Javier Sicilia and fellow activists during Peace Caravan in L.A.

The Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity is on the road! Starting on Sunday August 12th, the Caravan lead by Javier Sicilia and Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity is traveling across the United States calling for an end to the drug war.

Who’s behind the Caravan? The Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity and Global Exchange are proud to partner with a broad, growing coalition of groups dedicated to changing our national debate on the Drug War.

More than 80 victims of Mexico’s drug war who traveled across the US/Mexico border to take part in the Caravan have been joined by others (including some Global Exchange staff and interns) north of the border to urge the U.S. public to rethink the failed strategies of the war on drugs. Victims of the violence in Mexico are speaking at stops along the way, to share their testimonies of suffering and courage.

John Lindsay-Poland of Fellowship of the Reconciliation getting tied up during action in front of L.A. city hall.

Global Exchange’s Zarah Patriana who is in LA with the Caravan described the scene today; “The weather continues to be hot, but the caravan marches on!”

Caravan participants gathered at City Hall for a portion of the day’s ‘s activities. A handful of activists including GX friend John Lindsay-Poland of Fellowship of the Reconciliation got tied up for an action in front of city hall representing the number of people who have disappeared — desaparecidos.

Earlier in the morning the L.A. City Council passed a resolution supporting the Caravana.

In the news…

There has been a ton of press coverage for the Caravan thus far. Here’s just a sampling:

• CNN: Mexican poet prepares U.S. peace march
• LA Opinión: Hollywood joins the Caravan for Peace headed by Sicilia (Spanish)
• The Nation: Can the Caravan of Peace End the War on Drugs?
• Los Angeles Times: Mexican activist, poet brings Caravan for Peace to U.S.
• AFP: Drug war ‘peace caravan’ woos Hollywood

Listen Up!

This Soundcloud audio clip from KPFA 94.1-FM in Berkeley is a great listen! Victims of US/Mexico Drug War Lead Caravan for Peace  

Picture this:

Check out some of the photos from the Caravan journey thus far on Facebook  or Flickr.

TAKE ACTION!

Follow the Caravan on…

• Twitter: @CaravanaUSA
• Facebook: Facebook.com/Caravan4Peace
  
• Caravan for Peace website:  caravanforpeace.org
  
• Global Exchange People-to-People blog: Caravan Road Reports or Subscribe via RSS to receive new posts automatically

Lend Your Support: Donations are still being accepted to help fund this important trip. Will you give?

There they will meet their new travel companions (including several Global Exchange staff and interns) and begin a month-long journey across the United States in a Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity and urge U.S. public to rethink the failed strategies of the War on Drugs.

The Caravan will begin in San Diego on August 12 and will visit two dozen U.S. cities on its way to Washington, DC. View the Caravan route.

Victims of the violence in Mexico will lead the Caravan, speak at stops along the way, and share their testimony of suffering and courage. From Jalisco, the mother of Jose Luis Arana Aguilar will speak of her son’s disappearance last January after making one last call to his children’s day care, reminding them to feed his children. From Coahuila, the girlfriend of Jose Antonio Robledo Fernandez will tell of how she heard the abductors of her boyfriend insult and beat him before he disappeared.

Though their grief knows no end or resolution, they are committed to telling their stories to the American public so that their humanity can move us to action. When the horrific statistics – over 60,000 dead – are seen in the pain, suffering, and courage of real people who are reaching out to the victims of the drug war north of the border, the foundation for change can be built. Read the latest article on the Caravan in The Nation.

The goals are no less than to build momentum in the debate about the failures of the War on Drugs, challenge policies that facilitate massive arms smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico, and end U.S. support for the militarization of the drug war within Mexico, as well as promoting immigration policies that respect the dignities of all people. In other words: End the violence! Now!

Follow the Caravan on twitter (@CaravanaUSA), Facebook, and the Caravan for Peace website. Global Exchange will also be sending updates while on the road at our People-to-People blog.

If you live in one of the cities along the route, come and welcome the Caravan. If you don’t live along the route, join us for the Global Days of Action Sept 12 – Sept 21. More details to follow in the coming days.

We hope to see you on the road with us.

The upcoming Caravan is timely, given the recent elections in Mexico. Watch the Democracy Now! report After Election, Mexico Poised for Return of PRI — And Continuation of Deadly U.S.-Fueled Drug War.

Where is the Caravan Going?

The caravan will begin in San Diego, cross the border from Tijuana to San Diego on August 12, heading east along the US-Mexico border, through the Southeast and then north to Chicago, New York City and arrive in Washington DC in early September.

Here’s the updated Caravan route, complete with map.

Why a Caravan for Peace?

Since 2006 over 60,000 Mexicans have been murdered, more than 10,000 disappeared, and over a 160,000 displaced, all a result of the Drug War- a 41 year old “war” with no victory in sight.

The United States is partly to blame. Ineffective drug laws drive obscene profits into cartel coffers. Lax gun regulations mean U.S. weapons flow freely into Mexico and into cartel hands. And our foreign policy funds further militarization of the conflict, exacerbating the violence.

Meanwhile, the trouble also hits home: over 1,100 Americans are killed each year in drug- related violence, 500,000 are incarcerated for drug-related offenses, and 7 million struggle with drug abuse or dependence.

The Mexican victims are particularly interested in making the links to victims of the drug war in the US — where mass incarceration and deportations disproportionately affect communities of color.

Traveling in buses, cars, vans and RVs, the victims of violence will bring their message of suffering, their hope for peace and help to build the movement that can make the change happen.

TAKE ACTION! HERE’S HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED IN THE CARAVAN:

• Join this cross-country cry for peace, justice and dignity. Since space is limited on the bus and we expect to receive a lot applications, you are encouraged to register as soon as possible. Once the bus is filled, there will also be an opportunity for people to follow the bus in private cars.
• Sign- up registration forms for these opportunities will be available on our website soon. To receive email notification, sign up for our Mexico News email list.
• If you live along the route get involved in a local host committee; start by filling out this form.  See the list of those involved in the Caravan here.
• If you can’t go on the road with us you can support Global Exchange to make the Caravan a success. Your generous donation will go a long way towards guaranteeing the success of the Caravan.

We hope you are able to get involved with the Caravan in some capacity!

For a better understanding of its importance, watch these moving testimonies in Mexico City of victims of the War on Drugs in México

Global Exchange’s Carleen Pickard and fellow climate justice campaigners, environmentalists and social justice advocates from around the world are in Cancun for COP16 where they are attending the La Via Campesina organized alternative forum among other climate events. Today, Irene Florez reports from the Alternative Forum:

In Mexico Walmart is quickly outpacing local abarrotes or grocery stores. Today one can walk 10 blocks in any direction and still be hard pressed to find a store devoted to selling fresh produce. In many cities Walmart has staked out key retail space near downtown urban centers. This helps explain why though sales at U.S. stores have dropped, Walmart maintains profitability. In the last quarter of 2010 Walmart’s international sales grew 9.3 percent to $26.9 billion mainly through their Mexico, Brazil, Japan and China locations.

I’m thinking about this as I attend the alternative climate summit hosted by Via Campesina.

The issues on the table are complex and even more, interrelated. It is not possible to talk about food justice for producers without talking about healthy food access for urban consumers. We cannot talk about food subsidies without being aware that many cannot access healthy un-packaged foods in their ancestral homes.

For many the intertwined nature of struggles is daunting. Here, talks dig right into the water-drop-like impacts of the various multinationals such as Walmart and Bimbo.

What will come out of the Cancun UN Climate talks? What will come out of the alternative forum? I think only signs like “Cambia tu vida, no tu clima” (Change your life, not your climate) can point the way and allow us to remain settled amidst the ominous climate warnings and environmental degradation.

The conclusion here is that the current crisis, global warming, is not a natural phenomenon. It is a result of economic strategies. In this sense surpassing this crisis will be achieved when multiple connected strategies are carried out; strategies that create new structures of power and develop long-term social capital that recuperates social justice histories.

Your thoughts?

“Si zapata vive, que chinga les pusiera!” the crowd chanted while snaking its way through downtown Morelia in the state of Michoacan. If Zapata (Mexico’s larger-than-life revolutionary leader) were alive, he’d open a can of woop-ass on you. That’s a rough translation, but you get the sentiment. Zapata would be invoked frequently throughout the journey.

After El Salto, the caravan conducted a rally and march through Morelia with chants like “si se ama, se defende” (if you love it, defend it) and “el pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido” (the people united, will never be defeated). Later, the caravan stopped in the little pueblo of Tepuxtepec in the state of Michoacan. As the caravan pulled up to the main square, it seemed the whole town had come out to greet us. A long row of school children lined the front of the square facing the municipal building, faces lit with curiosity.

Most workers of Tepuxtepec have lost their livelihoods at La Luz y Fuerte Central power company after the government fired 44,000 union workers last year. Over 90% of the economy of the town was lost. The SME, Mexican electrical workers union, has been in a struggle to regain their jobs and strategize. While many have taking a buy-out package, over 17,000 continue the struggle.

“We decided to fight and say no to the crumbs that the government throws at us,” said the secretary of the SME union Andres Servin Retana to the gathered crowd. “They are trying to break the unions, kill our union,” he continued. “We’re not willing to give up our rights. If we let down, then the next wave of “reforms” will be pushed through. We want to give future generations some hope,” another speaker proclaimed.

In the meantime folks have, some workers had been supporting their own family plus other relatives. Now the community is scrambling to make ends meet by sharing food and resources. We would later meet with SME union folks in Mexico City at their headquarters for the forum there, after which many joined the caravan. The community fed us in the community hall. Not sure how many pounds of rice I ate, but it was sufficient to get me to Mexico City!

A fellow caravaner named Albert, a Canadian of indigenous heritage, said he could relate to the struggle of the workers here. He is a power line worker in a small town on Hudson’s Bay in northern Canada.

After Tepuxtepec, we arrived in Toluca we stopped for a rally to raise the issues of the caravan and support the electrical workers union (SME). We arrived late to join a planton called El Malinche, where residents had taken over part of a neighborhood for a sit-in/lock-down. The government wants to build a Super Highway (Super Via) that would displace residents and local parks. The Super Via project would be a toll road used by those from one of the most affluent districts just west of D.F.

The residents say “Hell No!” I’ve rarely in my life been given such a warm and heartfelt welcome. When the caravan arrived they shouted chants, “Zapata vive, la lucha sigue sigue!” while shooting off fireworks.

A press conference was held with members of Frente Amplio, La Via Campesina, and other organizations speaking. “We want an urban development that is viable, that is for everybody, that is legal,” said a panelist from Frente Amplio.

Another said that we have to realize we are in a long struggle. “We have seen a disaster of the land we could never have imagined,” said Rafael Martinez of Frente Amplio. “Que jamas pasaran.”

“This is a struggle for all and mother earth. We are rebuilding real life, where vida is more important than money,” he said, contrasting this with the destruction of neo-liberalism.

After food and punch in the makeshift spontaneous community housing that included a kitchen, abundant art and displays of various struggles of local communities, we settled in to sleep wherever there was space.

Because there were so many people, some of us had to stay on a cold concrete roof with bunnies and chickens and barking dogs. But one cold night of warm solidarity is nothing compared to the struggles of some of these folks. We promised to bring their message to Cancun and beyond. And with heartfelt thank-yous and blessings for the road as warm as the welcome the night before, the caravans rolled toward the next destination, only now with a few more people and a few more voices of struggle to absorb and carry forward.

Global Exchange’s Medea Benjamin, Shannon Biggs and Carleen Pickard are joining fellow climate justice campaigners, environmentalists and social justice advocates from around the world for COP16 in Cancun. Today, Carleen Pickard reports:

After leaving Mexico City at 6:30am on December 1, reporting from the road proved challenging for the caravanistas, traveling day and night crossing eastern Mexico and the Yucatan peninsula. Only one short article appeared in La Jornada, reporting only on the crossing; listing the locations where they had stopped; saying that the caravans had grown to 20 buses and the participants were well.

All of this was good news, as I read it on the plane to Cancun. Although I like to fashion myself as an intrepid traveler and can continue through anything, I wisely decided to step off the caravans in Mexico City. Fighting a terrible cold, it seemed irresponsible to take down a bus of climate justice activists. Thanks to those of you on the caravan and off that counseled my ‘self care’!

So, I arrived in Cancun on Dec 2 and by following the buses’ eastern travel with text messages, myself and a contingent of North American activists from the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance organized into a mini-caravan and met the mega-caravan in the spiritual centre of Chichen Itza. Programmed by the Via Campesina team, the caravans were to stop there and share a ceremony with local indigenous leaders.  With the en route delays, however, the caravan arrived too late to access the site and after a brief confrontation the municipal authorities provided the town square of near by Piste to the caravans for the programmed ceremony.

At 7pm the ceremony began. A Mam elder welcomed everyone and spoke about the actions of so many to protect Mother Earth. She said that climate change was a result of Mother Earth being upset at all the damage being done to her. She said that the increased storms in her community are a result of Mother Earth’s tears. She noted that under the Mayan calendar today was a celebration of Mother Earth and Women, who are created in her image. All this time a small altar was being created with offering from the earth – corn, palm leaves, water and coffee. Copal (incense) was burning and we were passed out burning candles.

IEN members from the Ponca and Dakota Nations also offered blessings and song and Casey Camp named it as “sharing ceremony with relatives”.

Before boarding the buses for one last time, I had the chance to catch up with my former caravan compa, Angela Adrar, who summed up what they had seen en route and what’s next: ‘We are moving and we are getting to Cancun, I hope that Cancun is ready.”

Check back here on our Climate Justice blog for updates from Cancun and COP16. If you’re on Twitter, follow @globalexchange for related COP16 updates from Global Exchange, and use hashtag #COP16 for general COP16 tweets.

Ride along with Carleen and other caravan members as they share stories from the caravan to COP16. Next stop: Mexico City:

The first leg(s) of the Via Campesina caravans are over – the three delegations arrived from Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi and Acapulco. We’ve now posted report backs from Guadalajara (thanks to GX volunteers Ryan and Irene) and Acapulco (see my previous posts) and to read about the travels of the caravan from San Luis Potosi, check out the blogs by the Council of Canadians. Also be sure to see the growing stock of photos that are being posted.

After navigating the streets of Mexico City by bus, my caravan arrived at the the Mexican Electrical Workers (SME) compound and joined hundreds at the International Forum about the Climate Crisis – an educational forum with expert speakers drawing links between climate change, the need for economic reform and social justice and recognition of climate justice solutions to the crisis. You can read a great interview with Paul Nicholson from the European delegation of Via Campesina on their website.

Hundreds started to gather at the Ángel de la Independencia at 5pm. It’s a familiar and favourite place to begin marches in this massive city. By 6 and the start of the International March For Life and Social and Environmental Justice we had grown to 2500. Marching fiercely through the streets to the main square – the Zócalo – we chant and meet other caravan participants and campesinos that have come to join the caravan leaving tomorrow (Dec 1) onwards to Cancun. I’m thrilled to see that friends who rode bikes on a ‘climate reality tour‘ from West Virginia to Mexico City (and on to Cancun) have arrived safely and even claim to enjoy riding in the City.

It is dark once we reach the Zócalo and we hear from leaders from Via Campesina, the SME, the Assembly of those Affected by the Environment and National Liberation Movement. To see how urgent the need is for action in the next 10 days, check here. Great analysis and updates are already being posted from activists already in Cancun, Via Campasina has posted the program for the Alternative International Forum for Live and Environmental & Social Justice (Program English), and the mega caravan leave early tomorrow morning!

Check back here on our Climate Justice blog to continue following Carleen’s journey. If you’re on Twitter, follow @globalexchange for related COP16 updates from Global Exchange, and use hashtag #COP16 for general COP16 tweets.

Ride along with Carleen and other caravan members as they share stories from the caravan to COP16. Next stop: Alpuyeca:

We join this chant no less than 100 times today. At any moment – a break in speakers, walking along a dusty road to a destination and in the 2 marches we participate in someone will start the call – (Zapata lives!) and everyone in earshot responds ‘la luuuuuucha vive!” (the struggle continues!). Repeat.

It’s a fitting chant for today. We arrive in the town of Alpuyeca and as we step off the bus, women step forward and toss confetti over our heads. 99 years ago the Plan de Ayala was signed here by revolution leader Emiliano Zapata at the end of the Mexican Revolution. We are positioned at the front of the crowd and lead a march into the town, celebrating  the successes of this community.

A small girls begin: “Zaaaaaappppaatttaaaa viiiiiiiive!” and we respond. Recently this community has prevented their land from being expropriated for a new airport, stopped a significant highway expansion, blocked the highway in support of teachers protesting education ‘reform.’ Next we hear about the community’s largest victory – successfully closing a tremendous garbage dump.

But first we enter the outdoor gathering area in a haze of copal and are treated to a Nahuatl welcoming, thanking the four points, the sky and tierra (land) for providing and keeping us safe. As hundreds of folks gather from the town, our hosts then invite speakers to the stage to talk about struggles in their communities. The caravan’s visit to Alpuyeca is a reason to gather and provides an important opportunity to bring the community together to talk of history, struggle, victory and resistance.  Sharing our solidarity in this ‘tierra de Zapata’ feels appropriate as we see three, possibly four generations present and it’s clear that Zapata does live here.

Local representatives take us to a large abandoned site in a residential neighborhood that once operated as a factory producing electrical transformers in the late ‘80s, before closing in 1990. It  re-opened twice but was shut down when workers fell ill. Very ill. Our guide reads out a horrifying list of illnesses reported – rashes, respiratory problems, auto immune infections, nervous system collapse, and pregnancy complications. When the site was finally investigated, a giant slurry of toxic waste was discovered to have been dumped in the basement and was seeping through the building and in the air. Also, toxic components of the electrical transformers were buried behind the building and after two decades they are surfacing to bake in the sun.

We stop at the closed garbage dump on our way out of the city, en route to Cuernavaca. The site is not much to look at: the giant pile of waste has been covered with earth from another location. A community activist tells us how the fight to close the dump united the community to say no to polluting their land with waste from Cuernavaca and yes to learning about recycling, reducing waste generation and “learning to change our bad habits.”

The Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME, the Mexican Electrical Workers), supporting Via Campesina through the caravans, are out hosts for the evening in Cuernavaca.  Upon arrival we march through the streets to the zocalo (town square) and rally outside a palace built for the conquistador Cortez with stones taken from destroyed pyramids. In the rally that follows we hear testimony about the impacts of climate change on communities and frustration with the lack of solution based action from local, national and global leadership. The local SME representative and various other community leaders are joining the caravan tomorrow, while others have asked that we take their words with us to Cancun.

To close, Emiliano Zapata’s great grandson speaks – calling for unity in the struggle and that there is need to remember Zapata in these days. He says that with all of our collective effort we will be successful, save ourselves and the planet. Yes, Zapata vive – la lucha sigue.

Check back here on our Climate Justice blog to continue following Carleen’s journey. If you’re on Twitter, follow @globalexchange for related COP16 updates from Global Exchange, and use hashtag #COP16 for general COP16 tweets.

Marchers in Morelia

Global Exchange’s Carleen Pickard & other delegation members are joining fellow climate justice campaigners, environmentalists and social justice advocates from around the world for COP16 in Cancun. They’re traveling with La Via Campesina organized caravans. En route to COP 16, the caravans are visiting communities in struggle and resistance, learning about the local effects of climate change and adding their voices of solidarity to communities working to construct a better future.

Ride along as caravan members share their stories from the road to COP16. Today, Irene Florez reports from the Mexican caravan:

Traveling with the Via Campesina caravan from Guadalajara to Cancun, this delegation is now picking up about 20 additional climate activists at every stop.

Converging through rallies, marches, and civil disobedience actions, the Via Campesina caravan members are meeting with allies in various towns and cities and alerting local populations about the Cancun summit, picking additional passengers up along the way. The first day this caravan added 30 new passengers. There are now over 150 climate activists from five different countries on the Guadalajara caravan.

Members of Mexican Electricians Union

Throughout the various public demonstrations, caravan participants are sharing information about the summit and working to garner support, while practicing public speaking, civil disobedience tactics, and alliance building.

Yesterday, our second day, the Guadalajara caravan met with the electric workers union who are battling to recover the jobs lost when the state took over their plant and terminated 44,000 jobs. These workers see their energy work as a critical component to climate justice.

The caravan then stopped in the Malinche neighborhood on the outskirts of Mexico City, where over 500 local activists welcomed the caravan with a rally for climate and citizen rights. Activists in Malinche are struggling against the proposed expulsion of 200-300 longtime residents and a green, public space in favor of a superhighway project.

Two young residents of Malinche who may be displaced soon, Kenia and Andrea

In Morelia, activists arrived in the large city on empty stomachs and with little sleep but this didn’t arrest their interest in making noise and vocalizing the importance of climate justice. Within about 20 minutes, a large march formed that quickly filled Morelia’s main streets with people chanting “Zapata vive, la lucha sigue” and “water and energy cannot be sold.”

Here are some related resources:

Visit Indigenous Environmental Network for articles, segments and live broadcasts of COP 16

Join one of the climate justice mobilizations organized around the summit

Listen to The Price of Nature: Buying Our Way Outof Climate Chaos

Check back here on our Climate Justice blog to continue following the caravan delegation members’ journey. If you’re on Twitter, follow @globalexchange for related COP16 updates from Global Exchange, and use hashtag #COP16 for general COP16 tweets.

When Vicente Fox came to presidential power in 2000, he aggressively advocated for the La Parota dam, and it was called his ‘crown jewel’ throughout his presidency. Yet International Rivers reports that “as many as 25,000 people would be displaced by the dam, and tens of thousands more downstream would suffer negative impacts because of dam-induced changes to the Papagayo River.” CECOP was founded in 2003 specifically to fight the construction of the dam and has functioned collectively, organizing the community base into forming blockades and challenging the federal approval process in law.

Facing fierce divide and conquer tactics of the state and federal government and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), CECOP also tragically lost two of its members in 2006: Tomás Cruz Zamora and Eduardo Maya Manrique. The stories of their deaths are told here.

In late 2009 the Mexican government announced that it remained committed to building La Parota, but postponed construction until 2018. Many claimed victory and speculated that this meant the end of the project but as tensions have remained high in the community and threats against CECOP members continue, La Parota remains a possibility. Earlier this year, the human rights accompaniment and observation group SIPAZ reported on the ongoing tensions.

Take Action! Send a letter to President Calderon through Amnesty International’s urgent action tool.

After La Parota, the caravan will continue to Chilpancingo to meet with human rights defenders later tonight.

Thanks to International Rivers for the photos and background info.