Please join us for a house party, held in the Rogers Park neighborhood, in support of the people of Honduras. The event is co-sponsored by the International Labor Rights Forum, Witness for Peace, and CRLN

Date/time: Sunday, April 8, 2018  |  5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

RSVP:  Space is limited to 50 people and will fill up. RSVP early to gabby@ilrf.org to hold your spot and to receive the address for the event.

In the immigration debate, we don’t often hear about how U.S. policies play a major role in exacerbating the push factors of migration, driving people from their homes to seek safety and security in the United States. In Honduras, recent U.S. policies have legitimized a violent dictatorship and implemented trade deals that exploit cheap labor. But a people’s movement has been re-born. Hondurans young and old are risking their lives to fight for a future where they can feed their families, have decent wages, and fully participate in a democratic society, without fear of reprisal. Come meet Honduran trade union leader, Tomas Membreño, and learn how people in the U.S. can hold the federal government and corporations accountable for their actions in Honduras.

Featuring:

• Tomas Membreño, STAS (Honduran Agricultural Workers Union)
• Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D – IL)
• Judy Gearhart and Gabby Rosazza, International Labor Rights Forum
• Elise Roberts and John Walsh, Witness for Peace

Background on STAS:

El Sindicato de Trabajadores/as de la Agroindustria y Similares, or STAS, is a trade union that organizes workers to fight for justice on plantations in Honduras that are exporting fruit to U.S and European markets. They represent over 800 workers in the banana, melon, sugar, and palm oil sectors, industries long plagued by poverty wages and exposure to toxic pesticides. Their efforts to seek dignity in the workplace have come at a high cost, as Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a trade unionist. STAS members and union leaders have received death threats and been physically attacked for organizing workers. For the past five months, 300 palm oil workers have been on strike protesting illegal firings and severe labor violations. STAS is looking for international support for their current campaigns to win collective bargaining agreements on Fyffes melon plantations and Grupo Jaremar palm oil plantations.

Spread the word on Facebook and forward this email to others that may be interested!

Save the date and join CRLN, Detention Watch Network, and many other organizations in the Chicagoland area for a people’s tribunal, as we put ICE on Trial in Kankakee on April 28th. We will be calling attention to abuses in the immigration enforcement system and demanding transparency and accountability.

More information will be available soon.

CRLN has participated in 8th Day Center for Justice’s Good Friday Walk for Justice since the beginning of our organization, often organizing the litany for one of the stations. We invite you to participate with us again in this last walk organized by 8th Day.  Read more about the event on 8th Day’s webpage.

When & Where: Gather at the corner of Congress Pkwy and Michigan Ave at 12:00 p.m. on March 30, 2018. We will follow the same route as previous years, continuing to the Chicago Board of Trade, Federal Plaza, Daley Plaza, and the Thompson Center. The event will end by approximately 3:00 p.m.

Contact us at 312-641-5151 for more info.

Click here to buy your advance tickets, sponsor the event, reserve parking, and indicate the number of children needing childcare.

Date: Saturday, April 14, 2018

Location: Wellington Ave. UCC, 615 W. Wellington Ave.

Time:  5:30 pm — Come eat before the concert!  Doors open at 5:30 pm with traditional Latino food for purchase.

7:00 – 8:30 pm —  Concert

Parking: Limited complimentary parking passes are available thanks to Advocate IL Masonic Hospital. If you are a volunteer at the event, contact Kathy at waucc@sbcglobal.net to reserve a pass. If you plan to buy a ticket, the payment form below will also allow you to reserve a pass.

Childcare: On-site childcare is available. If you are a volunteer at the event, contact Kathy at waucc@sbcglobal.net with the number of children needing childcare. If you plan to buy a ticket, the payment form below will also allow you to indicate the number of children needing childcare.

Tickets: $25 general admission; $15 students/limited income; Children under 12 FREE

Click here to buy your advance tickets, reserve parking, and indicate the number of children needing childcare.

Join Illinois SOAWatch for a fundraiser to help activists from Latin America travel to Chicago for a September SOAW strategy meeting and to Fort Benning, GA, for the SOAW 30th Anniversary Vigil.

Date and time: Sunday, June 9, 2-4pm

Location: Timber Lanes, 1851 W. Irving Park Rd, Chicago, 60613.

Street/Meter Parking • Irving Park Brown Line Stop

RSVP: to Chris Inserra, cminserra@sbcglobal.net

Cost: Donation: $35 – $50
Students & Limited Income: $20

Click here for online donation page OR make checks payable to CRLN and write “SOAW bowling” on the memo line and bring it with you to  the event. You may also mail your check to CRLN, 4750 N. Sheridan Rd, #429, Chicago, IL  60640-5078.

Come support university scholarship students in Cinquera, Chicago’s sister city in El Salvador!
Students return to the community to share their new skills in agriculture, business, teaching and organizing.

Date and time: April 8, 4-7 pm

Location:  Timber Lanes, 1851 W. Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois

Cost: Collect $50 in donations from friends, co-workers and family and bowl for free! Otherwise, register as an individual for $25

Children welcome! Special lane for kids.

Come hear about the experiences of those from Chicago who traveled with a 50-member national delegation to Honduras during the last week in January 2018. The delegation participated in public religious ceremonies and vigils remembering those who had been killed, demanding justice for the victims, and accompanying protesters under threat. They challenged U.S. inaction in the face of Honduran impunity for those whose human rights were violated and continued funding for the Honduran military and police despite their abuse of human rights.

Context: Electoral observation teams from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union pronounced the process of the November 26 Honduran elections “highly irregular” and the results of the vote count untrustworthy. Incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) ran for a second term despite a Constitutional ban, was declared the winner weeks after the vote by an electoral tribunal stacked with members of his political party, has centralized power over all other branches of government in his hands, and has become a dictator in all but name. The U.S. quickly recognized his “victory.”

Citizens responded to what they considered a “second coup” (the first was the 2009 overthrow of the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya) by pouring into the streets, unarmed, to protest. In response, JOH deployed all military, police and special forces–many of them funded by the U.S.– against them. By the end of December, 30 were dead, dozens wounded, over a thousand imprisoned, with home raids, disappearances, and torture also used as tactics. By the time the delegation arrived, random people in cities where protests continued were being picked up and charged with serious crimes they did not commit.

Food: Bring your own lunch

Date & Time: 
Thursday, April 19, 12 noon.

Come hear Dan Dale, Lora Burge, Trini Sanchez, and Jill Landrith witness to their experience on a 50-member national delegation to Honduras during the last week in January 2018. The delegation participated in public religious ceremonies and vigils remembering those who had been killed, demanding justice for the victims, and accompanying protesters under threat. They challenged both U.S. inaction in the face of Honduran impunity for those whose human rights were violated and U.S. funding for the Honduran military and police despite their abuse of human rights.

Context: Electoral observation teams from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union pronounced the process of the November 26 Honduran elections “highly irregular” and the results of the vote count untrustworthy. Incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) ran for a second term despite a Constitutional ban, was declared the winner weeks after the vote by an electoral tribunal stacked with members of his political party, has centralized power over all other branches of government in his hands, and has become a dictator in all but name. The U.S. quickly recognized his “victory.”

Citizens responded to what they considered a “second coup” (the first was the 2009 overthrow of the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya) by pouring into the streets, unarmed, to protest. In response, JOH deployed all military, police and special forces–many of them funded by the U.S.– against them. By the end of December, 30 were dead, dozens wounded, over a thousand imprisoned, with home raids, disappearances, and torture also used as tactics. By the time the delegation arrived, random people in cities where protests continued were being picked up and charged with serious crimes they did not commit.

Date & Time:  Tuesday, April 3, 7-9 pm

Place: University Church library, 5655 S. University Ave., Chicago  60637

Parking: Street parking or University of Chicago Parking Garage (3 blocks away–entrance on Greenwood Ave. just south of 55th St.)