Meet Colombian communities resisting repression

[roody]

Meet Colombian communities resisting repression

as they struggle to save the rainforest and family farms.

Witness for Peace Southwest

Delegation to Colombia

July 11 to 21, 2011

Many of the civilians murdered by Colombia’s armed forces and
paramilitaries are family farmers. While claiming to fight narcotics
and guerrillas, the Colombian army and its paramilitary allies have
driven subsistence farmers off their land to make way for
agribusiness. The proposed “free-trade” agreement (FTA) between
Colombia and the United States is the next step. If approved by the
U.S. Congress, the FTA will give wealthy investors increased power to
take over those lands.

In the region near Panama, paramilitary death squads and the
Colombian army’s 17th Brigade violently displaced 15,000 people in
1997 killing more than 100. Sustainable farms and forests were
replaced by large cattle ranches and monocrop plantations, especially
oil palm.
Despite death threats, some displaced people have returned in a
nonviolent effort to regain their stolen lands. While the courts
delay in restoring the land, the returning communities are
establishing a toe-hold in the region by forming humanitarian zones.
A humanitarian zone is a living area of a few acres surrounded by a
barbed wire fence. The community puts signs on the fence proclaiming
that this is a civilian zone, and nobody with a weapon is allowed
inside. Because threats continue, these communities rely on
international attention for their survival.

WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE DELEGATION:
Half the time, we will be in Bogotá, where the climate is cool and
comfortable. We will meet political analysts, human rights defenders
and government officials. The rest of the time we will visit
humanitarian zones in Urabá (the region near Panama) in the states of
Antioquia and Chocó. This trip can be physically challenging:
Participants must be capable of hiking with their gear (food, water,
sleeping equipment, etc.) on a muddy trail and sometimes sitting in a
cramped canoe. The climate is hot, humid, and mosquito infested.
Lodgings are simple. But it’s worth it in order to meet with
community members and learn about their lives and how they have
created such courageous communities. (Witness for Peace is careful
about security. Therefore, the possibility always exists that our
exact destination will change.)

Cost: $1450. This delegation fee covers all set-up, preparation,
meals, lodging, interpreters, and transportation within Colombia. The
fee also covers extensive reading and activist tools both before and
after the delegation. Airfare to and from Colombia is not included.
Applications are due by May 11, 2011 along with a nonrefundable
deposit of $150. The total is due June 11, 2011.

For more information about this delegation, please contact delegation
coordinator:
Patrick Bonner: 323-563-7940 [e-mail]

Witness for Peace is a politically independent, grassroots
organization. We are people committed to nonviolence and led by faith
and conscience. Our mission is to support peace, justice and
sustainable economies in the Americas by changing US policies and
corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in
LatinAmerica and the Caribbean. We stand with people who seek
justice. www.witnessforpeace.org

[Peace Patriot]

1. This got unrec'd by one of our RW nutjobs. I just rec'd it. Net: 0. Jeez.

How could anybody be against "meeting Colombian communities resisting repression as they struggle to save the rainforest and family farms"? How could anybody oppose understanding and helping some of the five MILLION peasant farmers who have been displaced in Colombia?

...except somebody working for U.S. war profiteers or U.S. multinational corporations, or so sponge-brained that they believe the propaganda from these entities.

i really don't like the "anonymous" unrecommend function at DU. I never use it, and I think it should NOT be anonymous. If somebody has something to say, or doesn't like a post, they should at least be required to disclose their DU name. The anonymity promotes mindless sabotage and is being used to try to limit rather than to enhance debate.

This mission to Colombia sounds like a very worthy cause. I wish I could go. Thanks for posting info about it!