Summary
Organization name
Witness for Peace Midwest
Tax id (EIN)
41-2006911
Categories
International, Community
Address
PO Box 17262Minneapolis, MN 55417-9998
Join Minnesotans in contributing to nonprofits during the 2021 GIVE TO THE MAX week! WFP's popular education and advocacy work is more important than ever! At this critical moment of changing trade policies, military aid packages, immigration, and changing Cuba policy, we are writing to ask for your continued financial commitment to support our work.
COVID has drastically impacted our work last year and we've had to cancel most human rights delegations and events in 2020 and 2021. This has been an increasingly difficult year for our partners and their communities in Latin America with continued militarization, targeted assassinations, threats and deepening of inequities and injustices. In response, our partners are generating community-based models of resistance and care that lead the way for alternative economies and ways of being. We are staying connected to partners by continuing to develop our virtual programming and hosting delegations when it is safe.
In the past month, Witness for Peace Midwest hosted a fall speaking tour featuring our Honduran partners, MADJ and La Mesa. The speaking tour focused on Zedes: A New Form of Colonialism and brought a timely conversation to students at the University of Minnesota Duluth and University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. . Local and international communities have grave concerns over land dispossession as Zedes can expropriate land for development without challenge from landholders. The Zedes speaking tour will continue in the spring semester of 2022 bringing more visibility and direct conversations between our partners and students, communities and congressional representatives.
Last April, we hosted a spring virtual speaking with Colombian partner Congreso de Los Pueblos (People's Congress). Meeting with university students and community members across the region, Congreso highlighted the work and need to unify popular and intersectional voices and stand against environmental destruction, war and violent dispossession from Black, Indigenous, Campesino and other marginalized communities. These kinds of educational exchanges challenge borders and ensure that the grassroots strategies from our partner communities in Latin America are represented and upheld.
Lastly, an important event in March, Connecting Indigenous Resistance to US Extractivism and Militarization, featured two frontline Indigenous leaders protecting the sacred land, water and way of life. Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, the general coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and Tara Houska, founder of the Line 3 resistance group, Giniw Collective were present. The event was moderated by Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), the event focused on building a culture of life amidst the struggle against extractive projects, militarization, and continued violence. You can find a recording of the event here.
Thank you in advance for your solidarity during this time as we continue to advocate for peace, justice and sustainable economies alongside our partners in Colombia, Cuba, and Honduras. With much excitement and energy, we look forward to solidarity work in action in 2022! For upcoming delegations, visit our website at https://www.solidaritycollective.org/upcoming-delegations. Stay safe and healthy!
In solidarity,
WFP Midwest Staff and Board of Directors
Organization name
Witness for Peace Midwest
Tax id (EIN)
41-2006911
Categories
International, Community
Address
PO Box 17262