Movement Building

Troubled Waters

February 2nd, 2010

Harmony Foundation releases new educational presentation, Troubled Waters

Harmony Foundation of Canada recently released a new educational presentation, entitled Troubled Waters. This 27 minute, narrated multimedia presentation examines freshwater issues of global importance and inspires local action through examples of grassroots leaders working to protect and conserve fresh water in communities around the world.

Grassroots International's program coordinator for Brazil &Mesoamerica, Saulo Araújo worked with the Harmony Foundation to helphighlight the One Million Cisterns Project in Brazil, begun with seed support by Grassroots International for its partner Pólo Sindical.

Women on the March until we are All Free!

By Nikhil Aziz
March 8th, 2010

Grassroots International ally the World March of Women has launched a Call to Action on the occasion of International Women's Day, March 8, 2010. The World March of Women is also a close ally of many Grassroots International partners such as La Via Campesina. Grassroots supports and joins the WMW call to action and celebrates International Women's Day with them and our partners and allies across the globe.

Via Campesina calls for End to Violence against Women

Grassroots International partner La Via Campesina celebrated international women's day, March 8, 2010 with a re-affirmation of their global campaign to end violence against women. Last November 25th, on the occasion of International Day against Gender Violence, the Via called for an end to all forms of violence against women and called on its members to work with their ally, the World March of Women to coordinate actions against gender violence. The Via launched its campaign to end violence against women at its fifth international congress in 2008, in Maputo, Mozambique.

One step forward towards a Declaration on the Rights of Peasants

Recently the Advisory Committee of the U.N. Human Rights Council approved the report “Discrimination in the Context of Right to Food.” Their endorsement of the report is a significant first step towards the recognition of peasant’s rights—something that Grassroots International and our partner the Via Campesina have advocated for years.

We now hope that the leadership of the U.N. Human Rights Council will embrace the recommendation of its advisory board. It will be one step forward for justice.

Fault Lines—Haiti: The Politics of Rebuilding

In what’s left of Port-au-Prince, Haitians have self-organized into 450 camps administered by neighborhood committees. These newly formed communities not only provide temporary shelter, but are also launching points for local organizers to promote Haitian voices in rebuilding their society. Outside the city, peasant movements and organizations are welcome displaced victims of the earthquake into their communities. These returnees are part of a massive reverse migration back to their places of origin

After the Catastrophe: Our Country Can Rise Again

Many of Grassroots International’s partners in Haiti recently released the following statement in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti. Our partners have used this devastating and unstable time to bond together and to work to rebuild Haiti with creative bottom-up solutions.

Howard Zinn – a remembrance

Historian, activist, and Grassroots International friend Howard Zinn died January 27 at the age of 87. I remember introducing Grassroots International to Howard when I was Executive Director. He had heard of Grassroots, but he didn’t know much about it. I had just come back from the West Bank. I remember the moment when we bonded. I was trying to describe some indescribable injustice I had witnessed. Someone else who was part of the conversation asked me how I could do this work, wasn’t it just too depressing. I said, “No, it’s inspiring. What’s depressing is when people are oppressed and they can’t or won’t fight back.

From Honduran ally organization: "Solidarity with the Haitian People"

The letter below comes from one of Grassroots International's allies in Honduras -- Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)-- and expresses solidarity with their neighbors in Haiti.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Solidarity with the Haitian People

From Gaza to Haiti and Back Again

GAZA CITY—I dreamt of Haiti last night. Something about the scene felt eerily familiar. The visions of people trapped under folded sheets of concrete, children crying out to family members they would never see again, and incapacitated hospitals overflowing with the dead and injured were so vivid that even after I opened my eyes, I still thought I was there. And then the early Islamic call to prayer brought me back to where I was—I had made it into the Gaza Strip from Israel the day before.

Last year, I visited Grassroots International’s partners and projects in Haiti right after spending time in Gaza over the summer.