Take part in various activities to encourage Members of Congress to co-sponsor HR 1299, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, to suspend military and police assistance to Honduras until their human rights abuses cease and perpetrators are brought to justice. CRLN will send out alerts daily with links to action opportunities.
to
Friday, June 30, 2017 – 17:00
CRLN will provide Chicago area venues for the annual NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala) Fall Speaking Tour. This year’s tour features Alex Escobar Prado, activist, educator, and member of the Guatemalan environmental justice organization Youth Organized in Defense of Life (JODVID). Born out of the struggle for community self-determination and resistance to Tahoe Resources’ Escobal silver mine in southeastern Guatemala, JODVID uses the arts and popular education to mobilize youth in local and regional movements to protect the environment and defend territory. The group was founded in 2015 following the murder of 16-year-old Topacio Reynoso, a local artist and vocal opponent to mining activities in the area.
The tour will be a unique opportunity to learn about the essential role that Guatemalan youth play in building movements for social justice and liberation, and to hear firsthand accounts of the environmental and community impacts of mining in Guatemala. The tour will also create an opportunity for direct exchange with youth activists in the U.S. fighting for social justice in their communities.
Here is a schedule of his speaking engagements (all are open to the public):
Group |
Date |
Time |
Location |
| DePaul University | 10/9/2017 | 4:20 – 5:50 pm | Arts & Letters Hall, Rm. 306
2315 N. Kenmore Ave. Chicago 60614 |
| DePaul University | 10/9/2017 | 7:30 – 8:30 pm
(please do not enter classroom until 7:30—class will be in session) |
College of Education
2247 N. Halsted, Rm. LL105 Chicago, IL 60614 (Room is in basement – press “A” button on elevator) |
| DePaul University | 10/10/2017 | 9:45 – 11:10am | Arts & Letters Hall, Rm. 101
2315 N. Kenmore Ave. Chicago, IL 60614 |
| “Worldview “ | 10/10/2017 | 2:00 pm | WBEZ, Navy Pier
Show will be taped and broadcast at a later date. |
| North Park University | 10/10/2017 | 4:00 pm | Collaboratory for Urban and
Intercultural Learning Caroline Hall 3225 W. Foster Chicago, IL 60625 |
| University Church | 10/10/2017 | 7:30 pm | 5655 S. University Ave.
Chicago 60637 |
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Tuesday, October 10, 2017 – 21:00
What are the ways that make for peace? The Colombia Peace Accords, while an important step forward, have been accompanied by renewed violence against women and against social movement leaders and members. Join us and learn directly from
Carol Rojas
about popular education and intersectional organizing in the context of escalating violence in post-Peace Accords Colombia. Carol is an
organizer with the
Feminist Antimilitarist Network,
a grassroots organization in Colombia, recognized for its popular education model that supports demilitarization and eradication of systems of oppression based on sex, class and race.
Date & time: Tuesday, October 24, 12noon – 2pm
Location: Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Parish Hall
700 W. Adams
Chicago, IL 60661
12:00
to
14:00
For the second year, the School of the Americas Watch will convene an
encuentro
on the border at Nogales, Mexico and Sonora, Arizona. CRLN has reserved hotel rooms to take a delegation to this bi-national Convergence on the Border to
· highlight US intervention in Latin America as one of the root causes of migration, and
· stage protests, cultural events, and nonviolent direct action against racism, xenophobia and US militarization at home and abroad.
Contact Cinthya at
crodriguez@crln.org
if you would like to be part of this event as a CRLN member.
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Sunday, November 12, 2017 – 18:00
Desde el 16 de mayo al 6 de junio del 2017, 89 sociedades civiles en el puerto de la ciudad de Buenaventua llamaron a una huelga, demandando que el gobierno colombiano les provee infraestructura básica (como sanitación, vivienda y agua limpia), servicios públicos (como la educación y servicios médicos) y la creación de trabajos estables. 80% de los residentes son de descendencia afro-colombiana quienes vive en pobreza sin ninguno de estos servicios públicos a pesar que el puerto de Buenaventura es el más importante de Colombia y genera billones de dólares en redito. Sin embargo, la privatización neoliberal del puerto ha causado una baja en los salarios y lo ha puesto en las manos de dueños privados. También la expansión del puerto a destruido manglares costales donde están los sitios de pesca. Esta huelga refleja los años de abandono del gobierno, falta de inversión y el racismo estructural.
La huelga estuvo muy organizada, disciplinada y pacífica. Los manifestantes también utilizaron bloqueos para parar el tráfico de camionetas hacia el puerto hasta que el gobierno negociara de buena fe con ellos. En vez de negociar, el gobierno mando la Unidad Antidisturbios de la Policía Nacional (ESMAD), la cual el 19 de mayo, utilizo gases, helipcopteros, bombas aturdidoras, tanques y armas de fuego contra el bloqueo pacifico que incluía niños, mujeres embarazadas, jóvenes y ancianos. En los siguientes días, ESMAD empezó a disparar gases lacrimógenos hacia las áreas residenciales de la población vulnerable cual viven en casas de madera sobre pilotes. Desafortunadamente, el gas entro fácilmente y asfixió a bebés y niños pequeños.
En una conferencia de prensa el 1 de junio, defensora de derechos humanos y miembro del Proceso de Comunidades Negras, Danelly Estupiñan afirmo, “nosotros rechazamos la respuesta militarizada del estado a un problema que puede ser resuelto por términos políticos, es como si una protesta social fuera un crimen.”
La población afrocolombiana siguió con su huelga y el gobierno finalmente tuvo que negociar con el comite de la huelga llegando a un acuerdo el 6 de junio. El miembro de consejo de CRLN, Eunice Escobar, quien es de Buenaventura, informó a CRLN sobre las negociaciones y reporto que el acuerdo tiene cuatro importantes componentes:
1. La creación de fondos especiales con recursos que son considerados patrimonio de la gente de Buenaventura, los cuales vienen del 50% de impuestos recaudados de compañias que se benefician de actividades relacionadas con el puerto mas $76 milliones de dólares que el gobierno recaudo de los créditos de bancos internacionales serán reguladas por una ley que pasara en julio.
2. una inicial inversión de COP de $1.500 millones de dólares será incorporada para la necesidad inmediata de infraestructura básica de agua limpia, atención médica, servicios de sanitación en áreas rurales y urbanas.
3. Un plan integral para la ciudad que incluye políticas, programas, reformas institucionales y participación comunitaria para hacer de Buenaventura un puerto para la gente y no solo para ganancias monetarias.
4. Una investigación, persecución y sentencia en contra de la policía antidisturbios que utilizo tácticas violentas para romper la protesta pacífica. Cargos criminales contra los participantes de la huelga han sido retirados y han asegurado la seguridad y protección de muchos lideres que guiaron los 22 días de huelga pacifica.
CRLN los mantendrá al tanto de como el gobierno colombiano mantiene sus promesas. Abajo se encuentran unos artículos sobre la huelga:
https://afrocolombian.org/2017/05/31/peaceful-strikers-are-still-being-a…
By Ivanna Salgado, CRLN Summer Intern
3 August 2017
On Tuesday, August 1st, a group of leaders from many immigrant rights organizations and faith communities in the Chicagoland area met at the Thompson Center to deliver postcards to Governor Bruce Rauner in support of the Illinois
TRUST Act
. All together 3,600 postcards were delivered. Our partners at Lake Street Church of Evanston, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church, and Old St. Patrick’s Church collected 800 postcards!
We demand that Illinois is a safe and a truly welcoming state that provides robust protections to immigrant communities.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to talk to Governor Rauner nor allowed to go into his office to discuss the TRUST Act. The postcards were delivered to his staff. However, our hopes is that he will inform Governor Rauner that we will not give up this battle. As constituents of Illinois we deserved to be heard and we deserve an answer.
Thank you to
ICIRR
and
PASO
for leading this action!
As of August 3, 2017, Governor Rauner has agreed to sign the TRUST Act into a law. We are excited to announce that Illinois is on its way to to having the strongest statewide deportation protections in the country!
As ICIRR stated
, “Under the TRUST Act, local police cannot comply with immigration detainers and warrants not issued by a judge. Local police also cannot stop, search, or arrest anyone based on that person’s immigration or citizenship status.”
However, this is just the beginning of the fight to make Illinois a sanctuary for ALL of our siblings, brothers, and sisters.
Seguiremos luchando!
By Ivanna Salgado,
Immigration Organizer Intern
1 August 2017
“Sanctuary Cafe is a new, independent cafe located inside University Church in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The ethos behind Sanctuary Cafe arises out of our desire to create a transformational place that induces a close connection between home baked smells, art and justice advocacy in a meticulously curated environment. Sanctuary Cafe is a vibrant justice, art, media, entertainment and activist destination dedicated to justice and human rights organizing.” –
Stories Connect
For congregations, sanctuaries spaces can be traced back to medieval England when congregations allowed those who had been accused of crimes to seek refuge for up to 40 days. They provided time for individuals to prove their innocence or be forgiven by the community.
Later on, sanctuary spaces became prominent during the Underground Railroad, when safe network routes were established to support enslaved people to escape. Examples of congregations creating sanctuary spaces are abundant, from offering a brick and mortar home to hosting events, such as providing important meeting spaces throughout the Civil Rights Movement.
Notably, moreover, throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, congregations sponsored sanctuary spaces for “refugees from the U.S.-sponsored Central American wars enter[ing] the country. Refugees were provided shelter, medical care, employment and legal representation.”
[1]
In response to today’s political moment not only are congregations looking to create sanctuary spaces, but so are schools and many other institutions
But what about expanding sanctuary spaces beyond brick and mortar walls?
University Church
[2]
, located at 5655 S. University, established a Sanctuary Café open to the public on April 3, 2017. This unique space has allowed the congregation to expand the meaning of a sanctuary space into everyday practices.
“The space that becomes a space for everyone is the kind of space that embraces tranquility.” These words by Martin, founder of Sanctuary Cafe, stood out to me as I entered Sanctuary Café, finding welcoming staff and clients. I embraced those words with much admiration as I stared at a wall that had the word “love” printed repeatedly in Farsi by an Iranian woman.
The wall of the café intrigued me to learn more about the Sanctuary Café. Before becoming Sanctuary Cafe, this was a space where queer folks could meet and be in community in the face of repression by the University of Chicago in the 1960s. Later in the 90s, it became a sanctuary space for undocumented immigrants if they found sanctuary strategic and timely.
During my visit, Martin, and Sarah, chair of the Social Justice Committee at University Church, welcomed me to Sanctuary Café with a Topo Chico and a Flourless Chocolate Torte made in house. As I broke bread with Martin and Sarah, I realized that Sanctuary Café was no ordinary café. I thought about how the space was set up, with seating areas reminding me of lunch time in elementary school and how simple it was to discuss the test we just had or make new friends.
Sanctuary Café is the kind of space that allows you to build relationships with strangers and share similarities and difference based on our political identities.
Martin clarified that the café was not the University of Chicago’s space. It is important to make this distinction because it restricts the University from making any decisions about how the space should be utilized or the people that should be allowed in the space. Instead, Sanctuary Café is an open space for the community to be with one another without feeling that must be part of the University in order to belong. It allows for the members of University Church to remain active in the Café.
Like Martin stated during my visit, not all congregation members are able to physically rally for social justice. But all members in the congregation remain active in our movements in all kinds of ways– from writing letters to donating money to supporting the deportation defense work of Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD).
Martin also shared with me that a new refrigerator had just been placed within Sanctuary Café.
If a homeless individual arrives at University Church in need of food, a member of the church knows that they can go directly to this new refrigerator to support them. Sanctuary Café, then, is designed in a way that it not only offers a
physical sanctuary space
, but sees sanctuary as an ongoing process. Being a sanctuary church is a way of building relationships, organizing members, and targeting the root causes of issues like deportations, mass incarceration, and homelessness.
Sanctuary Café is economically supported by the people of the congregation, students, community members, Chicago residents, and many organizations. We can see this once a month, for instance, when a local Black youth organization uses the space to perform and speak on what’s happening in the City.
Workers at Sanctuary Café get paid $15.00 an hour compared to Chicago’s current minimum wage of $11.00 an hour.
If you ever need a place to meet new people, talk about creating the kind of Chicago we want to live in, or just sit down to read a book, Sanctuary Café is the right place to do just that and more.
Thank you to University Church, Sanctuary Café, Martin & Sarah for making this story possible. For more information about becoming an Immigrant Welcoming Congregation and CRLN partner, please visit our website at
crln.org
.
[1]
Elizabeth Allen Associate Professor of English, University of California, Irvine. (2017, July 31). What’s the history of sanctuary spaces and why do they matter? Retrieved July 31, 2017, from
http://theconversation.com/whats-the-history-of-sanctuary-spaces-and-why…
[2]
University Church is a partner congregation with us at the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America.
Sign up now
to ride in CRLN’s 30th Anniversary Pedal for Peace Bike-a-thon on Saturday, September 23, 1-5pm! This is a great way to make a difference in the lives of people in Latin America and right here in Chicago! Last year we raised $20,000 to support scholarships in Guatemala and El Salvador, health promoter trainings in rural Colombia, legal aid for campesinos seeking land tenure in Honduras, organizing costs for deportation defense and tenants rights’ campaigns in Chicago. With your help, we can raise even more this year. Please invite your friends to participate!
There are 2 changes this year:
1.
All bikers must
register online
and indicate your t-shirt size. Everyone gets a t-shirt this year! There will be an option to pay by check for those who do not wish to pay online
2.
Register by September 9
($20 adult, children 12 and under free, $10 student/low-income). After September 9, there will be a late fee of $5.
As always, there will be a fiesta with food and a short program after the ride.
Here is the process:
1. Register:
Sign up as an individual rider or join a team–CRLN, Chicago-Cinquera Sister Cities, Chicago-Guatemala Partnership, Concern America, La Voz de los de Abajo, Autonomous Tenants Union, or Organized Communities Against Deportations.
2. Set a fundraising goal:
we encourage you to raise a minimum of $100. You can make a personal online fundraising page after you register at CRLN’s
online fundraising site
.
3. Fundraise:
Outreach to family members, coworkers, schoolmates, and more to give through your online page or by checks and cash which can be turned in the day of the event. For downloadable pledge forms, descriptions of participating groups and projects funded, and a route map, click
here
4. Join us to ride:
Main fiesta, program and north starting point:
Lincoln Park, Grove 13 — grassy area west of the Barry Ave. underpass to the Lakefront Bike Path. Look for the Pedal for Peace tables and flag banner by the path near the underpass.
Alternate starting point:
Dog Water Fountain at east side of the 55th St. underpass to the Lakefront Bike Path
We hope to see you there this year with your friends and family.
Donaldo is in Chicago to discuss social movements, economic solidarity, food sovereignty and human rights.
Donaldo Zuniga is the director of the COMAL network, an organization comprised of rural communities in
Honduras
that work to promote fair and sustainable agriculture and marketing. For twenty years, COMAL has defended the rights of small-scale farmers to continue indigenous practices and to protect the environment in a country negatively impacted by unfair globalization and escalating violence. Committed to principles of economic solidarity and practices that contribute to food sovereignty, COMAL advances local food initiatives that contribute to economic well-being. One such initiative is the development of locally produced and marketed natural cane sugar, using agro-ecological methods of production.
As a founding member of COMAL, Donaldo has led extensive training with local promoters on organization, marketing and credit in COMAL’s School for Economic Solidarity, that now serves a broad range of groups as a training center for social organization, workshops and retreats. Committed to methods of popular education, Donaldo worked as an advisor with the Danish agency, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (now Action Aid) in Nicaragua, led training on community marketing in Venezuela, and advanced networking on economic solidarity throughout Latin America.
Time: 3pm
RSVP to Sharon Hunter-Smith,
shunter-smith@crln.org
or 773-293-2964, for location. Space is limited.
15:00
to
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