PLEASE JOIN UNITED STUDENTS FOR FAIR TRADE AND THE MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK ON A POWERFUL DELEGATION TO CHIAPAS:
Women and Fair Trade: Weaving Together a New Global Economy
June 11 - 19, 2005
Learn more about the delegation on our website at
http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/future.html, or you can reach us directly at 773-583-7728 and msn@mexicosolidarity.org.
United Students for Fair Trade and the Mexico Solidarity Network invite you to join a delegation to Chiapas, Mexico this summer. This delegation will examine the impacts that globalization has had on women in Mexico and the leadership role that women play in the movement for Fair Trade and social and economic justice. While the delegation will focus on women's issues, it is open to women, men and transgender folks.
The goal of the delegation is to invigorate gender-conscious grassroots Fair Trade organizing in the United States. As USFT explores the potential of starting a Women's Caucus, this will be a valuable opportunity to find direction and network with producers and other student organizers. While much of our time will be spent in dialogue with women who are taking leadership roles in the Fair Trade movement, we will also hold workshops to build and share our skills as organizers. Experienced MSN and USFT organizers will guide the process.
BACKGROUND
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.
Indigenous communities are not only engaged in a struggle for economic survival. 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. Ten years after the uprising, human rights abuses are rampant. But these communities are developing new forms of resistance including indigenous run health care centers, schools, and judicial systems. Women are playing leading roles on all fronts in the struggle to build alternatives to neo-liberalism.
The delegation will:
- Learn about the impact of corporate-centered globalization on indigenous and campesino communities in southern Mexico, with a special focus on women's issues.
- Meet with women's organizations, including indigenous Fair Trade cooperatives, collective projects and human rights groups, to better understand how these organizations function in their political, social and economic context.
- Examine the role that women play in the movement for social justice and Fair Trade.
- Counterpose the progress of women within artisan cooperatives and coffee cooperatives.
- Create strategies that strengthen solidarity between people working for social and economic justice on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
- Create a space for discussion about how best to bring the experiences of the delegation into the work of United Students for Fair Trade and other partner student/youth groups.
Tentative Schedule
Day 1: Travel to San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Evening logistical orientation.
Day 2-3: Background orientation on the current situation in Chiapas in San Cristóbal de las Casas. Meetings with members of women's organizations and cooperatives, human rights organizations, environmental groups, and economic and political analysts.
Day 4-6: Travel to indigenous communities, including threatened autonomous Zapatista communities. Meetings with members of women's artisan cooperatives, coffee cooperatives, and collectively organized community projects including schools and health care clinics. Each evening will include time for debriefing/reflection. We will stay in the communities these nights and you will need a sleeping bag.
Day 7: Return to San Cristóbal de las Casas. Strategy session with delegation participants. Free time: we can line up extra meetings for participants to further investigate areas of interest or participants can use the time to relax and enjoy the culture.
Day 8: Depart for home.
The cost of the delegation is $500. This cost covers in-country ground transportation, hotels, translation, background materials, and program. Delegates are responsible for their own travel arrangements to the Tuxtla Gutierrez airport and most meals. As the delegation begins to form, we will meet to discuss collective fundraising opportunities to lower the costs as much as possible.
To reserve a space on the delegation today, please complete the online application and send it to msn@mexicosolidarity.org. In addition, send a $100 deposit to Mexico Solidarity Network, 4834 N. Springfield, Chicago, IL 60625. Deposits are not refundable. A limited number of scholarships are also available for youth of color under the age of 30. You can apply for a scholarship on-line by completing both the scholarship and delegation application.
Also please contact Aleah Lawrence-Pine of United Students for Fair Trade and let her know your intent to participate in the delegation at aleahann@ucsc.edu
Delegation application:
http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/delegationform.html
Scholarship application:
http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/scholarshipform.htm
