Global Exchange staff all dressed up at 10th Annual Human Rights Awards gala

The Tenth Annual Human Rights Awards (HRA) was a spectacular success!

The sold out event included inspirational speeches by honoree Annie Leonard and Daniel Ellsberg who accepted the People’s Choice Award on behalf of Bradley Manning. The participation of the entire Global Exchange staff, board, and community made this night special.

So who showed up? Too many to name them all, but guests in attendance included friends and supporters from The Story of Stuff, Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist, Ben & Jerry’s, Sungevity, Aspiration, and many more. We  mixed and mingled with long-time Global Exchange supporters and welcomed the opportunity to meet lots of new people doing great work.

Thank you to our Sponsors and everyone who joined us at the HRA as we honored the work of:

Annie Leonard delivering inspiring speech

Story of Stuff Creator Annie Leonard — Annie inspired the crowd with her amazing passion for environmental health and justice. She has made it her life’s work to highlight important issues plaguing our world today. On Thursday night, she asked all of us to make the movement for justice go viral and inspire 15 million more people to action. Stay tuned and be ready to spread the upcoming video: The Story of Change.

Daniel Ellsberg Nixon-gesturing before delivering his speech on behalf of Bradley Manning

PFC Bradley Manning (accepted by Daniel Ellsberg) accused Wikileaks whistleblower. Daniel Ellsberg remarked that accepting the award on behalf of Bradley Manning was one of the greatest honors of his life. Keep up with the work of the Bradley Manning Support Network.

——–

All in all, the 10th Annual Human Rights Award Gala was a great time, from the delicious food and ‘Justice and Ginger’ signature cocktail, to the inspirational speakers and activities, including the “I am Bradley Manning” (and “We are Bradley Manning”) photo ‘booth’.

Thanks again to Ben & Jerry’s, Green Mountain Coffee, and all of our Sponsors and those who participated and helped make the 10th Annual Human Rights Awards such a special night.

We hope to see you next year. In the meantime, below are some photo highlights of our honorees, guests, friends and staff. The complete set of photos you’ll find on our Facebook page, so we encourage you to check those out!

2012 Human Rights Awards Gala — in Pictures

Annie Leonard and Kevin Danaher

Ashley from Care2 and Rae from CodePink

Father and son in front of San Francisco City Hall

Happy guests in front of San Francisco City Hall

Bradley Manning Support Network guests with People's Choice Award and Carleen Pickard

We are Bradley Manning photo booth in action

Ben & Jerry's Jeff Furman with Carleen Pickard

Global Exchange intern Sue with Daniel Ellsberg

—–

 TAKE ACTION!

Visit Facebook to see all the pictures from the 10th Annual Human Rights Awards.

Just this morning, Javier appeared on Democracy Now! to talk about the national emergency in Mexico and how the major mobilizations he has led to make visible the fear, suffering, and thirst for justice of thousands of families impacted by drug related violence in Mexico.

He went on to explain why the MPJD has chosen to cross the border to organize a major caravan in the U.S., the birthplace of the disastrous war for drug prohibition.

Watch the interview:

UPDATE: Watch the second part of Javier Sicilia’s interview on Democracy Now!

The MPJD invites North Americans from all backgrounds, walks of life, and a rainbow of communities to join them their cross-country cry for peace, justice and dignity.

This initiative seeks to promote dialogue with American civil society and its government regarding: the need to stop gun trafficking; the need to debate alternatives to drug prohibition; the need for better tools to combat money laundering; and the need to promote bilateral cooperation in human rights and human security in two priority areas: promotion of civil society and safety, as well as protection and safety for migrants.

Please join part or all of this caravan if you can. Meet us along the route. And even if you can’t go on the road you can support Global Exchange to make the caravan a success.

Sign up for our Mexico News email list to get the latest updates about the Caravan.

Fair Trade advocates are working hard to inspire as many folks as possible to participate in a Fair Trade event from May 6-20, so check out the Fair Trade Resource Network calendar to find an event in your area. Alongside more than 100,000 people across North America, we’re proud to take part.

Free Global Exchange eco-shopping totes

At the Global Exchange Fair Trade stores we’re excited to celebrate World Fair Trade Day two ways:

1) With every Fair Trade purchase of $20 or more May 19th & 20th we will give you a FREE Fair Trade eco-shopping tote.

These best selling totes are perfect for shopping your Fair Trade store or local farmers market.  Made from 100% cotton, hand-block printed, vegetable-dyed fabric scraps in India, the totes are colorful, functional and sustainable. Just mention this blog post at any of our stores in SF, Berkeley, D.C., or Arlington to receive your FREE gift! Offer available while supplies last.

2) For those in the Bay Area, join us at our San Francisco Fair Trade Store Tuesday May 15th from 5:30-6:30pm to hear Lata Kachhawan, founder of the artisan group SURE, the Society to Uplift Rural Economy, speak about her experience organizing artisans in northern India and the complications of Fair Trade today. Free Fair Trade coffee and chocolate will be served!

This event is part of a 10 day artisan tour sponsored by Handmade Expressions and Fair Trade Towns USA. Lata Ji’s visit to Global Exchange is just one stop during her trip on the way to the Fair Trade Federation Conference in Seattle, WA on May 22, 2012. (If you don’t live in the Bay Area but want to see her speak, check other the other cities she’ll be visiting here.)

Lata Kachhawan is a social activist with a passion for improving health, economy, education, drought relief and governance within her home region of Barmer, India.

The Fair Trade cooperative SURE, comprised of more than 600 women artisans, produces beautiful applique wall hangings, pillows and more available at the Global Exchange Fair Trade Stores. The income from the sales of these products has gone towards the installation of 100 solar lamps in remote Indian villages. SURE is a great organization that showcases the work of Fair Trade as a model of long-term economic development and Lata Ji is very in tune with the impact of trade and the challenges that exist in the process. So come out May 15th to hear first hand how Fair Trade impacts artisans and how we all can continue to improve the Fair Trade system.

We look forward to celebrating World Fair Trade Day with you!

Dr. Vandana Shiva

Reality Tours has explored the rich history, geographical beauty, vibrant culture and pressing social and ecological issues in India for over two decades.

This November we are honored to invite you on an organic journey of a lifetime called Sacred Seeding & the Rights of Nature, inspired by the special invitation by Dr. Vandana Shiva.

Vandana Shiva is globally renowned. As an activist she has coordinated, supported and learned from grassroots networks on a wide range of issues across India. As an advocate, especially in international flora, she has proved to be one of the most articulate spokespersons of counter-development in favor of people-centered, participatory processes. As an intellectual she has produced a stream of important books and articles, which have done much both to form and address the agenda of development debate and action.

Watch Dr. Vandana Shiva’s invitation here:

About the Sacred Seeding & the Rights of Nature Trip:

Learn about the struggles and success of those that  have pioneered the organic movement in India. Enjoy hands on opportunities to get in the fields of Dr. Shiva’s organization and farm Naydanya. Engage with the country’s biggest network of seed keepers and organic producers, for the conservation of indigenous seeds. Be inspired by the powerful potential of the Rights of Nature campaign and what it means for local communities and ecosystems, as well as the potential that these laws have for the whole planet.

Shannon Biggs

Reality Tours has visited Navdanya many times over the years. This year Dr. Shiva will spend four full days with us and will  be joined by our Global Exchange Rights of Nature expert, Shannon Biggs. Shannon’s  advocacy brings the global issues back to the global North where she is working to educate, organize and support communities to exert their rights in the face of globalization.

TAKE ACTION!

• Join us on this exciting new Reality Tour or customize your own!
• Get Involved with our programs and campaigns today!

Global Exchange Fair Trade stores in San Francisco, Berkeley, and the D.C. area will be having a special promotion on Saturday May 12 and Sunday May 13 to make your Mother’s Day shopping easy.  You get a FREE set of 6 cotton threaded bangles to match any selected scarf purchase of $20 or more. (Offer available while supplies last.)

To take advantage of our special Mother’s Day promotion–just mention “Mom’s Rule!”

Mayan weaver making San Antonio scarves

One example of the unique scarves available in our stores are the ones made in the village of San Antonio; located on the cliffs above Lake Antigua, Guatemala, where Mayan women weavers Marta Lopez, Nicolasa Sicay Sicajan and Florisanta Diaz Sicajan work with their community in the production of these colorful, 100% cotton scarves.

The women’s children run in and out of the open-air workshop, located in the center of their small town.  Wide windows open to grand views of the silver lake surrounded by volcanoes, where the indigenous Kakchiqueles people have practiced their traditional weaving for generations.

To make the scarves, first the women work together to spin and sort the cotton threads into careful color selections using a large handmade standing wheel.  With the help of the wooden wheel, the women can prepare thread for seventy scarves per rotation! Then they weave the prepared threads on majestic wooden foot looms (traditionally the work of men) into colorful scarves.

Each scarf takes about one hour to make once the thread reaches the loom. Since they are well-known in the area for their quality of weaving, the women are busy filling not only international orders but also local demand for specialty huipiles (the elaborate indigenous dress).

Cotton thread bangle bracelets from India--perfect for Mother's Day!

Also in celebration of Mother’s Day, Global Exchange brings you a beautiful selection of colorful thread bangle bracelets.  In the small village of Rajasthan, India, the craft of thread jewelry-making thrives.  One family, recognized for their thread craft, has carried on the tradition for more than 1,000 years. This extended family does the work of past generations, meticulously wrapping cotton and silk threads into necklaces, earrings, and bangles. Chai is poured as family members work in the comfort of each other’s homes. The women in the family make most of the business decisions, and the income from the family’s work supports a growing network of extended relatives and friends. The family takes great pride in their craft and being able to do what they have done best for centuries.

Global Exchange’s brightly colored cotton bangle bracelets keep alive this long family history of thread craftsmanship. In seasonal warm oranges, electric blues and a full spectrum of other colors, the soft cotton bangles are an easy, fun way to accessorize. Pair them with any of our wonderful scarves to take advantage of our special Mother’s Day promotion–just mention “Mom’s Rule!”

And have a Happy Mother’s Day!

Tell Me What Democracy Looks Like

In the past six months, the ideas of Occupy and the 99% have revolutionized the social dialogue of the U.S. in a way that has enthralled, enraged, and emboldened. Massive marches, rallies, and protests have acted as giant mirrors in which we catch a glimpse at just how many of us are completely fed up with the corrupt exploitative politics of ‘business as usual.’

Occupy and the 99% has offered a refreshed language and analysis for how we understand power politics. We have focused on creating shared space both on and offline in which we can trace and resist a vast constellation of impacts suffered by the 99% due to corporate greed. While this movement continues to evolve strategy, tactics, consensus practices, and creative outreach, its’ impact is already clear.

Though it many not be possible to all agree on everything all the time, most of us agree that the interests of the 99% are not being effectively represented in Congress, the White House, or in the Supreme Court. This crippling problem is not divided along party lines, either. It is a deeper fissure between a) the entrenched corporate interests who have manipulated the political system for their profit, and b) the rest of us.

When we follow the money on the Congressional campaign trail, it’s easy to see a glaring example of how corporate money is drowning out the needs and interests of the 99%. The largest campaign contributions to Congressional candidates of both parties consistently come from the finance, insurance, and real estate industry (the F.I.R.E. sector, including big banks). Once in office, these bought-and-sold legislators support and approve corporate-drafted policies that whittle away at our country’s safety nets and vital programs and instead fund bailouts that end up in big boss bonuses. What public services do you think of when you justify paying your taxes each year? Which of those services has been slashed lately?

Photo: memegenerator.net

So, is voting for the lesser of two evils really going to fix this problem? I think not. As stated by Occupy activist Max Berger in today’s Huffington Post, “We won’t just win by getting new players — we need to change the game. The system is fundamentally incapable of healing itself.”

Occupy struck a chord perhaps specifically because it identified a more fundamental problem than what can be voted in or out in 4 years, and we should continue this much-needed critique. Many have made the case for Occupy becoming a “left wing tea party” but Occupy doesn’t need to be a left wing Tea Party in order to impact the election. The sheer magnitude of a cultural mic check from the far-ish left has turned heads of both voters and politicians.

Historically, large social movements inevitably enable reform simply by being what they are: a mass movement responding to the injustices of the status quo. But the 99% can’t and won’t stop there.

We need to immediately Occupy Our Elections in order to approach having the real ability to Elect Democracy. We should engage with and impact elections by providing systemic analysis and exposing the impact of corporate campaign contributions, big budget corporate lobbying, and general ALEC-type corruption and collusion. Meanwhile, we can also simultaneously be creating new methods of meeting the needs of the 99% that can help make this broken system obsolete (so plant a garden, start a community health clinic, or meet your neighbors, to start). But let’s check in with the reality that building a new system is um, going to take a while, so in the meantime, register your discontent and go vote about it.

If there was ever a time to flex our power, it’s now. For all the fire and fury, for all the marches and mic checks, we have not yet “won.” Corporations still write policy, bank executives still get bonuses, and the rest of us are still fighting to keep our homes, pay off debt, find a job, get citizenship, make our own choices, and keep our families safe and healthy. Many of us are struggling to stay afloat.

Some of us in the 99% have taken outrage and protest directly to banks and big business and we’ve have had some wins. Corporate campaigning is indeed effective, and we should keep doing what works. Meanwhile, we also must address our deflated government and stop it from enabling ever-worse forms of corporate exploitation to take hold- not only here in the U.S., but abroad.

While we have every right to be disillusioned and skeptical, we have to take responsibility for the fact that the U.S. is driving war and destruction around the world through military romps, oil addiction, and deranged obsession with free trade at all costs. It’s time to show the 1% what democracy really looks like.

How do we create a system where it actually matters who you vote for? 

There is a reason that around the world, people have fought and even died for the right to vote. If voting didn’t matter, there wouldn’t be ongoing U.S. voter suppression issues that continue to this very day. We should trust our great grandmothers that fought so hard for this right, and honor those around the world who are still fighting.

So, let’s go for it. Occupy Our Elections. Let’s mic check media-laden debates with some real talk when talking heads are speaking for corporate funders and not for the 99%. Let’s tell politicians to spend their time in office making good policies, not fundraising for their campaigns! It’s time to go all out to fumigate corruption, pull away the smoke screens of the F.I.R.E. sector, demand accountability, utilize  transparency, and seed new, practical, short and long-term solutions.

We’ll help. Global Exchange is working on creating a toolkit where anyone anywhere can easily look up the Congressional politicians and candidates in their district and also trace their voting records on key issues. We’re researching to create a report on the Foul Five (five candidates who are the poster children for the corruption of corporate campaign contributions) and also profiling the Fair Five who are working on accountability to their constituents by not accepting finance sector contributions. We’ll be bringing the heat to bank-backed candidates on the campaign trail, and we would love for you to join us.

What else do you think we can do to Elect Democracy this year?

Medea Benjamin speaking out at the Wilson Center

Counterterrorism adviser John Brennan spoke at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington DC on April 30 to mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden. It was the first time a high level member of the Obama Administration spoke at length about the U.S. drone strikes that the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command have been carrying out in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

“President Obama has instructed us to be more open with the American people about these efforts,” Brennan explained.

I had just co-organized a Drone Summit over the weekend, where Pakistani lawyer Shahzad Akbar told us heart-wrenching stories about the hundreds of innocent victims of our drone attacks. We saw horrific photos of people whose bodies were blown apart by Hellfire missiles, with only a hand or a slab of flesh remaining. We saw poor children on the receiving end of our attacks—maimed for life, with no legs, no eyes, no future. And for all these innocents, there was no apology, no compensation, not even an acknowledgement of their losses. Nothing.

The U.S. government refuses to disclose who has been killed, for what reason, and with what collateral consequences. It deems the entire world a war zone, where it can operate at will, beyond the confines of international law.

So there I was at the Wilson Center, listening to Brennan describe our policies as ethical, “wise,” and in compliance with international law. He spoke as if the only people we kill with our drone strikes are militants bent on killing Americans. “It is unfortunate that to save innocent lives we are sometimes obliged to take lives – the lives of terrorists who seek to murder our fellow citizens.” The only mention of taking innocent lives referred to Al Qaeda. “Al Qaeda’s killing of innocent civilians, mostly Muslim men, women and children, has badly tarnished its image and appeal in the eyes of Muslims around the world.” This is true, but the same must be said of U.S. policies that fuel anti-American sentiments in the eyes of Muslims around the world.

So I stood up and in a calm voice, spoke out.

“Excuse me, Mr. Brennan, will you speak out about the innocents killed by the United States in our drone strikes? What about the hundreds of innocent people we are killing with drone strikes in the Philippines, in Yemen, in Somalia? I speak out on behalf of those innocent victims. They deserve an apology from you, Mr. Brennan. How many people are you willing to sacrifice? Why are you lying to the American people and not saying how many innocents have been killed?”

My heart was racing as a female security guard and then a burly Federal Protection Service policeman started pulling me out, but I kept talking.

“I speak out on behalf of Tariq Aziz, a 16-year-old in Pakistan who was killed simply because he wanted to document the drone strikes. I speak out on behalf of Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki, a 16-year-old born in Denver, killed in Yemen just because his father was someone we don’t like. I speak out on behalf of the Constitution and the rule of law.” My parting words as they dragged me out the door were, “I love the rule of law and I love my country. You are making us less safe by killing so many innocent people. Shame on you, John Brennan.”

I was handcuffed and taken to the basement of the building, where I was questioned about my background and motives. To their credit, it seems the Wilson Center thought it would not be good to have someone arrested for exercising their right to free speech, so I was released.

Brennan’s speech came the day after another U.S. drone strike in Pakistan, one that  killed three alleged militants. After the strike, the Pakistani government voiced its strongest and most public condemnation yet, accusing the United States of violating Pakistani sovereignty, calling the campaign “a total contravention of international law and established norms of interstate relations.” Earlier in April the Pakistani Parliament unanimously condemned drone strikes and established a new set of guidelines for rebuilding the country’s frayed relationship with the United States, which included the immediate cessation of all drone strikes in Pakistani territory.

The attacks in Pakistan, carried out by the CIA, started in 2004. Since then, there have been over 300 strikes. The areas where the strikes take place have been sealed off by the Pakistani security forces, so it has been difficult to get accurate reports about deaths and damages. John Brennan has denied that innocents have even been killed. Speaking in June 2011 about the preceding year, he said “there hasn’t been a single collateral death because of the exceptional proficiency, precision of the capabilities we’ve been able to develop.” Mr. Brennan later adjusted his statement somewhat, saying, “Fortunately, for more than a year, due to our discretion and precision, the U.S. government has not found credible evidence of collateral deaths resulting from U.S. counterterrorism operations outside of Afghanistan or Iraq.”

This is just not true. The UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism is the group that keeps the best count of casualties from U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. According to its figures, since 2004, U.S. has killed between about 2,500-3,000 people in Pakistan. Of those, between 479 and 811 were civilians, 174 of them children.

Shahzad Akbar, a Pakistani lawyer who has been representing drone victims and who started the group Foundation for Fundamental Rights, disputes even these figures and claims that the vast majority of those killed are ordinary civilians. “I have a problem with this word ‘militant.’ Most of the victims who are labeled militants might be Taliban sympathizers but they are not involved in any criminal or terrorist acts, and certainly not against the United States,” he claimed. He said the Americans often assumes that if someone wears a turban, has a beard and carries a weapon, he is a combatant. “That is a description of all the men in that region of Pakistan. It is part of their culture.” Shahzad believes that only those people who the Americans label “high-value targets”, which would be less than 200, should be considered militants; all others should be considered civilian victims.

While President Obama is gearing up for an election campaign and using his drone-strike killing spree to as a sign of his tough stance on national security, people from across the United States and around the world are organizing to rein in the drones.

Gathering in Washington DC on April 28-29, they came up with a new campaign to educate the American public about civilian deaths in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere as a result of the use of drones for illegal killing and to pressure members of Congress, President Obama, federal agencies, and state and local governments to restrict the use of drones for illegal killing and surveillance. The tactics include court challenges, delegations to the affected regions, direct action at U.S. bases from where the drones are operated, student campaigns to divest from companies involved in the production of killer drones and outreach to faith-based communities.

TAKE ACTION!

>If you would like to get involved, make sure to sign up here.

>Get your copy of Medea Benjamin’s book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. With your donation of $40 or more to Global Exchange we’ll send you a copy of this new release to thank you for becoming a Global Exchange member.

Tim Robertson

The following guest post by Tim Robertson, Director of the California Fair Trade Coalition, originally appeared on Huffington Post:

—

Why is the TPP Such a Big Secret?

Next week in Dallas, negotiations for what’s likely to be the largest Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in U.S. history will continue in near total secrecy, despite growing demands for an open process. The darkness surrounding the talks isn’t surprising, considering the American public’s increasing disapproval of FTAs and the laundry list of corporate handouts under discussion.

What is surprising is United States trade representative Ron Kirk’s growing crackdown on public involvement, despite claims of “unprecedented transparency.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP) is being negotiated as a nine country FTA between the U.S., Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Canada, Japan and Mexico are all expected to join talks, and many see more Pacific Rim countries including China and Russia eventually signing on. With floundering WTO talks, the TPP could very well establish U.S. trade policy for the next generation, yet all talks are happening behind closed doors and public influence has been increasingly suppressed.

Just this February, during unannounced TPP meetings in Los Angeles, the USTR apparently strong-armed the host hotel into canceling a health group-sponsored luncheon seeking to expose how Big Pharma’s patent rights demands challenge AIDS treatment worldwide.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox, itself lobbying for severe copyright measures, were permitted to give trade negotiators a multi-hour tour of their film-production facilities.

This lopsided allocation of influence has been standard for the TPP. Corporations and their lobbyists have seen consistent access to the negotiations — about 600 corporate advisors can review and comment on working TPP texts — and trade negotiators from partner countries.

The Washington International Trade Association’s “World Trade Reception” for Trans-Pacific FTA negotiators featured the A-Team of corporate lobby groups and some of the most powerful corporations in the U.S. hobnobbing amongst trade ministers, with nary a voice for the public, unions, environmental or public health groups.

So, what exactly is the USTR hiding? Well, there are quite a few damning secrets:

Secret No. 1: The TPP is covertly attacking the same internet freedom rights that spurred online protests over ACTA and SOPA.

Secret No. 2: The TPP would make it more enticing for corporations to offshore jobs by opening our market to Vietnamese labor, which has significantly lower average wages than China.

Secret No. 3: The TPP could be a death sentence to patients with AIDS, tuberculosis, and other treatable diseases around the world.

Secret No. 4: The TPP would ban capital controls and impose limits on financial regulation, including post-recession checks on firm size and risky investments.

Secret No. 5: Americans hate FTAs! Recent polls have found more than twice as many Americans think FTAs hurt than help, and 69 percent of Americans think they cost jobs, which they do.

The list goes on, as there are 26 separate negotiating chapters, covering issues as diverse as labor, environmental, and procurement rules, which just drew the ire of 69 Members of Congress.

Congress has also lamented the continued secrecy of the negotiations. After proposing Senate amendments forcing TPP transparency, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore) told Kirk, “I feel very strongly with respect to TPP about getting the proposals that you’re looking at… online so that the public can have a chance to be heard on it,” during a March Senate Finance Committee hearing.

None of this has dissuaded the USTR from the non-democratic nature of the talks. Starting in Dallas, he’s actually doubling down by eliminating the day-long stakeholder presentation program, leaving civil society just a side tabling session.

The only way the corporate shopping list that is the TPP can get past public scrutiny is if no one ever hears about it. Fortunately, activists are fighting back May 8 to 18 in Dallas, and an online petition has already garnered thousands of signatures calling on Kirk to release TPP proposals.

We’ve learned from past FTAs that exposure to the light of democracy can stop them in their tracks. The TPP is no different. Please help return democracy to trade talks by signing the petition and sharing this article.

Javier Sicilia builds support for this summer's Caravan for Peace

Javier Sicilia, poet and activist continued his tour this week to Los Angeles, El Paso and Tucson to bring people and issues together to pave the way for peace with justice and dignity.  As he boarded planes, sat in classrooms and stood in front of large audiences  his message continued to be that there is real human suffering behind the statistics coming across the border between US and Mexico.

As Carleen Pickard wrote in last weeks blog he reminds that there are over 60,000 Mexicans dead, 20,000 Mexicans disappeared and 250,000 Mexicans displaced from their homes because of the failed War on Drugs and that the government is incapable or unwilling to crack down on organized crime or investigate the deaths of the many innocent victims.

With a poet’s voice, Javier Sicilia, dressed in worn blue jeans, an old flannel shirt and his ever-present felt hat, tells the adoring audiences of immigrants and activists, some of whom are refugees from the violence, that the time has come to stop treating the drugs as a national security issue start dealing with them as public health issue.

At La Placita, a sanctuary church in the heart of Los Angeles, he was joined by a group of victims under a mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe with the US and Mexican flags framing the speakers. Candles and flowers commemorate the missing and the dead. One woman who lost her brother held up a small studio portrait of a young man dressed in blue sports clothing – another shed tears when she talked about the 20,000 people who have just disappeared. No one is looking for them and there is no place to put a flower and say a prayer. Javier embraces and kisses all the victims and the power of their collective grief transforms the individual sadness to a strong and clear call for action.

Procession on the Loyola campus

Loyola Marymount and Pomona College hosted Sicilia where students wrestled with their own complicity. We, in the US are the consumers of drugs, yet we don’t pay the real price. We import the drugs and export the arms — one is for personal pleasure and the other can only be used to harm another person. Dealing with US consumption of drugs and US gun trafficking are key to solving the problem.

Even Fox News  admits that after 40 years and 1 trillion dollars, the War on Drugs has failed to meet any of its goals. Still discussion of drug legalization continues to be an extremely difficult topic to broach in this country. Javier Sicillia suggests we start talking about drug regulation; about public health and safety and about our common humanity with the victims in Mexico as a way to start moving in another direction.

To start that discussion, he and a group of victims from the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD) have proposed a Caravan for Peace this summer, starting in Tijuana/San Diego on August 12th and ending in Washington DC on September 10th. This letter was released during the Los Angeles events, calling on civil society groups across the North America to support the Caravan. As the Caravan of buses and cars makes its way along the border between our two countries they will be meeting with community groups, putting faces to the statistics and sharing ideas about how to stop the flow of guns southward. As communities organized in an election year we can change the priorities from a futile War on Drugs to an investment in community development and justice.

In Los Angeles, 40 community groups were represented at an organizing meeting, including home town associations from Oaxaca and Zacatecas.

In El Paso, Javier was awarded the Voice of the Voiceless award from the Annunciation House, at a beautiful vigil marking the loss of over 10,000 lives since 2008 in Juarez/El Paso.  An installation projected a moving scroll of names on the house every night for a week while people brought flowers, mementos and other symbols to place on an altar in their memory.  Javier spoke about “Hope in the Midst of Violence” and the 400 guests lit candles and pledged to add their little light to the struggle.

In Tucson activists met with us and urged us to expand the network beyond the border region. “When I can’t get anyone to pay attention to another body in the desert, then we have truly lost our humanity’, said Mike Wilson human rights activist of the Tohono O’odham Nation who maintains water stations for migrants on the Tohono O’odham Nation. “We have to get the people outside of the border region to pay attention”

Do you live in one of the communities along the route? Let us know who we should be talking to about how the drug war affects your community, how we can stop gun violence and defend the security and dignity of immigrants. Find out more about the Caravan here.

The following is a guest post by Lori Grace.

—

Discovering the Health Effects of GMO (genetically modified organism) Plants:

I have always appreciated being able to read labels when buying my food.  I was happy to hear about a labeling proposition that was going to be put on the November ballot. I decided at that time to research the health effects of GMOs.  I found out that most of the studies have been done in foreign countries because of news and research suppression here in the US. As I began to study the health effects of GMO’s and then of Roundup and Bt insecticide, which is in GMO Bt plants I became even more concerned. Among other issues,I learned that Bt insectide could definitely cause multiple allergies and rashes in both animals and humans and definitely death in animals that ate harvested Bt cotton plants,  Roundup ready foods appeared to contribute to infertility, precancerous changes in the intestines and stomach linings of animals and humans and in some cases death in animals who were fed a great deal of Roundup ready food.

The New Life Form on GMO fields:

My concern reached a crescendo when I talked to Dr. Don Huber, Plant Pathologist and Professor Emeritus from Purdue University who has been studying a new organism in GMO fields that has never before been found on earth. I learned that is implicated in sudden death syndrome in soybeans, gall disease in corn, infertility, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, high spontaneous miscarriage rates and sudden infant death syndrome in  farm animals and humans.

In talking with Dr. Huber, I learned that this new unnamed organism is as small as the smallest virus, able to replicate rapidly like a bacteria, is highly infectious and cannot be killed by ordinary means like a prion. I learned that humans could possibly take this new organism into their intestines by GMO corn or soy, dairy or egg products from cows or chickens fed GMO feed, plants raised with compost from chickens or cows fed GMO feed, and possibly fish fed GMO corn and soybeans.

With respect to this unknown organism, I was particularly alarmed to hear that could not be killed by cooking. For example, a human could scramble an egg from a chicken fed this contaminated GMO feed, eat the egg and introduce this organism into his or her intestines which would then have the opportunity to reproduce rapidly and possibly create irritable bowel syndrome,chronic botulism in his or her intestines(producing fatigue), infertility, a miscarriage or sudden infant death syndrome to name only a few possibilities.

The Attacks on Scientists and the Suppression of Information on GMOs:

I was shocked to discover these things about GMO foods and dismayed to once more never read about it in the newspapers.  Then, in a subsequent call with Dr. Huber, I learned about the intense attacks on scientists all over the United States who have been coming up with ground-breaking research on GMOs and the suppression of the results of their research particularly in the US. I asked Dr. Huber how could I help. I wanted American citizens to have the information about food to make the best possible decisions if they were interested for their health. I decided to help a certain unnamed scientist whose research here in the US was about to be terminated by the university where he worked, since he was studying this unnamed organism. (unnamed because the DNA has not been determined effectively yet.) The research scientist could not go by his real name because there would be immediate suppression of his research if it were made public, I learned that the results of his research once completed could be published in France , Germany or Japan and be brought back via the internet.  His research would never be published in the prestigious magazines, Science , Scientific American or Nature.

The Ubiquitous Nature of Roundup and BT Insecticide:

I next started learning about the ubiquitousness of Roundup. I have learned that it is in air, rainwater,groundwater, lakes and streams.  I learned from a German study in the Ithaka Journal that Roundup in urine has been found in 100% of Germans tested in levels 5 to 20 times EPA allowable levels in drinking water. Since Germany imports only GMO soybeans for its cattle and does not allow any GMO food to be consumed by humans, I have found myself wondering how much Roundup would be found in the urine of Americans who eat many more GMO foods.

I learned that the address of the lab where this was done was kept secret even in Germany because of pressure the lab could experience from agro-chemical companies which might cause the studies to be discontinued or influenced in some way.

With the help of Dr. Huber, I then was able to find out the shocking news of extreme birth defects in Argentinian workers who are tending GMO Soybean fields. The pictures of their children in some cases with no arms or legs or with no eyes or a huge nose horrified me. I am aware that I have seen none of this information in American news.

With respect to Bt insecticide, I learned that it remains in the body, in contrast to the original claims of Monsanto.  A University of Sherbrooke Medical Center study with 69 women found that 93% of the women had  Bt insecticide in their blood. About half of the women were pregnant, 80% of the fetuses had Bt insecticide in their fetal blood sample. Margaret Laggis, who represents Monsanto said these women had gotten Bt insecticide by eating only organic foods which all of the women denied at the start of their study.

Roundup is Inescapable:

Overall, as someone who eats organically and filters her water, I thought I was better protected until today. Today, I read a medical study that if a person breathes even 1/450th o f the amount that is allowed to be sprayed as a herbicide, that in 20 minutes, DNA changes can be noticed in the mucosal linings of the tongue, lips, cheeks and nasal tissues of humans- changes that could become precancerous.  This study appeared in the February edition of the Journal of Toxicology.

Moving Forward:

With the news each day of the ubiquitous nature of Roundup and Bt insecticide and with the creation of new life forms that cause significant harm to animals, plants and humans I would really like to encourage the people of California to support the GMO labeling bill that will appear as a proposition on the California ballot in November of 2012. I do believe that we all need to know more about the GMO foods that have entered our food supply and have more access to knowledge about their effects.

—

Lori Grace has been an active environmentalist for the last twenty years. She has been increasingly alarmed about food safety and the extensive proliferation of pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified foods in our farms. She is also profoundly concerned with the suppression of information by both government and business that would help Americans to make informed choices about food. We invite you to share your thoughts about this post in the comments section.

Mother's Day Gift Membership Package

This Mother’s Day (which is Sunday May 13^th in case it slipped your mind:) the folks here at Global Exchange are making it super easy for you to shower your Mom with Fair Trade love.

How, pray tell?

Well, our development team has put together a sweet package called the Mother’s Day Gift Membership Package. It’s a unique gift containing selections made by women for women.

Cool, huh?

The package comes with Fair Trade items from across the globe, and includes a one-year membership to Global Exchange. The membership alone usually costs $35 bucks, but you get the whole Mother’s Day package for just $50 bucks. So it’s actually a pretty sweet deal.

Here’s what the package includes:

• Customized Global Exchange tote bag from Handmade Expressions women’s Cooperative in India
• 3.3 oz. Fair Trade Earl Gray Tea from Rishi Tea
• Handcrafted necklace from Ember Arts Jewelry, made by women artisans from Ugandan refugee camps
• 3.5 oz. Fair Trade chocolate bar from Divine Chocolate, a cocoa cooperative from Ghana
• Women of the World CD from Putumayo Music
• 1 year membership to Global Exchange

Membership to Global Exchange includes the following benefits:

• 10% discount at our Fair Trade Stores
• Timely E-mail Action Alerts and Mailed Newsletter
• Free Entrance to the Green Festivals

Ordering is a breeze; you just go online here, fill out the shipping/payment info, then sit back and relax knowing your Mom is about to be showered with Fair Trade gifts from YOU!

So click here to give this special gift to your mom. Oh, and do it soon. The last day to order for guaranteed Mother’s Day delivery is May 7^th.

My mom and me on a ferris wheel. Circa 2009

To my mom and all the moms out there, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Gandhi and the Spinning Wheel

Back in 1997 Reality Tours wanted to offer a tour of a lifetime to India that would inspire our members.

When we met Dr. Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and learned about the important work he was doing in the US and India we knew we had a wonderful partner.  We developed a plan; Arun would educate our participants about the philosophy and teachings of Gandhi as we journey to historic and cultural sites important in Gandhi’s life, while also witnessing his living legacy in the work of cooperatives, ashrams, schools and NGO’s throughout India.

Exploring Gandhi's Legacy

We’ve been partnering with Arun ever since. Together our Reality Tours have brought to life the importance of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence and self sufficiency.  For 15 years we’ve worked together on what Gandhi referred to as trusteeship.

Arun taught participants and Reality Tours trip leaders that each one of us has a talent that we have acquired or inherited, and that we can use this gift to achieve our goals, for personal gains or in service to others.

Last month, Arun let us know that moving forward the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute (GWEI) will be organizing The Gandhi Legacy Tour on its own, apart from Reality Tours. Though a bittersweet moment it was to hear this news and it will be quite a change for us, we recognize that GWEI has grown and built the capacity to support all the administrative details and logisitcs it takes to organize a tour.

Arun and Gandhian Legacy Tour Delegates Bringing in the New Year

Arun and the GWEI have the expertise and the experience to handle the tour.  Reality Tours thus congratulates the GWEI! May the next 15 years of the Gandhian Legacy continue to educate and inspire all who participate to truly “be the change we want to see in the world”!

With almost 100 departures a year, it is easy for you to Meet the People, Learn the Facts, and Make a Difference on a Reality Tour this year!

Global Exchange board member Ann Wright

The following guest post by Global Exchange board member Ann Wright originally appeared on MichaelMoore.com.

Bradley Manning was recently chosen as  Global Exchange’s Human Rights Awards People’s Choice Winner. The award will be presented at the 2012 Human Rights Awards gala on May 10th in San Francisco and will be accepted on Bradley Manning’s behalf by special guest Daniel Ellsberg.

—
The Government’s Warning to Bradley Manning and Others: “Tell on us, and we will put you behind bars for the rest of your life”

The pre-trial hearings for alleged Wikileaks whistleblower US Army PFC Bradley Manning hold some lessons for us all.

One of the issues discussed in Manning’s April 25 pre-trial hearing has relevance for all of us. If soldiers or other government employees expose on the internet or in interviews with journalists government malfeasance, should that person be charged with “aiding and abetting the enemy?” Even if a soldier has no intent to give information to an “enemy,” no “evil intent,” but the enemy could possibly have access to the interview by buying a newspaper that contains the interview, or accesses it on the internet, should the government employee be prosecuted for “aiding and abetting the enemy?”

What if the government is more fearful of its citizens than of al Qaeda and the Taliban and attempts to silence the whistleblowers in the government who alert the citizens of the wrongdoings of its government?

What if the government does not want to hold accountable those in government who are violating regulations and laws?

The prosecution in the Bradley Manning trial is arguing that soldiers should know that the “enemy” uses the internet and can easily find derogatory or negative comments from military personnel and use them to find weaknesses in military units, strategies, policies.

Does that mean that a soldier, government employee, or for that matter, anyone not even in government who talks about the monstrously high levels of post-traumatic stress in our military or talks about 18 military and veterans committing suicide a day, or anyone who identifies cost overruns in virtually every government program is subject to the charge of “aiding and abetting the enemy.”

I recently inadvertently and fortuitously ended up at a meeting with a US State Department sponsored group of young professionals from the Middle East who were brought to the United States to learn more about our country. I mentioned that I was attending the hearings for the alleged Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning.

The reaction of the group was stunning. Immediately hands for questions went up—the questions began with a comment—“Without Wikileaks, I would never have learned what my own governments was doing, its complicity in secret prisons and torture, in extraordinary rendition, in cooperation in the US wars in the region. Wikileaks exposed what our politicians and elected officials are doing. Without Wikileaks, we would never have known!”

And that is what Bradley Manning’s trial is all about and what the charges against six other government employees who face espionage allegations for providing information the government classified to protect its own wrongdoings -to silence other potential government whistleblowers.

Only two persons in our government have had the courage to risk life imprisonment to leak massive amounts of government documents. Daniel Ellsberg leaked thousands of documents that revealed the sordid history of the US involvement in Vietnam and who President Nixon labeled for his actions “the most dangerous man in America.”

And now, Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of documents that reveal war crimes in the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and questionable US diplomatic policies and duplicity with governments around the world.

The charges of “aiding and abetting the enemy” and of espionage are meant to threaten any others who might find the evidence of government criminal actions and alert the American public.

The unmistakable warning is “don’t tell on us, or we will put you behind bars for the rest of your life.”

—

About the Blogger: Global Exchange board member Ann Wright is a retired US Army Colonel who spent 29 years in the US Army and Army Reserves. She resigned from the State Department on March 19, 2003 in protest of the invasion of Iraq. Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace. Ann has been on delegations to Iran, was in Gaza three times in 2009, and was an organizer for the Gaza Freedom March. She was on the 2010 Gaza flotilla that was attacked by the Israeli military and on the Audacity of Hope boat which was part of the Freedom Flotilla in 2011. She lives in Honolulu.

—

Attend the 2012 Human Rights Awards gala: Global Exchange is proud to honor Bradley Manning as its 2012 Human Rights Awards People’s Choice recipient.

Find out all about this exciting awards event here and purchase tickets here.

Fair Trade Mothers Day Gift Package

Mother’s Day Fair Trade Gift Membership Package

Mother’s Day is Sunday May 13th and the folks here at Global Exchange are making it super easy for you to shower your Mom with Fair Trade love. Our development team has put together a sweet gift idea called the Mother’s Day Fair Trade Gift Membership Package. It’s a unique gift package with Fair Trade selections made by women for women.

The package comes with Fair Trade items from across the globe, and includes a one-year membership to Global Exchange. The membership alone is usually $35 bucks, but you get the whole package for just $50 bucks.

Here’s what’s in the package; a customized Global Exchange tote bag from Handmade Expressions women’s cooperative in India, a box of Fair Trade earl grey tea from Rishi Tea, a handcrafted necklace from Ember Arts Jewelry made by women artisans from Ugandan refugee camps, a yummy 3.5 oz. Fair Trade chocolate bar from Divine Chocolate, a Women of the World CD from Putumayo Music, plus the 1 year membership to Global Exchange which comes with lots of additional benefits.

Ordering is a breeze; you just go online here. The last day to order for guaranteed Mother’s Day delivery is May 7th.

Finalists for “Best in Fair Trade” Awards 

Fair Trade Resource Network Executive Director Jeff Goldman shares news about the Best in Fair Trade Awards:

Congratulations to the 14 finalists of “Best in Fair Trade” Awards! Finalists were selected from 46 organizations suggested by 60 public nominations. Public voting to pick 1 winner for each category runs through today (April 30.) By May 5, we’ll announce the winners on our website.

FTRN created the contest since no awards existed to honor organizations across all major Fair Trade recognitions. Winners will be celebrated during World Fair Trade Day in May.

The 2012 Fair Trade Spring Gift Guide is Out

Thanks to Brittany Smith, Fair Trade Federation’s Administrative Assistant for sharing this one:

An exciting publication has been just released by the Fair Trade Federation (FTF).  Our 2012 Fair Trade Spring Gift Guide is a collection of Fair Trade gifts especially for Mother’s and Father’s Day.  These stylish gifts are handmade by craftspeople and farmers in developing countries and produced under fair trade principles.

All of the gifts in this guide are sold by fully committed Fair Trade Organizations — members of the Fair Trade Federation — so you can feel confident that they make a difference in lives of artisans and farmers around the world.  These gifts are a great way to show appreciation for parents, grandparents, and other loved ones this spring, while making a positive impact on mothers, fathers, and families across the globe.

FTF’s gift guide can be found here.  So all you Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gift Shoppers check out the 2012 Fair Trade Spring Gift Guide, a handy resource for spotting ethically produced gift ideas that rock.

World Fair Trade Day is Coming up Fast

World Fair Trade Day is the largest Fair Trade event of the year in N. America. So when is it?

World Fair Trade Day falls on May 12th this year, but events will be taking place from May 6-20th. According to FTRN, a record # of events and participants are expected for World Fair Trade Day 2012.

Here’s a great place to go if you’re looking to get involved in WFTD 2012.

FAIR TRADE IN THE NEWS …

• Co-operative News:  Starbucks first in Fairtrade fund to help farmer co-operatives
• DW (Deutsche Welle): Fair trade isn’t meant as a donation
• Easy Bay Express: Fair Trade USA’s Coffee Policy Comes Under Fire
• Ecologist: Ethical jewelry: what to ask and what to buy
• Entreprenuer.com: Fair Trade’s Growing Pains: Pivoting a Successful Model
• Fair Trade Judaica: Next Year – Fair Trade Kosher for Passover Chocolate
• Fresh Plaza: Fairtrade growing in Germany 
• Glam.com: Club Monaco’s Fair Trade Beach Boutique
• Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Blog: MADE IN CHINA…Or Is It? The Outsourcing Rabbit Hole
• Just Means: FLO, Fair Trade USA, and Starbucks: A Critique (Part 4)
• MarketWatch:  Fairtrade Access Fund To Provide Long-Term Loans To Smallholder Farmers
• MarketWatch: Hershey’s Second CSR Report Shows Substantial Progress on Sustainability Initiatives
  
• The Packer: Fair Trade USA produce imports post huge increase
• Treehugger: Fair Trade Chocolate, Tea, Spice and Coffee Sales Jump 75 Percent, Study Says

THE FAIR TRADE ROUNDUP AND YOU!
•    Subscribe to our Fair Trade blog to receive new Fair Trade blog posts automatically.
•    News to share? If you’ve got big Fair Trade news to share, email me.
•    Enjoy this Fair Trade Roundup? Then click the Share and Tweet buttons on the top right of this post to share with others. Thanks!

Daniel Ellsberg Photo Credit: www.ellsberg.net

Daniel Ellsberg is a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful U.S. interventions and the urgent need for patriotic whistleblowing with an interesting background of his own. From Daniel Ellsberg’s website:

In 1967 Ellsberg worked on the top secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to the New York Times, the Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. His trial, on twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

Hope to see you! So, if you find yourself in the California Bay Area on May 10th, we hope you join us at the historic Green Room (401 Van Ness) in San Francisco from 6PM – 8:30PM for this fabulous Human Rights Awards Gala. Awaiting you will be drinks, passed appetizers, and the opportunity to mingle with awardees, Global Exchange staff, and other progressives.

And there’s a silent auction? Yep, for the cherry on top of this delicious evening, there will also be a silent auction featuring lots of incredible items up for auction at great prices during the awards gala. Last year’s auction included fine artwork, Fair Trade gift baskets, getaways and more. I wonder what tempting auction items there will be this year. Come out on May 10th to find out. I look forward to meeting some of you there.

That's me with a few of my personal heroes Ben & Jerry and Kevin Danaher at the 2011 Human Rights Awards

TAKE ACTION!

• Get Tix: 2012 Human Rights Awards Tickets
• Find out more: More about the 2012 Human Rights Awards
• See pics from last year: Photos from the 2011 Human Rights Awards Gala on Facebook 

SF Earth Day Celebration

I celebrated Earth Day along with hundreds of other earth-conscious individuals at San Francisco’s Civic Center/UN Plaza. Everyone came out that day under a common idea: we live in a wondrous community of life that is planet Earth and that community deserves our awe, respect, and attention. There was an array of speakers and musical performances as well as booths and vendors featuring local non-profit organizations, green businesses, and organic food.

I participated in a panel discussion at the celebration on Sunday around the question of “co-creating our sustainable future – what are the successful tools for coalition building and collaboration both within and beyond your organization’s work?” I was joined by leaders of the non-profit environmental movement including Rolf Skar from Greenpeace, Sarah Hodgdon of the Sierra Club, and Kevin Connelly from the Earth Island Institute.

It was insightful to hear about the different work that each of us is doing to make the future of the planet and us humans that inhabit it more sustainable and less destructive. There was one common thread throughout the discussion and that was: in order to ensure a positive future for people and the planet we must figure out how to live in balance – or in ‘harmony’ – with nature. And, in doing so, we must also learn how to work in harmony with one another towards the common goal of protecting and conserving Mother Earth and the resources that our human societies depend on for survival.

I spoke about how the emerging global movement for community and nature’s rights works to build coalitions and develop collaborations with a wide variety of groups. Our present-day global economic system and indeed our structures of law have been built upon a mindset that places humans not just apart from, but actually above nature. We codify our values in our laws and so in order to change the system, we must transform the laws that govern it.

Polar bears making a point about climate change at Earth Day

We are building a movement and there is a role to play for everyone.

The idea of organizing to actually challenge our current structures of law to recognize that nature itself has inherent rights to exist, thrive, and flourish is a big one.  We must ask ourselves the following question: If Rights of Nature is to succeed as an alternative framework to our current property-based system of law, how are we going to implement it?

The movement for nature’s rights is unique in its ability to be all-inclusive because the dire need to better protect the environment and the concept of ‘rights’ is something that everyone can understand and agree upon, despite different political beliefs or affiliations. . Most people know that allowing decision-making based on money, greed or narrow self-interest to sacrifice the well being of the planet is foolish, they just can’t see how to move to a better way of doing things.

This is because our current structures of law actually facilitate the on-going exploitation of nature. Climate change, water withdrawal, and deforestation are all symptoms of the same problem; that communities do not have the right to make decisions about how to protect the environment under the current system. Instead, this right is reserved for corporations and the state.

In addition to our coalition building with communities, policy makers, indigenous allies, and climate justice allies, I also spoke about the role of small farmers in creating viable alternative systems to corporate-dominated agriculture. If large, corporate factory farms are not what we want our food system to look like then what is the alternative? The answer lies in small, community-based farmers selling, growing, and sharing their own food.  Food sovereignty is a growing issue for communities across CA (and the rest of the world) and we have been getting an increasing number of calls from places like Nevada City, and Mendocino, CA, where citizens are looking to pass a law that asserts their right to local food sovereignty without interference from government regulations and raids on small farms.

Occupy the Farm banner

Occupy the Farm

Meanwhile on Earth Day, across the Bay in Albany, California, the Occupy Movement was taking a stand for local food sovereignty by taking over a portion of property known as the ‘Gill Tract’. It is the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay. The owner of the land, UC Berkeley, plans to sell the property to Whole Foods to open a new retail store. For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. In solidarity with Via Campesina, “Occupy the Farm” is a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists that have begun planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract. Over 300 people turned out on Sunday to help plant seeds and till the land.

The goals of “Occupy the Farm” echo the calls of communities across California and the US that there is a dire need for people to have access to uncontaminated land for farming if we are to reclaim control over how food is grown and where it comes from. That sustainable, community-based farming is the best alternative to corporate control (and poisoning) of our food systems.

Citizens tilling the land at Occupy the Farm

The time for a new system is now and the well being of the planet, our health, and that of future generations absolutely depends on it. We are up against an enormous task to remove the power of decision-making from profit-driven corporations (and the state) and put it back in the hands of people and communities, thereby enabling us to co-create our sustainable future.

TAKE ACTION!

•    Watch this video documenting the first day of Occupy the Farm.
•    Learn more about the movement for Community and Nature’s Rights.

Javier Sicilia with Juan Mora, from DePaul University in Chicago

Javier Sicilia’s message to the audiences of four public events in Chicago, IL was clear and powerful;

“In 1994 subcomandante Marcos introduced the Zapatistas to the world, declaring Mexican President Salinas’ signing of NAFTA opened ‘the gates of hell’ for Mexico, and now Mexico is living in that hell.”

He begins every speech quoting terrifying statistics: Since 2006, there are 60,000 Mexicans dead, 20,000 Mexicans disappeared and 250,000 Mexicans displaced from their homes, all a result of a drug war launched by a deaf and dumb government. And there is no end in sight. More than 98% of homicides committed in Mexico are never resolved. He brings home the message that if anyone in the audience decided to kill someone in Mexico, there would be less than 2% chance of ever being held accountable.

The cost of the war reflected in these numbers has grown inexorably since last year when the respected poet announced to an adoring Mexican public that he was putting aside his poetry to protest the government’s complicity with organized crime and inexcusable inaction in investigating the deaths of those killed in drug war related violence.

Altar outside of the Municipal Palace in Cuernavaca Morelos, with names and pictures of drug war related victims

Javier’s son Juan Francisco was murdered along with six friends on a fateful night in March of 2011 in Temixco, Morelos. Suddenly, Javier –who had long been active in Mexico’s cultural and political life — became the voice for a movement led by people who are simply called ‘las victimas’.

He is emphatic that the statistics don’t convey the real picture. He says that the face of the person who suffered ‘one death’ or ‘one disappearance’ is one person who had a character, a personality and merits justice. One death represents a family torn apart in grief. The fact that more than 98% of the time those seeking answers from authorities get no satisfaction adds to their pain and misery. One disappeared person represents a family consumed with fear and unanswered questions. One displaced family lives in constant upheaval and suffering. In short, the statistics are overwhelming but even one is too many.

The public events were co-sponsored by the National Museum of Mexican Art, UIC (Latin American and Latino Studies Program), DePaul University and The Resurrection Project and well attended by students, activists and members of the Latino community in Chicago. In each speech Javier repeated the urgent demands of the Mexico-based Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity – the organization of victims that came together last year to declare Estámos hasta la Madre/We Are Fed Up (with the drug war) – to the Mexican and US governments. The Pacto Nacional (link in Spanish) was signed May 12, 2011 with the following demands:

• End the drug war, a failure of tragic proportions;
• End the easy access to high-powered weapons that facilitates weapons smuggling;
• Crack down on those who help criminal enterprises by laundering money;
• Defend the human security and dignity of immigrants;
• End US support for the militarization of Mexico.

Mothers of disappeared victims, criticizing the government’s inaction to investigate their missing loved ones

In Mexico, the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity is campaigning for approval of the Ley de Victimas this week. This law would place new responsibility on the government to investigate drug war related crimes and provides a fund for impacted families.

Carrying the voices of las victimas to the United States, Javier is widening the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity’s profile and building support for a US Peace Caravan this summer (link in Spanish). Javier and the Caravan will cross the United States in cars, buses, and RVs joined by victims of drug war related violence from Mexico, supporters, activists and journalists. The Caravan will stop at key cities along the route for public conferences, demonstrations and meetings with key local leaders.

TAKE ACTION!

• For more information about Javier Sicilia’s speaking events in the USA, click here.
• For more information about the US Peace Caravan, click here.

Earth Day is a time to reflect on how we get to take action for a better planet. It should also be a time when we consider those whose human rights and democratic rights are suppressed in such a way that they are not able to take action for a better planet. One such person is the rightful and recent President of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed.

Nasheed, who served as the fourth president of the Maldives from 2008 to 2012, was the first democratically elected president of this small Muslim nation in several decades. He was forced to resign in February 2012,  in a coup d’etat. His predecessor was a ruthless dictator who had had Nasheed tortured and placed in solitary confinement for being an activist and a dissident journalist. When Nasheed became what he calls the “accidental president” following a political campaign that was given great momentum by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, he set about facing the biggest threat to his country: climate change.

Nasheed famously brought attention to the cause by holding an underwater cabinet meeting near a coral reef (probably one of the most photographed government events in the country), in which he and his ministerial colleagues wore SCUBA gear while signing documents with waterproof ink against the backdrop of a coral reef. He championed climate protection at the international conferences on the subject during his presidency. This became the subject of a recent documentary film on the subject titled The Island President, which you should try to see if you can.

Perhaps his greatest effort to respond to the climate crisis was a plan to make the Maldives the first carbon-neutral country on Earth. Toward this end Nasheed jumped at the offer we at Sungevity made, in conjunction with our friends at 350.org, to put a solar electric solution on the presidential palace, a beautiful colonial building built by the British in downtown Malé, the capital of Maldives and home to about one-third of its population. Most of these people probably pass the palace every day on their way to work or school or the beach; it’s on a small island of 150,000 people, and the Muleaage, as it’s known in the local language, is right in the middle of the city. As such it was the ideal place for the president to kick off his efforts to take his country solar.

Sadly, those efforts have been set aside as he was removed from power. He is now agitating for new elections and when he wins plans to pick up where he left off by taking more buildings and whole islands in the Maldives of diesel-based electricity and onto solar. It will save his country money and demonstrate that we can get off our addiction to fossil fuels. You should consider it too – and if you go solar through Sungevity you can support Global Exchange at the same time. Every customer who gets a Sungevity solar system that is reading this can raise more than $500 for Global Exchange. See this link to understand how it works.

As in the Maldives, the model of fossil-fuel import dependency is entirely untenable. For Nasheed it is so from a national security point of view and as an economic proposition going forward. If the price of oil were to exceed $100 per barrel for an extended period of time, the country would go bankrupt. Then the oil industry would no longer deliver the fuel by ship, and the country would be left without electricity. So the president’s push to get solar energy adopted across the country make sense; indeed, it makes dollars and sense. Get a Sungevity iQuote at this website and you’ll see that it does for you too.

Shine on.

Grand Prize, "Peace is in Our Hands" by Amanda Mckenna of Sacramento, CA

What About Peace?, the art contest that asks youth ages 14–20 to answer this question creatively is pleased to announce the 2012 winners.

Hundreds submitted entries, and after months of jurying, judging and photographing we are ready to reveal the inspiring work of  this year’s contestants, as they think about what peace means in 2012.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners. Below is a list of winners; our grand prize winner along with the first and second place winners for each category, plus honorable mentions in each category.

Check out the What About Peace Facebook page for a peek at some of this years colorful, thought-provoking visual entries.

We will continue to showcase the creative entries through the end of the school year on our What About Peace website. You can go there now to see the first installment of all of our amazing and inspiring entries. Then keep checking back for future entries!

In the meantime, without further ado, here this year’s winners:

2012 Grand Prize Winner:

Amanda McKenna 17 years old, from Sacramento, California: “Peace is in Our Hands” sponsored by Deborah George of Sheldon High School.

First Prize Visual Arts: Paisley Hiefield, 16 years old

First Prize Visual Arts:

Paisley Hiefield, 16 years old from Portland, Oregon: “Release More Peace” sponsored by Annarose Pandey of West View High School

Second Prize Visual Arts: Jessica Tilley, 16 years old from Battle Creek Michigan: “Peace Has No Limit” sponsored by Rebecca Gardner of Harper Creek.

First Prize Written:

Emily Council, 17 years old from Wiliamsburg, VA: “Reality Check” sponsored by Moncia Schauffler of Lafayette High School.

Second Prize Written:

Simran Khanal, 15 years old from Bennington, NE: “A New Kind of Peace”, sponsored by Deborah Ward of Burke High School.

Honorable Mentions Visual Arts:

• Dana Ser, 16, Levittown, NY “Breathe in War, Breathe out Peace”
• Alayna Miller, 17 Battle Creek, MI “Take Time to Converse about Peace”
• Nhi Nguyen, 15 San Diego, CA “The Letter of Peace”
• Baylee Kentner,, 15 Levittown, NY “Represent Peace”
• Camille Mason, 16 Chattanooga TN “Peace on Earth”
• Ashley Hand, 16 Chattanooga, TN “Heartbeat?”
• Mary Hare, 17 Portland, OR “We Stand For Peace”
• Angeleena Tiaokhiao, 14 San Diego, CA “We Are Peace”
• Katie Lober, 17 Odenville, AL “Share the Peace”
• Alexander Setzer, 16 Baltimore, MD “A Piece on Peace”
• Jacob Reynolds, 16, Concord, CA “Peace is in our Reach”
• Alice Witham, 17, Portland, OR “Peace Comes from Within”
• Veronica Stamp, 17 Oneonta, NY “It isn’t Enough..”
• Brenna Rathbone, 16 Oneonta, NY “Holding the World Together, One Hand at a Time”
• Ansley Pearson, 14 Chatttanooga, TN “Let Peace Fly Free”
• David Vieira, 16 Parlin, NJ “Why Not Try Peace”
• Rausan Bonijerai, 18 , Locust Valley, NY “Peace, love, peace, love”
• Emma Black, 17, South Abington, PA “Together we Can find the Missing Peace”
• Mallory Hiefield, 16 Portland, OR “It Starts with You”

Honorable Mentions Written:

Essay:

• David Arellano, 15 Ooltewah, TN “What About Peace”
• Changwoo Hong, 16, Winona, MN “ Promoting Peace”
• Hyuntuek Huang, 16, Winona, MN “Peace Sign (V sign)”
• Lynzee Matousek, 18 Omaha, NE “My Peace”
• Jacqueline Naganuma, 17 Beaverton, OR “Peace, What About It?”
• Amelia Nichols, 15, Winona, MN “Peace is Possible”
• Nicolo Odorizzi, 17 Omaha NE, “Peace”
• Cecilia Perez, 17, Salinas, CA “Give Peace a Chance”
• Alexander Peterson, 16 Omaha, NE “Peace and War”
• Nick Thurber,16 Omaha, NE “A Piece of Mind”
• Joseph Tlougan, 16, Winona,MN “Untitled”
• Michael Yoon, 16, Winona, MN “Untitled”

Poetry:

• Samantha Adams, 16, Baltimore, MD “One World Peace”
• Emily Banat, 17 Omaha NE, “The Implications of ‘Peace”
• Rachel Chuang, 17 Great Falls, VA “Perched on the Window”
• Lauren Cooper, 17 Omaha, NE “The First One Home”
• Eric Keisling, 18 Omaha, NE “Something to Fight For”

Short Story:

• Erin Brown, 16 Omaha, NE “That One Person”
• Hannah Combs, 15 Chattanooga, TN “Why Can’t There Be Peace?”
• Kathryn Gunderson, 16 Seaford, NY “City of Peace”
• Stephen Skelly, 16, Levittown, NY “Stockholm Syndrome”

Creating the Tassa Tags at the Regina Center

Do any of you intrepid Reality Tours travelers need a new luggage tag? If so we strongly recommend you purchase a Tassa Tag. Here’s why:

TassaTag is a special luggage tag that helps you claim your luggage more easily and is a visible voice against child sex tourism for the travel industry.

Tassa Tag is a project of ECPAT-USA and stands for Travelers Take Action Against Sex Slavery and Trafficking. TassaTags are big, bright  4”x6” hand-woven cotton, fair-trade luggage tags.

The TassaTag project raises funds (in the US) for the following purposes:

• To train people in the Travel Industry to take an active role against sex tourism.
• To Inform the public that sex with children is against the law everywhere, and if caught the person will be prosecuted and extradited to their home country, if necessary.
• To mobilize congress against child sex tourism

Five colorful TassaTags

While the mission is compelling enough today it is the motivation behind the tags and the personal passion of  the founder of the project, Brenda Hepler that we wanted to share with you.

When asked what motivated the her to get involved Brenda states:

“ The horror of a child being a sex slave was so horrendous to me, I could not turn away.  So I created the TassaTag, was led to the Regina Center where the women perfected the prototype, and then gave them to ECPAT-USA where I continue to volunteer as the director of the TassaTag Project.”

TassaTags provide work with dignity for women at the Regina Center in Nongkai, Thailand and funds the pre-schooling for their children.

At Global Exchange we know the power of Fair Trade and advocacy. When you support Tassa Tag you support ECPAT-USA’s work to raise awareness of the sexual exploitation of children in the travel industry and the community they employ in Nongkai.

TAKE ACTION!

• Become a visible voice against the sexual trafficking of children while finding your bags easily by picking up a TassaTag of your own;
• Learn more about efforts to combat human trafficking on an advocacy Reality Tour!