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):

to

Tuesday, October 10, 2017 – 21:00

Share and come out to

SURJ’s workshop series

in March and April! Trainings are important and include: racism in Chicago, organizing 101, bystander intervention, copwatching, etc.

to

Thursday, May 4, 2017 – 08:00

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

Mark your calendars for the 30th Anniversary of Pedal for Peace! Bike with us to raise funds for groups supporting health, education, and community organizing in Latin America and in Chicago. This is a great way to make a positive contribution to our global community!

To make this special anniversary year even more successful, there are a few changes in the event:

1) All bikers must pre-register online

here

!

This will facilitate the process on the day of the event and help us better plan for the fiesta. There will be an option for those who want to mail in a check to CRLN rather than pay online.

2) There will be a late fee if you register after September 9, so register soon!

All Pedal for Peace expenses are paid before the event, and this will help provide income to offset these costs. Even with a late fee, this is the least expensive event fee in town!

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

Time:

1:00-5:00pm

See the attached project descriptions and information and pledge sheet to start collecting donors to support your ride, or click

here

for an online fundraising tool you can use to invite people to donate using social media.

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.

to

Sunday, November 12, 2017 – 18:00

(


I


nformación


en Español AQUI)

Location: Union Park (Lake & Ashland, Chicago, IL)

May 1st, International Workers’ Day,

will be a national day of action with large marches expected around the country. In Chicago,

a coalition of organizations, including CRLN are planning to march to resist the rising racism and call on city residents to rebuild community.

Meet up with CRLN at 12:30pm


in front of First Baptist Congregational Church (1613 W. Washington Blvd) across the street from Union Park (Ashland Ave. and Lake St.).

The



R3 Coalition



will be marching from



Roosevelt Rd. and Odgen Ave.



to Union Park at 11:00am.

The march will be focused on protecting communities that are under attack by the Trump regime and highlight the need to rebuild community and define what community safety means to us:

1. Legalization of all undocumented workers.

2. Stop terrorizing immigrant communities through raids at homes and workplaces.

3. Stop criminalization, mass incarceration and deportation of Black, Latinx, migrant, Arab, Muslim, and communities of color;

4. Defend workers’ right to organize, unionize and to earn a living wage;

5. Defend the rights of women, people with disabilities, transgender, LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people;

6. Act on climate change, to create jobs and economic opportunities in the migrant, poor, and communities of color that are disproportionately threatened by pollution and climate change;

7. Defend and fully fund public services, including public education, transportation and health care.

Our communities are uniting against Trump’s vision that views us as a threat, and that proposes that safety and security can only be gained with increased criminalization and policing of our communities, and rolling back the rights that our communities have won over the years.

We are pushing our community and city leaders to do more to protect Chicagoans from Trump’s attacks and promote real safety and economic opportunity in the city. If the people who run this city and the people who are running the federal government think they can move all our tax dollars away from jobs, schools, and health and into police contracts to patrol us, they are making a big mistake.

Labor unions will also join the march for the right to unionize and to challenge the attacks on workers’ rights being carried out. People need jobs that actually pay the bills. Trump wants to give corporations kick-backs; we want to give working people a chance. On May Day we’ll march for better jobs, better salaries, and the right to organize for them.

#ChicagoFightsBack #ChicagoNoSeDeja

13:00

to

16:00

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

17:00

Melissa Cardoza

’s book,

13 Colors  of the Honduran Resistance,

tells thirteen stories of women who joined the resistance to the U.S.-backed 2009

coup d’etat

. It has just been made available in a bilingual English/Spanish edition, translated by Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle. Melissa, an afro-indigenous fearless journalist, poet, writer and feminist organizer from Honduras, poetically relates some of the most compelling moments she has witnessed amidst the brutal repression and unyielding hope and struggle that have characterized post-

coup

Honduras today. She will be touring along with her fellow member of the Honduran “Red de Defensoras,” or network of women rights defenders, beloved Honduran jazz/folk protest singer

Karla Lara,

who appears in one of the book’s stories and has been an icon and sharp voice in the resistance. Both were amongst the closest friends to *Berta Cáceres*, the Honduran indigenous leader and organizer of COPINH who was assassinated for her work in defense of the Lenca people and against patriarchy, capitalism, and racism. This book and this tour are dedicated to Berta.

Time:

4:00pm

Place:

Official book launch with El BeiSMan – La Catrina, 1011 W 18th St