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Evo Morales on GRITtv with Laura Flanders

Last week, when Bolivian President Evo Morales was in New York to commemorate Earth Day at the UN, Laura Flanders of GRITtv had a chance to speak with him about socialism and his agenda for equality.  The video is below.

Action Alert: Send Open Veins of Latin America to the White House

We received an action alert from NACLA, countering the misinformation in the mainstream media about President Obama's recent trip to the Summit of the Americas and his encounter with Venezuelan President Huga Chavez.  Below is more information:

Dear friends of NACLA,

[T]he mainstream media erupted with stories about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez publicly giving President Obama a Spanish-language copy of Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America during the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad - but for all of the coverage, the media isn't telling the truth about this important book's message.

And what's more, we've heard the mainstream media say over and over that the book is obscure and difficult to find in English, when, in reality, it is one of the most widely read books on Latin America, was first published in English in 1973, and has been in print and available all over the world ever since!

Let's make sure that the Obama administration gets the message that Open Veins of Latin America is a crucial history of the type of U.S. intervention in the region that needs to stop!

We are calling on NACLA supporters to send English- language copies of Open Veins of Latin America directly to the White House. We want hundreds of copies to be sent there, enough for all of the White House staff, the cabinet members, and Obama's advisors. Let's get this book into the hands of not just Barack Obama, but Hillary Clinton, Thomas Shannon, Dan Restrepo, and the rest of the administration! Let's show Obama that there is real, grassroots support for a new policy toward Latin America - that we want not just change, but justice!

If you want to see a new U.S. policy toward Latin America, please, buy a copy of Open Veins of Latin America today, and have it sent directly to the Obama administration!

You can support independent publishing by purchasing the book directly from our friends at Monthly Review Press or use purchase on Amazon and support NACLA.

http://www.monthlyreview.org/books/o penveinslatinamerica.php

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pro duct/0853459916?ie=UTF8&tag=northamer09db- 20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creati veASIN=0853459916

Have the books shipped to one of the following:

President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Secretary Hillary Clinton
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Asst. Secretary Thomas Shannon
Western Hemisphere Affairs
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dan Restrepo
Director of Western Hemisphere Affairs
National Security Council
600 17th St NW
Washington, DC 20508

Please, pass this on to your friends and colleagues, and let us know that you sent a copy by emailing info@nacla.org. Thanks for joining us in this campaign!

Sincerely,
NACLA Staff

"Who Inspires You?" Video Ready for Viewing!

Thanks to everyone who sent in submissions for our "Who Inspires You?" video tribute in honor of Women's Month! Here is the completed video with the photos of the people who inspire all of us:

We are so grateful to everyone who participated to make this project a success. We really could not have done it without you.

myMADRE Brings You the Latest

A group of 30 women activists held a workshop on April 18^th in Seoul, Korea to establish a feminist network for “glocal” activism called the Network for Glocal Activism (NGA).

Indian journalist Aunohita Mojumdar talks about how the Obama Administration’s core goals regarding Afghanistan reiterate the early goals of the Bush era and will not lead to long-term stability in the region.

Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project, asserts that the cost of American “security” is not worth the deaths of countless Afghan civilians.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, highlights the importance of a real national debate on policy in Afghanistan, such as those facilitated by Brave New Films’ new documentary Rethink Afghanistan.

Tamil women fleeing the war zone in Sri Lanka are being raped in unprecedented numbers by the Sri Lankan army.

Obama’s active involvement in the Summit of the Americas is a promising sign for improved relations between the US and Latin America.

Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change

This photo features Tarcila Rivera Zea (far right), the Executive Director of CHIRAPAQ (a MADRE sister organization) and a board member of the International Indigenous Women's Forum.

This week, Indigenous Peoples from around the world met in Anchorage, Alaska at an international summit to push for a greater role in the effort to combat climate change.  The five-day-long event brought together some 400 representatives from 90 nations, including Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Worldwide, Indigenous Peoples are facing the brunt of climate change, as the ecosystems on which lifestyles and traditions depend are being compromised.  For instance, the summit took place some 500 miles from Newtok, an Indigenous Yup’ik village soon to be abandoned to avoid the rising waters. 

What’s more, Indigenous Peoples’ expertise in areas related to the environment has been built up over generations, making their leadership indispensable.  The website for the summit’s activities has more:

[H]uman activity is changing the world’s climate and altering the natural environment to which Indigenous Peoples are so closely attached and on which they so heavily rely.

In a very real sense, therefore, Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines of climate change. They observe climate and environmental changes first-hand and use traditional knowledge and survival skills to adapt to these changes as they occur.

Existing international climate change negotiations have excluded Indigenous Peoples from any formal role, marginalizing their voices and ignoring their expertise.  Participants at this week’s summit demanded that governments fully incorporate Indigenous Peoples in all international debates and decisions on climate change.

As Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and member of the MADRE Network of Experts, explained, “We have centuries of experience in adapting to the climate and our traditional lifestyles have very low carbon footprints.”

President of the UN General Assembly Miguel D’Escoto addressed the summit, saying that Indigenous Peoples are “vital to the many ecosystems in their lands and territories and help enhance the resilience of these ecosystems.”

*Photo credit: Bill Roth, Anchorage Daily News

Relief Agencies Struggle to Meet Urgent Demands in Sri Lanka

Two days ago, we posted about the mass exodus of civilians from the area on Sri Lanka’s north-east coast where fighting continues between the government military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). An estimated 85,000 civilians have managed to flee the area since Monday, but between 15,000 and 20,000 civilians remain trapped in the combat zone. Although about 1,200 metric tonnes of humanitarian assistance was scheduled to embark for the area on April 19, the fighting has prevented this shipment from being delivered. Civilians in the combat area must therefore continue to survive on aid that was delivered as far back as April 1.

Unfortunately, those who have managed to cross into government-controlled areas are finding themselves in a similar predicament. Most civilians have fled to the northern town of Vavuniya where available resources prove inadequate to accommodate the sudden surge of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Menaca Calyaneratne, spokesperson for Save the Children Sri Lanka, asserts, “there is a mismatch between available resources and the massive needs.”

“Women and girls have unique needs,” said Lene K. Christiansen, a UN Population Fund (UNFPA) representative. 

MADRE is partnering with Inform, a Sri Lankan human rights organization, to provide urgently-needed support for women and families struggling to survive.  You can support our efforts by donating here.

Quick Post: MADRE on Twitter

We recently joined Twitter, an online service that lets us send quick updates or "tweets" about our work and ways to get involved.  Read our updates here: http://twitter.com/MADREspeaks. 

If you're already on Twitter, follow us!

Emergency in Sri Lanka: You Can Help

More than 63,000 civilians fled a Tamil Tiger-held area on Monday, after having been trapped by the on-going violence for months. Since the beginning of the year, more than 4,500 civilians have been killed.  The video below, as well as the video provide at this link, show the devastating impact on civilians, displaced by the thousands.

MADRE has joined with Inform, a Sri Lankan human rights organization, to respond to this emergency.  In 2004, after the tsunami created widespread destruction, MADRE joined with Inform to provide immediate relief and protection, as well as long-term psycho-social services.

We just sent out a message to our list, asking that people support our efforts to bolster Inform’s work.  In that message, we explained:

Hundreds of civilian casualties are being reported daily, including those caused by internationally banned weapons such as cluster shells, napalm bombs and phosphorus bombs.

"With this latest surge in fighting, our greatest fear is that the worst is yet to come," said UNICEF's regional director for south Asia, Daniel Toole.

Once again - MADRE can, and must, help.

Most fleeing the conflict wind up in transit camps that aren't equipped to cope with this sudden influx of people. The UN has expressed concern about conditions in the camps, where poor sanitation and shortages of water will hasten the spread of disease, and where government and aid agencies face a major challenge in getting enough food to those arriving - many of whom, particularly children, are already showing signs of malnourishment.

Government officials say that until they can be sure they have weeded out all Tamil Tiger members among the civilians in the camps everyone will have to be detained. A small number of elderly people have been released, but the camps are still home to thousands of children, pregnant women and elderly people.

To find out more about this crisis, visit our website here.  To donate, click here.

myMADRE Brings You the Latest

Mark Weisbrot shows that failed US policies in South America, such as NAFTA, call for a new approach to foreign policy in the region.

A new report released late last year highlights the problem of sex trafficking in Iraq. Human rights activists like Yanar Mohammad, president of MADRE sister organization, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, discuss the complexity of combating this issue.

International civil society organizations criticize the UN for omitting a review of Israel’s discrimination against Palestinians in preparation for the Durban Anti-Racism Review Conference, to be held in Geneva from April 20th to the 24th.

The Geneva Summit Manifesto of Human Rights Victims, released at the conclusion of the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, calls for “eternal vigilance” from the UN in addressing issues of discrimination and human rights.

Shazia Z. Rafi, the secretary-general of Parliamentarians for Global Action, discusses the politics behind the Afghan government’s amended Personal Status Law.

The new female police force in Gaza takes on greater roles following Israel’s recent attack.

In addition to being found guilty of numerous human rights violations during his term in office, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is also responsible for another, less publicized, human rights violation: the mass sterilizations of indigenous women and men.

Kevin Pina, founding editor of the Haiti Information Project, criticizes the international community’s silence in response to the decision by Haiti’s election council to continue with Senate elections as planned. The exclusion of the Lavalas party may call into question the validity of the elections.

300 Afghan Women Protest New Law

Yesterday, some 300 women in Afghanistan marched in protest of a new law severely restricting the rights of women.  The law allows for marital rape, mandating that a man can demand sex from his wife every four days.  The law further regulates when a woman may leave the home, requiring permission from her husband, and criminalizes a woman who refuses to wear make-up if her husband demands it.  The law applies to the Shiite minority in Afghanistan.

The women who gathered to protest faced huge opposition and were significantly outnumbered.  They were met with verbal abuse and had stone hurled at them.  Below is video footage provided by the Associated Press: