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<channel>
	<title>Reality Tours &#187; Regions We Visit</title>
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	<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours</link>
	<description>Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.</description>
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		<title>Cuba Needs You to See the Reality</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/11/29/cuba-needs-you-to-see-the-reality/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/11/29/cuba-needs-you-to-see-the-reality/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:24:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Caribbean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trip Participant Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba embargo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kevin Danaher]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2507</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/11/29/cuba-needs-you-to-see-the-reality/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Danaher-New-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange" /></a>There is a broad range of opinion about Cuba here in the United States. Some people think it is one big prison. Others think Cuba is further down the road to sustainability than the United States. Here's what Global Exchange Co-founder Kevin Danaher, who has traveled to Cuba many times, has to say about this. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_1990" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 210px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Danaher-New.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1990" title="Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Danaher-New.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="246" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Kevin Danaher, Co-Founder of Global Exchange</p></div>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>The following post was written by Global Exchange Co-founder Kevin Danaher.</em> </span></p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">There is a broad range of opinion about <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/18/new-u-s-regulations-slow-travel-to-cuba/" target="_blank">Cuba here in the United States</a>. Some people think it is one big prison. Others think Cuba is further down the road to sustainability than the United States. That range of opinion is also present in Cuba: there are people who love their system, people who hate it, and many in between.</span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;">This is not to say that Cuba is not a threat. It is. But it is not a threat against the United States per se; it is a threat to the elites who run our country. If millions of people from the U.S. were to visit Cuba and see free neighborhood medical clinics where the nurse and doctor live in apartments above the clinic and go out on house visits every afternoon, the visitors might think, “why don’t we do that?”</span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;">Cuba has many problems as a poor nation under the thumb of the most powerful country in the world. But Cuba also has things we can learn that have application at home. For example, the first time I visited one of the many elder centers where neighborhood elders hang out with each other, playing checkers, exercising, and getting regular checkups by the doctor and nurse on the staff,  I noticed an abundance of young children playing with the elders. When asked the director of the center who organized these children to be there he said, “These are just neighborhood children who come in and out as they please.” Try to find an elder center in the United States where that happens.</span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;">The Cubans may be recycling everything and promoting urban agriculture because they are poor and have to conserve resources. But when you are on a huge farm in the middle of the capital city, Havana, and see crops spreading out toward the horizon, you are convinced of the rightness policies that promote sustainability.</span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;">Global Exchange has been organizing group tours to <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/country/cuba" target="_blank">Cuba </a>for 24 years, so we are well acquainted with the <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/18/new-u-s-regulations-slow-travel-to-cuba/" target="_blank">pluses and minuses of Cuban socialism</a>. The best way for you to cut through the debate over <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/country/cuba" target="_blank">US policy toward Cuba</a> is to go there and see for yourself.</span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #000000;">What I learned the first time I went to Cuba in 1979—and many, many times since then—is that our role is NOT to tell Cubans how to run their society. No, it would be much more appropriate for us to focus on changing our own society, especially the economic embargo our country has imposed for over 50 years against a small Caribbean nation that NEVER harmed the United States.</span></p>
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		<title>&#8220;For us, our door will always be open for you&#8221;- Argentine Host La Vaca Shares Their Story</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/11/08/for-us-our-door-will-always-be-open-for-you-argentine-host-la-vaca-shares-their-story/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/11/08/for-us-our-door-will-always-be-open-for-you-argentine-host-la-vaca-shares-their-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:26:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Malia Everette</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Civil Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food and Agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor and Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Partner and Trip Leader Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peace and Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Argentina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cooperatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Alternatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[La Vaca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor Unions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MU]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sergio Ciancaglini]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Responsible Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Solidarity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2438</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/11/08/for-us-our-door-will-always-be-open-for-you-argentine-host-la-vaca-shares-their-story/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Argentina-Pax-at-School-21-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Visiting a School in Buenos Aires" /></a>In the second of a two part series on Argentina, Reality Tours host organization, La Vaca, shares the significance of the country's history, it's economic hardship and what inspiring lessons it provides for the global community today!]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2394" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 195px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/images.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2394" title="Sergio, La Vaca, Argentina" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/images.jpg" alt="" width="185" height="256" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Sergio Ciancaglini de La Vaca</p></div>
<p><em>Today we continue an interview with Sergio Ciancaglini, from <a title="La Vaca" href="http://lavaca.org/" target="_blank">La Vaca </a>cooperative.  For the past decade Global Exchange Reality Tours have included La Vaca on our rich educational itineraries. Learn about the work and mission of La Vaca during this interview conducted by our summer assistant Kathleen Reynolds.</em></p>
<p><strong>Kathleen:</strong> What has been your experience with groups that have come from Global Exchange?</p>
<p><strong>Sergio:</strong> My experience with the people who have come has been very exciting. I noted that there had been very good communication because Delia Marx was always there doing very good translation. This allowed me to explain things, that in English I could not. The experience has been very good. There have been many people with an attitude that is very interested in living new experiences and I think these experiences are very beautiful.</p>
<div id="attachment_2445" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 378px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Pax-in-Front-of-Igauza-Falls-2.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-2445  " title="Group members enjoying the Iguazu Falls" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Pax-in-Front-of-Igauza-Falls-2-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="368" height="277" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Group members enjoying the Iguazu Falls</p></div>
<p>In terms of improving the experiences, I think in these places and with these people, having these types of encounters provide a person with the key to understanding this very important phenomenon. It is like when you go to a museum and see a piece of fabric that has a particular color, but you don’t know it until you see it and read the explanations. You come to better understand what you are seeing and see the value in something as if it were new. These experiences are new and original experiences and that’s why the people of Global Exchange come. The travelers were interested in these types of experiences that we try to replicate as journalists. They are new, original experiences from the point of view of human rights, the problem with the environment, the problem with production, but also from the point of citizenship and democracy. For me these new expressions that are portals to the future. Where citizens assemble and meet and discuss how they as citizens can preserve the environment; to discuss their plan of action so that the mining or petroleum companies don’t bombard the mountains, so that they don’t cut down the forests, to defend their life – this is democracy in a different way. No longer is it democracy like the one we know as a representative system, but rather, people taking on the responsibility of their own destiny and peacefully so. At the same time, they are intervening to be heard, but also taking into account how they are expressing themselves in a concrete place where the things are happening. For me, this is a new phenomenon. Twenty years ago, Mr. Francis Fukuyama said, that, ‘we are in the end of history’ and today we are seeing we aren’t. History continues with the possibility to democratize democracy.</p>
<div id="attachment_2444" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 440px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Argentina-Pax-at-School-21.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-2444  " title="Visiting a School in Buenos Aires" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Argentina-Pax-at-School-21-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="430" height="323" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Visiting a School in Buenos Aires</p></div>
<p>After the economic recession happened here in the United Sates, social movements have been forming and people are mobilizing and coming together to reform society, to create a new system.</p>
<p><strong>Kathleen:</strong> After the crisis happened in Argentina and people mobilized together to create a new system of work like the workers taking over the factories, what recommendations could you give the people here in the US to mobilize and promote real democracy from a grass roots level?</p>
<p><strong>Sergio: </strong>Yes, we just published the latest version of the <a title="MU el Periodico" href="http://lavaca.org/category/mu/" target="_blank">MU</a>.  Claudia Acuña, is a member here in the cooperative and did a great report in the latest version MU, and she was in New York talking on exactly this topic you’re talking about. This new movement of people in the streets, the problems with people getting evicted from their homes…the report will talk about this. It is in the current edition of MU magazine.</p>
<p><strong>Kathleen:</strong> In the line of work in defending human rights, how can International Solidarity groups support the social movements of Argentina and South America?</p>
<p><strong>Sergio:</strong> I think that these movements or experiences that happen with La Vaca itself are experiences that have already existed for many years and are going to continue existing. There are people who do their work looking for resources, looking for money. We do what we do, because we love our work and it gives us much pleasure to do it. In terms of determining what help that could be utilized for the movements in terms of resources, etc,… it is always important that this be determined with the greater aim that the movements continue doing what they are doing. I want to tell you this, for example, I know there are many international campaigns on different topics. It seems like there is a lot of money floating around in foundations and different institutions to promote issues. In our case, we are going to continue working on the topics of the environment, human rights, citizenship, communication, freedom and equality. They are topics that to us are central for the present and future. Those who want to help us and/or support these types of processes can always help us, but at the same time understanding that the most important is that these projects and productions continue maintaining autonomy of work and diffusion.</p>
<p>As I am very old, I realize that we are in the presence of a birth of, it seems to me, a new type of paradigm of social intervention, of political intervention. It is a new paradigm of thinking and new paradigms of action. It is exciting to be seeing how this exists and it is very important that it be able to flourish and I would say grow. As I said before, it is my intuition that we are being shown the paths of what is to come in the future.</p>
<p>For us, these experiences, this moment are very beautiful. It is an opportunity to always feel that what one is doing is having impact and is creating networks of new concepts for thinking about situations in our world. For us, our door will always be open for you.<br />
<em>Thank you Sergio for the years of effort and energy that you have put into organizing La Vaca and welcoming our Reality Tours delegates to La Vaca and<a title="Argentina landing page" href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=136" target="_blank"> Argentina</a>!  Next week we will delve further into the power of those exchanges.</em></p>
<p><strong>TAKE ACTION!</strong><br />
Experience for yourself: Join our “<a title="Argentina Reality Tour" href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/argentina-building-economic-justice-below-0" target="_blank">Building Economic Justice from Below”</a> trip next March  and learn more about the 200 ‘recovered’ co-operative factories in Argentina.</p>
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		<title>Cuban Government Makes Travel Abroad Easier for Cubans</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/25/cuban-government-makes-travel-abroad-easier-for-cubans/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/25/cuban-government-makes-travel-abroad-easier-for-cubans/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:35:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Leslie Balog</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Caribbean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom to travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2418</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/25/cuban-government-makes-travel-abroad-easier-for-cubans/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cubana-150x150.jpeg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="cubana" /></a>As Washington puts the brakes on its citizens right to travel to Cuba, the island nation has relaxed travel restrictions for Cubans.
In another major change in Cuba, the Cuban government has lifted unpopular restrictions on its citizens who wish to travel abroad.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cubana.jpeg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-2419" style="margin-right: 15px;" title="cubana" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cubana-300x225.jpeg" alt="" width="270" height="203" /></a>As Washington puts the brakes on <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/29/new-cuba-travel-regulations-set-back-what-they-are-what-they-mean/" target="_blank">its citizens right to travel to Cuba</a>, the island nation has relaxed travel restrictions for Cubans.</p>
<p>In another major change in Cuba, the Cuban government has lifted unpopular restrictions on its citizens who wish to travel abroad.</p>
<p>Cubans were thrilled to learn last week that cumbersome, bureaucratic hurdles to travel will be scrapped for most travelers starting January 14th 2013. A note in the island’s <em>Granma</em> newspaper announced that the much reviled “carta blanca” or “white card” and exit visa will no longer be required for travel abroad.</p>
<p>All most Cuban travelers will need is an updated passport and a visa for the country to which they will travel, if one is required.</p>
<p>For many years Cubans have loudly complained about the costly requirement of securing a letter of invitation from the country to which they were traveling as well as a “permiso de salida” from Cuban Immigration that cost some $170.00 USD, about what the average Cuban earns in six months.</p>
<p>Obtaining the expensive documents also required multiple visits to banks and government agencies where the long lines often meant hours of waiting.</p>
<p>Another important change announced, was that Cubans may now stay abroad for 24 months without giving up their property and other rights in Cuba. They can also apply for longer stays if necessary. Previously, they were only allowed to stay outside the country for 11 months without sacrificing those rights.</p>
<p>Though the liberalization of travel restrictions will affect most Cubans, the announcement noted that Havana reserves the right to restrict the travel of some individuals for national security reasons and to prevent the loss of qualified professionals needed by the country.</p>
<p>Since the island boasts one of the finest education systems in Latin America, it has produced many qualified professionals over the years and has grappled with how to prevent the”brain drain” that is plaguing the developing world.</p>
<div id="attachment_2314" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vintage-Car-Cuba_carleen.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2314" title="Vintage Car Cuba_carleen" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vintage-Car-Cuba_carleen-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo Credit Global Exchange</p></div>
<p>Another obstacle that potential Cuban tourists and travelers will face is the difficulty in obtaining entry visas to industrialized nations like the United States, since the great majority are poor compared to those in developed countries.</p>
<p>One of the many contradictions of US policy concerning Cuba, is the “wet foot, dry foot” prevision under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. That gives any Cuban citizen who manages to get to US territory the right to permanent residence in the United States. At the same time, the US State Department regularly denies Cubans on the island permission to travel legally to the United States, which prompts many to attempt to make the dangerous journey to the United States by sea, or by other illegal means.</p>
<p>We will have to wait until the new policy goes into effect next year to see exactly how this exciting change in the island’s immigration policy will affect the majority of its citizens.</p>
<p><strong>TAKE ACTION!</strong></p>
<p>For more information on the work of Global Exchange in Cuba and to learn how <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=134" target="_blank">you may qualify to travel to Cuba</a> please give us a call (415-255-7296 ext. 211) or email <a href="mailto:drea@globalexchange.org" target="_blank">drea@globalexchange.org</a>.</p>
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		<title>Argentine NGO La Vaca Shares Their Story</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/22/viva-la-vaca-argentine-partner-ngo-shares-their-story/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/22/viva-la-vaca-argentine-partner-ngo-shares-their-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Malia Everette</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Civil Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor and Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Partner and Trip Leader Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Argentina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Buenos Aires]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cooperatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Alternatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[La Vaca]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor Unions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Responsible Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South America]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2344</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/22/viva-la-vaca-argentine-partner-ngo-shares-their-story/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/images-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Sergio Ciancaglini de La Vaca" /></a>In the first of a two part series on Argentina, Reality Tours host organization, La Vaca, shares the significance of the country's history, it's economic hardship and what inspiring lessons it provides for the global community today! ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2394" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 195px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/images.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2394" title="Sergio, La Vaca, Argentina" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/images.jpg" alt="" width="185" height="256" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Sergio Ciancaglini de La Vaca</p></div>
<p><em>Today we feature an interview with Sergio Ciancaglini, from La Vaca cooperative.  For the past decade Global Exchange Reality Tours have included La Vaca on our rich educational itineraries. Learn about the work and mission of La Vaca in this two part interview series conducted by our summer assistant Kathleen Reynolds.</em></p>
<p><strong>Kathleen</strong>: Perhaps we can begin with a brief history of how La Vaca began and your work with La Vaca?</p>
<p><strong>Sergio</strong>:<a title="La Vaca" href="http://lavaca.org/"> La Vaca </a>is a work cooperative that was born in the year 2001, which was a time of much crisis in Argentina where money disappeared and there were lots of social movements that had to take responsibility of their own life. They had to take on the responsibility to invent work and survival. In this year 2001, is when the La Vaca began as an information agency through Internet – it was one the first of its kind in Argentina that tried to reflect this new universe of actions we saw in large quantities of social experiences. From that moment, for example, we published on the Internet our reporting, our articles and later we began to work on books.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Sin-Patron-cover.10-1.gif"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2393" title="Sin-Patron Cover " src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Sin-Patron-cover.10-1.gif" alt="" width="140" height="212" /></a>Our first book was, <em>Sin Patron.  <a title="Sin Patron" href="http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Sin-Patr-n-Stories-from-Argentinas-Worker-Run-Factories">Sin Patron</a></em> is about the recuperated factories in Argentina and it is available in the US. We presented it in Counter Union in New York with <a title="Naomi's website" href="http://www.naomiklein.org/main">Naomi Klein </a>and Avi Lewis. It is book that is written originally in Castellano Spanish by us, but later more versions were printed in English in the US, Italian and later in Portuguese in Brazil. We then wrote seven more books and the latest one is Argentina Originara. It is a book about native peoples of Argentina. With the passing of time, we started a newspaper, a monthly magazine called MU, which is a magazine published every month that we started five and half years ago. Out of the roots of the work we do, each piece of work gives us a new idea. From the work we had been doing, it occurred to us to do a radio program. You can listen to it via Internet at www.lavaca.org. It is a radio program that is broadcasted on 109 radios throughout Argentina. It is broadcasted through all university, community and local radio stations throughout the country.</p>
<p>It is a program created as an alternative form of social media and it is important to say that like many other commercial radio stations, this radio program also reaches all areas of the country. We do training courses for department chairs universities and high schools on social autonomy and we have a cultural center that is also a bar called MU Punto Encuentro Buenos Aires where there are conferences and sell leading independent editorial books. Here in Argentina, we drink el mate, our typical drink. Here it is made with herbs from cooperatives that are not sold in traditional supermarkets. The entire project of La Vaca is work of communication, of culture, of cooperativism and social economics.</p>
<p><strong>Kathleen</strong><em>: </em>What is the work you do in the cooperative and how did you begin to work with La Vaca?</p>
<p><strong>Sergio</strong>: I have been a journalist for many years. I have always worked on the topics of human rights. For example, I covered the trials on the military junta in 1985, which was the first time in the democracy it was possible to try people who had raped, tortured and killed during the dictatorship. I have always worked with the most important media in Argentina for example, the newspaper Diaro Clarín, the newspaper la Razón and the newspaper Página Doce,… I worked as editor and reactor. In the year 2001, the experience of La Vaca began with all the people who were around me and so I joined. Now I work writing many articles of the monthly MU magazine. At the same time, I run the radio program that is broadcasted on 109 radios around the country and I am the President of the cooperative.</p>
<p><em>Thank you Sergio for the years of effort and energy that you have put into organizing La Vaca and welcoming our Reality Tours delegates to La Vaca and  <a title="Argentina landing page" href="../../../tours/by-country?field_country_nid=136" target="_blank">Argentina</a>!  Next week we will delve further into the power of those exchanges.<br />
</em></p>
<p><strong>TAKE ACTION!</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>Experience for yourself:</strong> Join our <a title="Economic Justice" href="../../../tours/argentina-building-economic-justice-below" target="_blank">“Building Economic Justice from Below”</a> trip this November and learn more about the <a title="Recovered Cooperatives" href="http://www.newint.org/features/2012/07/01/co-operatives-international-year/" target="_blank">200 ‘recovered’ co-operative factories in Argentina.</a><br />
</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>New U.S. Regulations Slow Travel to Cuba</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/18/new-u-s-regulations-slow-travel-to-cuba/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/18/new-u-s-regulations-slow-travel-to-cuba/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:07:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caribbean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba Travel Ban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cuba travel restrictions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freedom to Travel to Cuba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General License]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People to People license]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reality Tours]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel service provider]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel to cuba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[walter turner]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2380</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/18/new-u-s-regulations-slow-travel-to-cuba/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Cuba-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Cuba" /></a>Walter Turner, President of the Global Exchange Board of Directors, updates about U.S. regulations pertaining to U.S. citizens travel to Cuba. He says, "The Cold War ended years ago. Its time for American policy to reflect the rights of its citizens to be able to travel to Cuba and engage – unrestricted - with the people of Cuba. Its time to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba, end the 50 years blockade against Cuba, remove Cuba from the list of countries supporting terrorism, and free the Cuban 5."]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2381" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 210px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Walter-Turner.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2381" title="Walter Turner" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Walter-Turner-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Walter Turner at the 2012 Global Exchange Open House</p></div>
<p><em>The following is a guest post by Walter Turner, President of the Global Exchange Board of Directors and appears in our Winter/Spring 2012/13 print newsletter. <a href="https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/703/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=7481" target="_blank">Become a member</a> of Global Exchange and have articles like these delivered to your mailbox!</em><br />
&#8212;</p>
<p><strong>New U.S. Regulations Slow Travel to Cuba</strong></p>
<p>In 1989 Global Exchange took its first delegation of American citizens to Cuba. I remember being on that delegation and sitting on the top floor of the Hotel Presidente discussing how to begin the process of ending the decades old U.S. blockade against Cuba.</p>
<p>Enacted in 1962 during the Kennedy administration the economic, social, and political blockade (El Bloqueo) has long outlived its supposed usefulness.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=134" target="_blank"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2382" title="Cuba" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Cuba-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></strong>Year after year U.S. government officials have developed new formats for strengthening the blockade and preventing two countries that have a shared history &#8211; and are only geographically 90 miles apart &#8211; from having normal political and economic relations.</p>
<p>Over the last 20 years Global Exchange has facilitated travel to Cuba for tens of thousands of U.S. citizens. Educational delegations have provided a big window for Americans to see and learn about Cuba which highlight the world recognized environmental, ecological, medical, and social accomplishments in this developing country of 12 million people. Many of these people traveled to Cuba under the Office of Foreign Assets and Control (OFAC) imposed General License.</p>
<p>In May 2012 the efforts of millions of Americans to normalize relations with Cuba <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/29/new-cuba-travel-regulations-set-back-what-they-are-what-they-mean/" target="_blank">took a step backward and to the side.</a> In early 2011, when President Obama took office, People-to-People licenses (more liberal than the General License) were granted to over 100 organizations as part of a new “dialogue” with Cuba. However, this spring the U.S. State Department and OFAC began a “slow down“ policy on granting and renewing the People-to-People licenses.</p>
<p>In addition to affecting People-to-People licenses in May, and again in July, the administration has backslid on pronouncements that the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility would be closed. On the other hand, the U.S. government has implemented changes in travel guidelines for Cuban Americans and loosened constraints on the transfers of remittances.</p>
<p>The new regulations are confusing, complicated, and laden with bureaucracy. Applications for the renewal of People-to-People licenses have been backlogged with OFAC. New guidelines for People-to-People license holders, Travel Service Providers (TSPs) like Global Exchange and charter flight companies are now encumbered with more paperwork and process.</p>
<p>Many of the organizations that were given one-year People-to-People licenses have had to cancel dozens of educational travel delegations while waiting to hear whether or not their licenses will be renewed. These renewal applications are often cumbersome and convoluted, sometimes reaching 400 pages in length. Essentially, travel to Cuba by American citizens has been slowed for the next several months.  It’s clear that these are political decisions.</p>
<p>During the 1990s <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/country/cuba" target="_blank">Global Exchange was among the leaders of the national Freedom to Travel Campaign</a>. Several delegations of American citizens traveled to Cuba and risked arrest and heavy fines to fight the U.S. administration’s travel restrictions and stand up for the right to travel anywhere in the world without restrictions. Global Exchange along with other organizations and individuals are once again speaking out on the new more cumbersome regulations and urging citizen action.</p>
<p>The Cold War ended years ago. Its time for American policy to reflect the rights of its citizens to be able to travel to Cuba and engage – unrestricted &#8211; with the people of Cuba. Its time to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba, end the 50 years blockade against Cuba, remove Cuba from the list of countries supporting terrorism, and free the Cuban 5.</p>
<p>As a Travel Service Provider (TSP) Global Exchange is <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=134" target="_blank">authorized to take U.S. citizens to Cuba who qualify under the General License</a>. We have also worked with hundreds of Americans who organized customized delegations with us, and were able to travel to Cuba during the last year under the People-to-People licenses.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=134" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2383" title="Cuba_car_0" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Cuba_car_0.jpg" alt="" width="224" height="159" /></a>TAKE ACTION!</strong></p>
<p>For more information on the work of Global Exchange in Cuba and to learn how <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=134" target="_blank">you may qualify to travel to Cuba</a> please give us a call (415-255-7296 ext. 211) or email <a href="mailto:drea@globalexchange.org" target="_blank">drea@globalexchange.org</a>.</p>
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		<title>Impacts of Recent Peace Delegation in Pakistan</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/17/impacts-of-recent-peace-delegation-in-pakistan/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/17/impacts-of-recent-peace-delegation-in-pakistan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:38:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rebekah Olstad</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peace and Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Women]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[people-to-people]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Responsible Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2351</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/10/17/impacts-of-recent-peace-delegation-in-pakistan/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/peace_delegation-pakistan-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="peace_delegation-pakistan" /></a>Global Exchange Co-Founder Medea Benjamin and delegates from CodePink recently completed a peace march to tribal areas of Pakistan that have been limited to foreigners in the past decade. Here's more about it. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2352" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://codepink.org/blog/2012/10/us-delegations-message-of-peace-received-warmly-in-pakistan-citizen-diplomacy-in-pakistan%E2%80%99s-tribal-areas-you-are-welcome/" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2352 " title="peace_delegation-pakistan" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/peace_delegation-pakistan-300x163.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="163" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">(Photo: Flickr / 23rdstudios.com via CODEPINK)</p></div>
<p><em>We have a new blogger in town, and her name is Rebekah Olstad. She recently joined Global Exchange as our Cuba Custom Reality Tours Director. </em></p>
<p><em>For her first post, Rebekah briefly revisits the impact of a recent delegation trip to </em>Pakistan.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Global Exchange Co-Founder Medea Benjamin and delegates from CODEPINK recently completed sections of a peace march to tribal areas of Pakistan that have been limited to foreigners in the past decade. Their <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/peopletopeople/2012/09/26/americans-take-anti-drone-stance-directly-to-pakistan/" target="_blank">mission</a> was to protest and draw awareness to US drone strikes in the area.</p>
<p><strong>One Pakistani woman <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/09-5" target="_blank">wrote</a> to the delegation:</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;">&#8220;<em>Your coming to Pakistan has touched so many hearts that you cannot even imagine! You were able to do what hundreds of millions of dollars spent by USAID in TV ads to win hearts and minds in Pakistan has failed to achieve!</em>&#8220;</p>
<p>By showing on the ground solidarity, the women on this delegation made powerful people to people contacts with Pakistanis, which is especially needed at a time where <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/09-5" target="_blank">polls</a> have shown that three out of four Pakistanis view the United States as an enemy.</p>
<p>At <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours" target="_blank">Reality Tours</a> we want to applaud the efforts of these women and their allies for spreading a mission of support, solidarity, and concern for the Pakistani people.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Take-Action.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-2355" title="Take Action" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Take-Action.jpg" alt="" width="190" height="190" /></a>TAKE ACTION!</strong></p>
<p>To view current Reality Tours to countries such as Burma, Egypt, and Nicaragua, where you too can make a person-to-person difference, <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Where is Reality Tours&#8217; Newest Destination?</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/09/17/where-is-reality-tours-newest-destination/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/09/17/where-is-reality-tours-newest-destination/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:55:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Malia Everette</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Art and Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Citizen Diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Civil Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food and Agriculture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor and Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peace and Conflict]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality and Religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Burma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ethical travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ethical Traveler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mynamar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Responsible Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/09/17/where-is-reality-tours-newest-destination/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Burma1-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Burmese Temples" /></a>Global Exchange announces our newest Reality Tour destination! Guess where we are going to build people to people ties in 2013?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Burma1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2276" style="margin-right: 15px;" title="Burmese Temples" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Burma1-300x239.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="239" /></a>Global Exchange is excited to announce our newest Reality Tours destination… <a title="Burma Reality Tours " href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=23028" target="_blank">Burma</a>!</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi" target="_blank">Aung San Suu Kyi</a> is now free, over 6,000 political prisoners have been released, and sociopolitical change is slowly engaging the nation.</p>
<p>Community organizations and businesses are encouraging travelers to support the democracy movement and the national economy now that the travel boycott has ended.</p>
<p>Finally Reality Tours can travel to Burma in good conscience and engage with people as citizen diplomats. We hope you will consider <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=23028" target="_blank">joining us in 2013</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Some of what you&#8217;ll experience on a Reality Tour trip to Burma:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Burma4.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-2277" title="Burma " src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Burma4-194x300.jpg" alt="" width="194" height="300" /></a>Journey to important historical and cultural sites (Shwedagon Pagoda, the pagodas of Pagan, the ancient cities around Mandalay, U Bein Bridge, etc.).</li>
<li>Dialogue with opposition leaders and former political prisoners, human rights advocates and members of Aung San Suu Kyi&#8217;s National League of Democracy.</li>
<li>Engage with artists, craftspeople, farmers and educators to hear their hopes for the future.  Our local guides will offer unprecedented access to local people and groups.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Burma5.jpg"><span style="color: #000000;"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2278" style="margin-right: 15px;" title="Burma and Budha" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Burma5-195x300.jpg" alt="" width="195" height="300" /></span></a>Explore how Burma will face a burgeoning tourism industry, and question who will reap the benefits of a vibrant tourist industry.</li>
</ul>
<p>Ethical tourism can offer a much needed boost to Burma&#8217;s economy while contributing to community development. We will explore this issue by partnering with <a title="Ethical Traveler" href="http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/" target="_blank">The Ethical Traveler</a> on this trip, and one of its representatives will help facilitate these important relationship building tours.</p>
<p><strong>Hope to experience Burma with you!</strong></p>
<p>We hope you are able to join us on our first year of building people to people ties in <a title="Burma at a Crossroads, Reality Tours" href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/burma-crossroads" target="_blank">Burma</a>. A trip-of-a-lifetime just waiting to happen.</p>
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		<title>New Cuba Travel Regulations Set Back: What They Are, What They Mean</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/29/new-cuba-travel-regulations-set-back-what-they-are-what-they-mean/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/29/new-cuba-travel-regulations-set-back-what-they-are-what-they-mean/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Aug 2012 21:32:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Andrea Hightower</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Caribbean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Citizen Diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba Travel Ban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cuba travel restrictions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cuba trips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People to People license]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Responsible Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US/CUBA relations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/29/new-cuba-travel-regulations-set-back-what-they-are-what-they-mean/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vintage-Car-Cuba_carleen-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Photo Credit Global Exchange" /></a>New regulations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regarding legal travel to Cuba were released in July that contain a number of new guidelines and directives for organizations that are licensed to provide travel to Cuba, including Global Exchange. While these new regulations are leaving people confused and unclear about what this means [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2314" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vintage-Car-Cuba_carleen.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-2314" title="Vintage Car Cuba_carleen" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Vintage-Car-Cuba_carleen-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo Credit Global Exchange</p></div>
<p>New regulations by the <a href="http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/cuba.aspx" target="_blank">Office of Foreign Assets Control</a> (OFAC) regarding legal travel to Cuba were released in July that contain a number of new guidelines and directives for organizations that are licensed to provide travel to Cuba, including Global Exchange.</p>
<p>While these new regulations are leaving people confused and unclear about what this means for future educational travel to Cuba, Global Exchange along with many other organizations are thoroughly reviewing the regulations so as to be in compliance.</p>
<p>So why are OFAC&#8217;s new guidelines problematic?  As Anya Landau French, Director of the New America Foundation’s U.S. – Cuba Policy Initiative and the editor of The Havana Note <a href="http://thehavananote.com/2012/08/will_ofac_pull_plug_people_people_travel_cuba" target="_blank">explains</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px; text-align: left;"><em>Restricting contacts in the first place is a bad idea, but this sort of &#8216;Big Brother is watching&#8217; approach to people to people engagement is counterproductive (and more than a little ironic). Providing a full itinerary, explaining how contacts with the government helps to make people more independent of the government, and so on, is an odd way to try to open up what many consider a closed society. And therein lies the problem: the objective of such travel is to open up Cuba, instead of to foster mutual understanding, a principle that should stand on its own. In this way, the Obama administration has backed itself into a policy corner.</em></p>
<p>Ellen Creager of the Detroit Free Press also offers us a critical look at <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20120822/COL21/120822010/Ellen-Creager-Is-the-door-slamming-shut-for-travel-from-U-S-to-Cuba" target="_blank">the challenges that may lie ahead</a> despite the few positive changes that have come in the last year.</p>
<p>While here at Global Exchange we continue to review these new regulations, the Cuba section of our <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/by-country?field_country_nid=134" target="_blank">Reality Tours</a> website will be “under construction.” Please feel welcome to contact us should you have questions, since we do retain our license as an authorized Travel Service Provider to Cuba.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Take-Action.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-2330" title="Take Action" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Take-Action.jpg" alt="" width="158" height="158" /></a>TAKE ACTION!</strong></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Direct OFAC and the State Department to carry out President Obama&#8217;s Cuba policy -</span> <a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/625/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11519" target="_blank">Sign this petition</a>!</li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Keep updated about Cuba travel regulations,</span> <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/feed/" target="_blank">subscribe to our Reality Tours blog</a> <span style="color: #000000;">and sign up for the </span><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/703/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=10381" target="_blank">Reality Tours email list</a> <span style="color: #000000;">to receive regular updates.</span></li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Cuba in Pictures: The Universal Language of Photography</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/28/cuba-in-pictures-the-universal-language-of-photography/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/28/cuba-in-pictures-the-universal-language-of-photography/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Art and Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Partner and Trip Leader Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caribbean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba photographs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba photos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cuba travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ron Herman]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2252</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/28/cuba-in-pictures-the-universal-language-of-photography/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-1-Ron_Herman-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Photo by Ron Herman" /></a>Read what it's like to snap photos of people in Cuba, plus how one photographer leads budding photographers by organizing customized Reality Tours to Cuba .]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2296" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 186px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Kids_cuba.jpeg"><img class=" wp-image-2296" title="Kids_cuba" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Kids_cuba-300x200.jpeg" alt="" width="176" height="117" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Kids in Cuba. Photo Credit: Global Exchange</p></div>
<p><em>The following is a guest post by photographer Ron Herman, who has lead three<em></em> <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/customized" target="_blank">customized Global Exchange Reality Tours</a> to Cuba. But first, worth checking out are these articles about recent changes in the Cuba travel industry:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em><span style="color: #000000;">DETROIT FREE PRESS:</span> <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20120822/COL21/120822010/Elen-Creager-door-slamming-shut-travel-from-U-S-Cuba-" target="_blank">Is door slamming shut for travel to Cuba?</a></em></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">THE HAVANA NOTE:</span> <em><a href="http://thehavananote.com/2012/08/will_ofac_pull_plug_people_people_travel_cuba" target="_blank">Will OFAC Pull the Plug on People to People Travel to Cuba?</a><br />
</em></li>
</ul>
<p>To keep up-to-date about Cuba travel news, <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/feed/" target="_blank">subscribe via RSS</a> to our Reality Tours blog for future updates.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;-</p>
<div id="attachment_2253" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-1-Ron_Herman.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2253" title="Cuba-Reality-Tour-1-Ron_Herman" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-1-Ron_Herman-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photographer: Bill Scull</p></div>
<p><strong>&#8220;The Universal Language of Photography&#8221;</strong> by Ron Herman<strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p>Looking back on the three customized reality tours I have led to Cuba thus far, one of the things I like most after arriving in José Marti Airport is watching the trip participants’ eyes light up on the bus ride into Havana Vieja. As the sights, sounds, and smells, that are so distinctively Cuban, whirl by the bus window, it hits them that they finally made it to Cuba. And with that realization, smiles emerge on their travel worn faces……and the camera shutters start to click.</p>
<div id="attachment_2254" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-2-Ron_Herman.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2254" title="Cuba-Reality-Tour-2-Ron_Herman" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-2-Ron_Herman-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photographer: Don Wheatley</p></div>
<p>I have led photo workshops in various other countries, but it is the people that keep drawing me back to Cuba. Unlike any other destination I have traveled to before, I find the people in Cuba to be more warm, open, and willing to engage with the camera. Even though many trip participants weren’t able to speak Spanish with the Cuban people they photographed, they were able to communicate through the images that they shot and then showed them on their camera’s LCD screen.</p>
<div id="attachment_2255" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-3-Ron_Herman.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2255 " title="Cuba Reality Tour 3-Ron_Herman" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-3-Ron_Herman-300x224.png" alt="" width="300" height="224" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photographer: Ron Herman</p></div>
<p>Many of my alumni have commented that because of the embargo, they didn’t know how Cubans would greet Americans. They quickly realized that Cubans differentiate between American people and the politics between our two governments, and that they are as curious about us as we are about them. Often you can find American flags or other American symbols displayed in local shops.</p>
<p>Several photographers have returned with me on subsequent trips to Cuba. They too have fallen in love with Cuba. Over the course of multiple trips, we have developed relationships with the people we met and photographed. Many of the alumni and myself have returned to Cuba with prints of the images that we shot of them and their family, which are always warmly received.</p>
<div id="attachment_2256" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-4Mary-Ellen_Kaschub.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-2256  " title="Cuba Reality Tour 4Mary-Ellen_Kaschub" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Cuba-Reality-Tour-4Mary-Ellen_Kaschub-300x210.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="210" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Cuban friend receiving prints shot on a previous trip. Photographer: Mary Ellen Kaschub</p></div>
<p>After returning home, it is always great to share our travel stories with each other and relive our Cuban adventure through each other’s images. Even though we were photographing in the same locations together, it is always fun to see how differently each person saw and visually recorded the experience.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to returning to Cuba this Spring to lead another exciting customized reality tour for photographers (March 30 – April 13, 2013) in addition to a LGBT trip (May 9-19, 2013) centered on IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) and its related events in Havana and Cienfuegos.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;-</p>
<p><strong>TAKE ACTION!</strong></p>
<p>Check out this lively video about Ron Herman’s Cuba trips:</p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KrbtkCkScCw" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>For more information on Ron Herman’s trips</strong> to Cuba go to:</span> <a href="http://www.hermanphotography.com/tours.html" target="_blank">www.hermanphotography.com/tours.html</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Global Exchange is a licensed Travel Service Provider for Cuba trips.</strong> For more information on Customized Cuba delegations please <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/customized" target="_blank">visit our website for details</a> or email <a href="mailto:leslie@globalexchange.org" target="_blank">leslie@globalexchange.org</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><em><a href="http://www.hermanphotography.com/about.html" target="_blank">Ron Herman </a>is a photographer and Chair of the Photography Department at Foothill College located in Los Altos Hills, CA.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>The Powerful Argentine Example: A Trip Leader&#8217;s Impressions on Solutions</title>
		<link>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/15/the-powerful-argentine-example-a-trip-leader-impressions-on-solutions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/15/the-powerful-argentine-example-a-trip-leader-impressions-on-solutions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Aug 2012 23:44:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Malia Everette</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Civil Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment & Sustainability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latin America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Partner and Trip Leader Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Argentina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cooperatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Delia Marx]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Educational Tours]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socially Responsible Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/?p=2232</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/15/the-powerful-argentine-example-a-trip-leader-impressions-on-solutions/"><img align="left" hspace="5" width="150" height="150" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/P8100116-150x150.jpg" class="alignleft tfe wp-post-image" alt="Delia and Delegates, 2003" /></a>In the second of a two part series on Argentina, Reality Tours program officer Delia Marx  shares the significance of the 2001 financial crisis, the lessons it provides for us today and some of her personal insights facilitating the journeys.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2238" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/P8100116.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2238" title="Delia and Delegates, 2003" src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/P8100116-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Delia and Delegates, 2003</p></div>
<p><em><em>In the second of a 2-part series, Reality Tours Argentina program officer Delia Marx shares with us in an interview conducted by our intern Kathleen Reynolds, her impressions on the enriching impacts of educational exchange. You can read <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/08/the-powerful-argentine-example-reality-tours-program-officer-shares-her-story/http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/2012/08/08/the-powerful-argentine-example-reality-tours-program-officer-shares-her-story/" target="_blank">Part 1 here</a>.<br />
</em></em></p>
<p><em><em> </em></em><br />
<strong>Kathleen:</strong> Looking back, what inspired you to facilitate Reality Tours?<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Delia</strong>: People are so willing to share, obviously their successes but also their struggles. The little things that are going on and there are many of them. After that first experience I was totally hooked. That was when I decided to do it as soon and as often as possible and I did!<br />
<strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Kathleen:</strong> If you were to highlight a particular moment as a RT Leader what would that be?</p>
<p><strong>Delia</strong>: I think people worry about having different views on things. Somehow I pride myself on not telling people what’s going on. I’m just an intermediate. I’m just a translator. We go straight to the source. We talk to people. I think that the experience is very transformational. I don’t give my point of view, aside from the fact that I create the program. I select what we are doing based on what we can learn.</p>
<p>I remember one comment that I was really struck by. It was with an assembly organization that makes decisions by consensus, so you have to get everybody on board before you go ahead with anything.  A man said to me, yes it was a long process, people were forever discussing and never coming to an agreement. It took a long time to trust one another but once there was trust, everything went much more smoothly.</p>
<div id="attachment_2239" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/P8060110.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2239" title="Haciendo Caras " src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/P8060110-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">&#8220;Haciendo Caras&#8221; at a Community Arts Project, 2003</p></div>
<p>One of the highlights of our tours is a visit with the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo, grandparents who are still looking for their &#8216;disappeared&#8217; grandchildren. There are several stories of success in finding these children whose identities were stolen. Can you imagine? These children sometimes were &#8216;adopted&#8217; by the torturers of their parents! The case of the Abuelas was instrumental in the successful research for identification of blood relationship with a missing generation in between. Normally you can establish fatherhood of a child through blood analysis, but here the parents were missing and the research needed to be done to ascertain relationship through the blood of the grandparents instead. Now the Abuelas are dying. They are mostly in their 80&#8242;s but they created a blood bank for the future! One &#8216;Abuela&#8217; that has recovered her grandson fairly recently said: &#8220;I got a new grandson, only that he is 30 years old!&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Kathleen:</strong>  What does make the difference, why do people choose to travel to Argentina with Global Exchange Reality Tours?<br />
<strong></strong></p>
<div id="attachment_2240" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/P8120135.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2240" title="The Falls " src="http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/realitytours/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/P8120135-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The Beautiful Iguazu Falls</p></div>
<p><strong>Delia</strong>: First of all a big portion of the cost of a Reality Tour program is airfare. Some people take advantage of being there already and they combine some other tour agenda in Argentina of which there are many. So keep in mind that you can stay a few days before or after the tour and visit the scenic parts of Argentina, we could go on and on about that but the portion of the Reality Tour is what as the name says “Reality”. The cost of the tour also includes contributions to the organizations we visit. This enhances the sense of participation on the part of the travelers and supports the work the organizations are doing. Your vacation dollars are working for a good cause. What brings you closer to the people is the direct connection to people. You are there sitting with them and you’re listening. Listening to the stories and listening to their experience and most fortunately you’re learning from them.</p>
<p>We are now witness to the global economic crisis in the United States and in Europe and in many other places in the world, something that may be new to many of us. Argentineans found many of their solutions, many of their ways out. People come to the understanding that there are alternatives that can be implemented here and now without waiting for somebody else to come and rescue us. Finding that in your community, in your peers with the people that surround you is very enriching.</p>
<p><em>Thank you Delia for the years of effort and energy that you have put into organizing and facilitating our Reality Tours to <a title="Argentina landing page" href="../../../tours/by-country?field_country_nid=136" target="_blank">Argentina</a>. </em></p>
<p><strong>TAKE ACTION!</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>Experience for yourself:</strong> Join our <a title="Economic Justice" href="../../../tours/argentina-building-economic-justice-below" target="_blank">“Building Economic Justice from Below”</a> trip this November and experience Argentina first-hand.<br />
</em></p>
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