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

Join us for the

2017 Luncheon

to learn about the intersectional organizing work of the

Feminist Antimilitarist Network in Colombia

from

Carol Rojas

. The Colombia Peace Accords, while a step toward peace, face many challenges.  There is an urgent need to rebuild the community and collective ties broken by war. Seeking to build historical memory is also a necessary step in constructing a political project to make the transition as a country to a plural, broad, and diverse democracy, where women can be political protagonists and not victims. To construct peace in Colombia in this difficult time, the Network uses popular education to promote demilitarization and the eradication of systems of oppression based on sex, class, and race.

Click

here

for a brief autobiography of Carol Rojas


.

Date: October 24

Time: 12 noon – 2:00pm

Place: Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Parish Hall, 700 W. Adams, Chicago  60661

Cost: $60 ($54 for members), $25 student/low income, free for Luncheon volunteers (please email

mmckenna@crln.org

to volunteer).

Tickets: Order tickets at

http://bit.ly/crln1024

or by contacting Sharon Hunter-Smith at

shunter-smith@crln.org

and mailing in a check (CRLN, 4750 N. Sheridan Rd., #429, Chicago, IL  60640-5078.

Sponsored by the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America in partnership with the Feminist Antimilitarist Network and Witness for Peace.

11 people, including 2 staff members and 1 board member from CRLN, traveled  February 28 – March 6, 2017 on a human rights accompaniment and fact-finding delegation to Honduras coordinated by CRLN’s local partner organization, La Voz de los de Abajo. Designed to accompany the 1 year anniversary commemoration events of the assassination of Berta Caceres, the delegation was invited by her indigenous rights organization, COPINH, to provide an international presence at a march in Tegucigalpa March 2 to the Supreme Court building and an all-day celebration of Berta’s life on her birthday, March 4, in the indigenous Lenca community of Rio Blanco. The delegation also met with organizations representing rural workers, the Garifuna people, a Jesuit radio station providing news coverage, teachers, doctors, feminists, protest singers, students and others. The resistance is still strong, even without Berta!  COPINH’s new chant is “Berta vive, vive! COPINH sigue, sigue!” “Berta is alive! COPINH will survive!”

Come join CRLN members to hear an update on post-

coup

Honduras in this election year in that country.

Time: 3:00 – 5:00pm

Place: La Parada, 2059 West 21st Street, Chicago (Pilsen neighborhood).   Near CTA Pink Line Cullerton stop

15:00

to

17:00

Join us! Únase a nosotrxs!

Travel with CRLN to the border, November 10-12!

SOA BORDER CONVERGENCE & ENCUENTRO 2017

CRLN will again take a delegation to Tucson and Sonora, AZ, and Nogales, MX, to participate in the US-Mexico Border Convergence, co-sponsored by SOA Watch. We reserved a block of hotel rooms and will arrange to rent a van for transportation between the cities in which activities will happen.

Scholarships are available!

This border mobilization is one more way to fight for the closure of the School of the Americas, and to work towards a world that is free of suffering and violence. We cannot forget that many of our immigrant brothers, sisters, and siblings are survivors of U.S.-sponsored atrocities in Latin America.

Join us!

Coordinate with CRLN to join or have your community join human rights activists, torture survivors, union workers, veterans, community organizers, migrants, faith communities, students and educators from across the Americas.

Will you go with us this year to call for an end to U.S. militarization, economic exploitation, and political intervention in Latin America and on the border?

Activities include a vigil at Eloy Detention Center, a vigil to close the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a march to the border wall, forums and workshops, concerts, and more!

See below for details and a schedule.

To coordinate with us and join CRLN on the border, contact our Immigration Organizer, Cinthya Rodriguez at

crodriguez@crln.org

or 773-964-6252.

Interested in joining in the U.S.-Mexico Border Convergence this year?

REGISTER HERE & JOIN CRLN’S DELEGATION

—

SOA Watch Demands:

• An end to U.S. economic, military and political intervention in Latin America and the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC)

• Demilitarization and divestment of the borders

• An end to the racist systems of oppression that criminalize and kill migrants, refugees and communities of color

• Respect, dignity, justice and the right to self-determination of communities

• An end to Plan Mérida and the Alliance for Prosperity

Weekend Program:

Friday, November 10 – Tucson, Arizona

8:00am     Welcome &

Registration

11:15am   Community Lunch Gathering

12:30pm   Forums & Workshops

4:00pm     Caravan to Eloy Detention Center

5:00pm     Vigil at Eloy Detention Center

9:00pm     Evening Concert

Saturday, November 11 – Nogales, Sonora/Arizona

8:00am     Welcome &

Registration

8:15am     Gathering for March

9:00am     Veteran-led March to the Border Wall

11:00am   Community Lunch Gathering

12:30pm   Forums & Workshops

5:30pm     Social Gathering

8:00pm     Evening Concert

Sunday, November 12 – Nogales, Sonora/Arizona

8:00am     Blessing

9:00am     Puppetistas!

10:00am   Speakers & Musicians

11:15am

No Más, No More

Litany

11:45am

Presentes

1:00pm     Encuentro Closing