solidarity

April 25th to April 30th, 2010 (At encuentro 5, Lucy Parson's Center, & Haley House) Leading up to the MayDay 2010 rallies and marches, join us across the city for six days of movies and discussion on the topics of workers' struggle, immigration, history, political analysis, and alternatives. Featuring an exhibit of Justice Artwork at encuentro 5 from local worker-run cooperative Red Sun Press!

Festival Schedule (read more):

Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:00 p.m. "My name is Martha Lucia Giraldo Villano and I was born on June 22, 1978 in Cauca, Colombia. I am the daughter of José Orlando Giraldo, a small-scale farmer who was the victim of an extrajudicial killing by the National Army. In my country, there have been many extrajudicial killings that are also categorized as false positives (the killing of innocent civilians to pass them off as guerrillas killed in combat within the context of Colombia's armed conflict). The execution of my father is an example of a 'false-positive' murder."

"I am part of the Victims of State Crimes Movement. Along with other victims, we work together on organizing and training in order to demand our rights to truth, justice and reparation."

Saturday, November 7, 2009, 6:30 p.m. Mexico-US Solidarity Network invites you to join us for a discussion of popular education in Zapatista indigenous communities and the role of urban academics as resources in constructing an autonomous education system.

Patricia Hernández, a sociologist specializing in education & gender, has worked since 2001 with indigenous communities to develop their primary and secondary schools, following a model of "autonomous education." She worked intensively with indigenous teachers—called "education promoters" (promoter@s)—to develop the secondary school for indigenous children living in the Zona Selva Tzeltal. Local leaders, who oversaw the project, wanted the community's demands for land, food, peace, justice and democracy to serve as the content for classes on history, language and mathematics.

Thursday, June 18, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Omar Mejia, co founder of Café Conciencia and filmmaker Willy Barreno, will present their work creating economic development and awareness by weaving a network of community run cooperatives in Guatemala, the Guatemalan migrant
community in the United States and the American consumer who is interested in Fair-Trade and Organic principles. They will speak about connections with rural and indigenous communities who will self-preserve and grow by having equal access to food, shelter, employment and education. We are invested in the hopes that Guatemala’s producer community and U.S. market will cultivate a relationship that generates a sustainable and dignified way of life so that immigration in exchange for food is not the only option.

This event is organized by the Boston Interpreters Collective.

The Music of Social Struggle from Latin America

Saturday, June 6, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Capping off events and actions on Bolivia, Chiapas, Colombia, El Salvador, and Venezuela, and organizing to mark May Day 2009, we will be enjoying the music of Latin America with Sergio Reyes, Simon Rios and many others.

Women, Agent Orange and the Socialist Market Economy

Thursday, May 7, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Video, slide show and presentations by two tour members, followed by discussion. The study tour was organized by the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

Vietnam today is bustling, colorful, spirited and changing into something new. A 16-person national study tour visited the country in Jan. 2009 hosted by the Vietnam Women’s Union. The group learned about the VWU, a 13-million member grassroots organization that has considerable influence on national policy. The legacies of war was another theme as a US Vietnam vet met with three former NLF fighters in a moving encounter. The remaining sore spot with the Vietnamese on the war is the issue of the use of agent orange/dioxin with three million victims and continued birth defects, a fact the US government has never acknowledged. Vietnamese experts also lectured about the strategy for development, the socialist market economy.

A Conversation with Jorge Santiago

Thursday, April 2, 7:00 p.m. As the Wall Street financial crisis sparks urgent discussion of shortcomings in the US economy, the Mexico-US Solidarity Network invites you to join us in examining lessons from economic projects in the indigenous communities of southern Mexico . Jorge Santiago is the former Director of Desarrollo Económico y Social de los Mexicanos Indígenas (DESMI; Indigenous Mexican Social & Economic Development) where he has worked since the 1970s developing economic alternatives in over 200 indigenous communities in Chiapas , the southernmost state of Mexico.

Colombian Trade Union Leaders Speak Out!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 6:00 p.m. Coal provides almost 50% of the electricity produced in the United States. Much of that coal—including what's burned at the Salem and Brayton Point plants in Massachusetts—comes from two giant, multinational mines in Colombia.