All year, 2011 (OH, MN, IN, WI, IL, MI, MO): "Why We Leave: the structural causes of US migration" with active members of the Albany Park Autonomous Center. These tours are coordinated on an ad hoc basis depending on the university's and speakers' schedules. Contact us today to schedule an event!
Oct 30 - Nov 11, 2011 (VT, MA, CT, NY and PA):
"On the Edge of Reason—Border Dynamics and the Spread of Violence" with Macrina Cardenas de Alarcon, a community activist and educator from Tijuana.
Macrina Cárdenas de Alarcón of Tijuana, Mexico, discusses the reasons behind increasing violence along the US-Mexico border, including international arms traffic, reliance on a maquiladora economy, and US military aid. Macrina is the former Legislative Coordinator for MSN in Washington, DC, and she will draw on her five years of experience working as a community activist and educator in Tijuana with the Casa del Migrante. [click here for example flyer]
Oct 23 - Nov 4, 2011 (IL, IN, WI): "Justice Now! The struggle for human rights in the indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico" with Priscilla Ruiz Guillén, attorney with the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center (FrayBa). Priscilla Ruiz Guillen, one of FrayBa's attorneys, will speak of her organization's incredible work accompanying indigenous communities in their process of resisting displacement and responding to para/military harassment. FrayBa and its staff have received a number of threats as of late but refuse to stand down in their pursuit of justice. [click here for example flyer]
Nov 6 - 18, 2011 (OR, WA, BC): "Sowing Struggle: Urban and rural social movements in Tlaxcala, Mexico" with Luz Rivera Martínez, lead organizer with Consejo Nacional Urbano Campesino (CNUC). Luz will speak about her 20 years of experience constructing autonomy, organizing outside the electoral system, and resisting free trade. She established CNUC (the National Urban and Peasant Council) in the 1980s to coordinate resistance to the impending North American Free Trade Agreement, and today the organization includes thousands of peasant families across the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. As CNUC's lead organizer, Luz has worked tirelessly to demand government accountability, defend family farms, and build inspiring, community-based health, education, and infrastructure projects. Luz is an amazingly inspiring speaker with a wealth of experience and her talk will have important lessons for anyone interested in women's, peasant, and labor movements. [click here for example flyer]
