author of Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields (2010 by Nation Books) and El Sicario: The Autobiography of a Mexican Assassin, edited with Molloy Malloy, (2011 Nation Books) talking with David Zlutnick, a documentary filmmaker, whose latest film is Occupationo Has No Future: Militarism+Resistance in Israel/Palestine. [more...]
- by Jennifer Atlee
On October 5, President Obama received Porfirio Lobo of Honduras at the White House. celebrating advances in human rights, restoration of democracy and reconciliation under Lobo’s leadership and stating that Honduras “gives us great hope.” President Obamas’ glowing depiction of democracy and reconciliation in Honduras stands in shocking contrast with daily reports from Honduras and national and international human rights organizations underscoring grave concerns regarding the direction of U.S. policy. [more...]
NYT: COBÁN, Guatemala — Now, all across these highlands once ravaged by a 36-year civil war, the region’s bloodiest anti-Communist conflict, Guatemalans are demanding the unthinkable — a strong military back in their communities.
RA: : It was not an “anti-communist” conflict in Guatemala. It was a campaign of State repression and genocide against its own, majority Mayan, mainly unarmed population, to keep in place an unjust economic development model.[more...]
- by John Lindsay-Poland
When you cross on foot over the bridge that joins El Paso, Texas - safest city of its size in the United States - with Ciudad Juárez - murder capital of the world, you need no money, no identification, and your bag is unlikely to be checked. And you'll see a small sign reminding you that it is illegal to possess guns in Mexico.
Every day, according to a study by Magda Coss, two thousand firearms pass from the United States into Mexico. In Phoenix and Houston, or at most of the 6,600 gun dealers near the Mexican border, if you don't have a criminal record, it is legal to walk in, buy 10 or 20 AK-47s or AR-15s, or Five-seveN guns designed to penetratearmor and bullet-proof vests, and walk out. [more...]
- by Jamie Way
As a movement, the left tends to be creative, flexible and ambitious. We are masters of camaraderie and welcome anyone who wants to be involved. We are not, however, always as intentional as we should be about sharing our knowledge.
This topic has been the focus of conversation at multiple meetings within the last year. Last November, at the Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC) meeting on confronting U.S. militarism, one group suggested that a weakness of the anti-militarism movement was lack of training. They concluded that this should be addressed through an accessible educational program. In April of this year, at the LASC conference in D.C., youth activists met. Through their discussions it became clear that a weakness of the movement was its inability to pass knowledge on to younger activists. [more...]
- by Malcolm Bell
Since I agree with nearly everything that Chuck Kaufman says in his stimulating essay, “Yes, Virginia, There is Evil in the World” (June 2011 Interconnect), I shall respond by trying to build on it. One point of difference: whereas I think he sees evil as an independent entity or force, I see it as something that people do, that is, as a shorthand term for hurting others unnecessarily. But both versions reach the same conclusion: evil deeds proliferate with the acquiescence of a largely passive public. So I second Chuck’s point that we who care need to be both proactive and reactive, to grow the garden and protect it. [more...]