Women Constructing a Fair Global Economy Fair Trade, Globalization and Human Rights Tour   (April 10-23, 2005)

by the Mexico Solidarity Network

Since the Zapatista uprising began on January 1, 1994, (the first day that NAFTA went into effect) the Mexican military and paramilitaries have waged a counter insurgency war against Zapatista and sympathizer communities. Eleven years after the uprising, human rights abuses are rampant. But these communities are developing new forms of resistance. Women are playing leading roles on all fronts in the struggle to build alternatives.

During the past decade, over a million Mexican campesinos lost their lands. US subsidies for corporate agriculture, free trade agreements (read NAFTA), and monopoly control of international markets are destroying the livelihoods of one-fifth of the Mexican population. Corporate subsidies and free trade allow US corporations to dump corn on the Mexican market at below the cost of production. Monopoly control of international markets forces campesinos to sell their coffee, corn and other agricultural products at below the cost of production. Nearly 20 million Mexican campesinos depend on small plots of corn and/or coffee for survival. With rapidly declining family incomes, many have no alternative but to migrate to large cities, the northern border or the US in search of work.

Ultimately, dramatic changes in government policies and economic priorities offer the only long-term solution. While we are working to change those policies, fair trade programs offer an important survival alternative for many campesino families. In Chiapas, artisan production by women constitutes one of the main sources of income for indigenous families. This is especially true since the collapse of the international corn and coffee markets, which provided many small farmers with their only sources of income. Artisan production is particularly important for families where the father has died or cannot leave the community to work because of political unrest, such as Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero.

Fair Trade Cooperatives allow women to play a central role in the control and development of local economies. Fair Trade allows community cooperatives to raise money to improve living conditions for their communities, control the production and marketing of products, construct a just economy in which women can be central participants, maintain ancestral knowledge, support sustainable agriculture, and provide much needed funds for community development projects.

The April 2005 Program:

The Mexico Solidarity Network Women Constructing a Fair Global Economy: Fair Trade, Globalization and Human Rights Tour in the spring of 2005 will feature young women activists from Chiapas, Mexico and will:

Discuss threats to indigenous communities, especially women, such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas, NAFTA, Plan Puebla Panama, and the corn and coffee crisis in Mexico.

Discuss human rights abuses in Mexico, their relationship to globalization and how indigenous communities are working to end the abuses and impunity.

Promote a sustainable model of international trade based on economic justice

Discuss the leadership of women in fair trade cooperatives

Offer weavings and traditional handicrafts made in women's cooperatives for sale to raise money to improve the living conditions in communities.

The April speaking tours will each include a young female activist from Chiapas to discuss the political, economic and social context in which indigenous people of Chiapas live and projects that young women are developing to confront these problems. A representative of Mexico Solidarity Network will discuss the impact of US foreign policy on this context and how US communities can get involved in making positive changes.

The presentations will include a video message from Mujeres por la Dignidad Rebelde (Women for Dignity in Rebellion), a cooperative of several hundred Zapatista indigenous weavers in Chiapas, Mexico. The objective of the cooperative is not just to sell artesania (crafts) but also to organize women to participate fully in the Zapatista struggle for self-determination and the preservation of indigenous culture. For security reasons, the Zapatistas are not currently permitting any members to travel outside of Chiapas, but the cooperative has prepared a video message for the tour. We will have beautiful hand-made textiles for sale. Profits from these sales go directly to the cooperative to support the struggle of indigenous women in Chiapas.

Attention!

We are still confirming some events. If you need more information and a local contact is not listed, please contact Gigi at: 773/583-7728 or msn@mexicosolidarity.org.

For tour dates and times in the US see this link:
Mexico Solidarity Network -- Women Constructing a Fair Global Economy: Fair Trade, Globalization and Human Rights Tour 2005

Contact: 

msn@mexicosolidarity.org or
Tel. (202)544-9355: NE (ME/NH/VT/MA/CD/RI) and SE (GA/FL) tours
Tel. (773)583-7728: Midwest (MN/WI/IA/IL/IN/MI) tour
Tel. (415)621-8100: Western (NM/CO/KS/OK) tours

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