One of the best stories from the 30th Annual Pedal for Peace Bike-a-thon on September 23, 2017, came from the efforts of Joaquin Vazquez (bottom left of photo), who set himself the goal of raising $250 and succeeded in doubling that amount! Along the way, he educated his principal, his teacher, and his school about why it was so important to fund the projects he was supporting. You can watch a video of one of his presentations
here
.
66 people registered to bike and/or fundraise. Together, we raised $18,354 for projects designed to develop people’s capacity to improve the quality of life in their communities through education, health care, land reclamation, deportation defense and affordable housing!
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 |
To connect with CRLN on this campaign please contact our Immigration Organizer at
crodriguez@crln.org
.
Holding signs say “#Si a la Vida,” “#No a la Mineria,” “JODVID,” and “Topacio Vive,” students in Susana Martinez’ class at DePaul University pose for a photo with Alex Escobar of JODVID (Organized Youth in Defense of Life) after hearing him speak about the group’s work to close Tahoe Resources Escobal Silver Mine as part of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)’s Fall Speaking Tour. Click
here
to sign NISGUA’s petition to Nevada Senator Dean Heller, who has lobbied the State Department to support the mine.
We can never know the impact one human being can have on the actions of others. The story of JODVID begins in response to the 2014 murder of 16-year-old Topacio Reynoso, a young artist and activist who, with her parents, participated in a community protest to resist the operation of Tahoe Resources Escobal Silver Mine located east of San Rafael las Flores in Santa Rosa Department, Guatemala. Topacio was shot while getting into a car after the demonstration with her father, who was also severely injured; the murder has never been investigated. Her father was the victim of an assassination attempt again the next year.
In response, her friends joined together to continue Topacio’s environmental work and resistance to the Escobal mine through the youth organization, JODVID. They utilize her artwork in their environmental education sessions in their communities and in their protests against the mine. She inspires them to spread their work to other communities in Guatemala, doing workshops and conferences to inform people about the environmental consequences of mining and deforestation, and motivating others to resist the location of mines in their communities.
The Escobal mine is the third largest silver mine in the world. It was constructed right in the middle of fertile farmland and land for grazing cattle. While many in Guatemala struggle to bring in enough income from small-scale farming to subsist, the communities surrounding the mine had sustainable farms. They are now threatened with water shortages, because the mine diverts enormous quantities of water for its mining processes. Alex described springs and underground streams turning to dust and rock. Also, the mine contaminates water by the process used to separate the metallic ore from the rock, and it is released into streams. Cattle and people downstream have become sick from drinking from this source.
Alex enumerated the ways in which the local community has tried to stop the mine and the ways the mine company has retaliated against them. Community leaders organized referenda to determine whether people wanted the mine in their community–98% voted no. The community of Casillas constructed a peaceful road block to prevent mining company vehicles or gasoline trucks supplying the mine’s generators from going to the mine site, allowing all other traffic to pass through. The mine needs generators to operate, because no community will give them access to municipal electricity, another indication of opposition to the mine. The mine company has criminalized the protesters by saying false things about them in the press, by calling the Guatemalan National Police to violently disperse the protesters with guns and batons. Nevertheless, people keep up the protests and road blocks.
The mine did not consult with the local Xinca indigenous community before beginning its construction; therefore, CALAS (Center for Environmental and Social Legal Action) brought a lawsuit against it. The Guatemalan Supreme Court ruled against the mine and ordered it to suspend operations last summer, but then reversed its decision in September. It lifted the suspension on mining for the time being and ordered the Ministry of Energy and Mines to conduct a consultation with the Xinca communitiy within a certain geographical distance of the mine, ignoring the results of the many community referenda that had already taken place. Depending on the result of the consultation ordered by the Supreme Court, one side or the other is likely to appeal the case to the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the Guatemalan judicial system.
While in Chicago, Alex spoke to 3 classrooms of students at DePaul University, to a meeting open to students and the public at North Park University in the Albany Park neighborhood, and at a public event at University Church in Hyde Park. Jerome McDonnell, host of WBEZ’s “Worldview” program, interviewed him, and the program will air sometime in the next couple of weeks. We’ll keep CRLN members informed about the date.
In the meantime, please add your name to NISGUA’s
petition
to Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, asking him to publicly rescind his letter lobbying the State Department on behalf of the mine and act against further human rights abuses committed against communities opposing the mine.
CRLN partnered with NISGUA to bring Alex and NISGUA staff person and translator Becky Kaump to Chicago.
La Voz de Los de Abajo, Witness for Peace, and the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America invite you to hear from Gaspar Sanchez, the sexual diversity coordinator of COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), as he presents “Uniting to Resist Attacks on our Land and Identities: Building on the Queer Indigneous Framework in the Americas.”
COPINH was co-founded and led by beloved Indigenous leader Berta Caceres, who was assassinated in March 2016. Gaspar will speak about how the struggle for LGBTQ awareness and rights among Indigenous communities plays a vital role in both land defense and in the dismantling of patriarchal and militaristic structures.
Place: Citlalin Art Gallery Theater, 2005 S. Blue Island Ave., Chicago, IL 60608
Date and Time: Friday, October 27, 7:00 pm
Gaspar has served since 2014 on COPINH’s leadership team as the Coordinator of Sexual Diversity & Rights Equality, which, for the first time in any Latin American indigenous organization, established a space dealing specifically with LGBTQ-related issues. Sánchez also hosts a radio program,
Los Colores de Wiphala
, that discusses human rights with an emphasis on the LGBTQ community. He conducts community trainings around the rights of indigenous peoples, territorial defense, protecting Mother Nature’s common goods threatened by extractivist projects, and legal accompaniment. In addition to supporting COPINH’s Tomás García Formation School, which builds leadership among the youth, Sánchez also serves as a spiritual guide for the Lenca people in their efforts to recuperate indigenous historical memory through processes of life, land defense, and ancestral spirituality. Finally, Sánchez has represented COPINH on the international stage in El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Venezuela, Perú, México, the United States, and in several European countries.
Gaspar Sanchez is a member of COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), the organization co-founded and led by beloved Indigenous leader Berta Caceres, who was assassinated in March 2016. Gaspar will speak about how the struggle for LGBTQ awareness and rights among Indigenous communities plays a vital role in both land defense and in the dismantling of patriarchal and militaristic structures.
Date & Time: October 27, 7:00 pm
LOCATION CHANGE: PILSEN OUTPOST, 1958 W. 21ST ST. (NEAR DAMEN)
Gaspar has served since 2014 on COPINH’s leadership team as the Coordinator of Sexual Diversity & Rights Equality, which, for the first time in any Latin American indigenous organization, established a space dealing specifically with LGBTQ-related issues. Sánchez also hosts a radio program,
Los Colores de Wiphala
, that discusses human rights with an emphasis on the LGBTQ community. He conducts community trainings around the rights of indigenous peoples, territorial defense, protecting Mother Nature’s common goods threatened by extractivist projects, and legal accompaniment. In addition to supporting COPINH’s Tomás García Formation School, which builds leadership among the youth, Sánchez also serves as a spiritual guide for the Lenca people in their efforts to recuperate indigenous historical memory through processes of life, land defense, and ancestral spirituality. Finally, Sánchez has represented COPINH on the international stage in El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Venezuela, Perú, México, the United States, and in several European countries.
Ana Maria Alvarenga, El Salvador’s Deputy of the Legislative Assembly, will speak about “Empowering Women in Politics.”
Date and Time: 3-5 pm, Sunday, November 5
Location: Centro Romero, 6216 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60660
Ms. Alvarenga is also a woman from Cinquera, El Salvador, which has a community organization, ARDM, that is the Salvadoran partner in the Chicago-Cinquera Sister Cities partnership. Chicago-Cinquera participates in CRLN’s event, Pedal for Peace Bike-a-thon, every year. Lately, they have raised funds for scholarships to Cinquera students attending university who have pledged to return to Cinquera to use their skills in service of the community.
15:00
to
17:00
|
|
|