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Defending Human Rights

Latin America Experts Call on Clinton to Oppose Early Elections Option in Honduras:

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 9, 2009

Anything Less Than the Urgent Restoration of Zelaya to Office "Would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people" They State in Open Letter

Santa Cruz, CA - Over 35 scholars and experts on Latin America sent an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today urging against the idea of early elections in Honduras as a possible resolution of the current crisis resulting from the June 28 military coup d'etat. Stating that "Anything less than the urgent restoration of President Manuel Zelaya to office would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people," the signers urged Clinton to enact forceful sanctions on the coup regime to ensure Zelaya's prompt reinstatement.
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Defending Human Rights

Obama and Honduras: Si, Se Puede?

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 6, 2009

It has been said before that the real test as to whether President Obama’s foreign policy is going to be meaningfully different from past U.S. policies -- not just George W. Bush’s -- is in his relations with Latin America. Until last week many would have argued that the test primarily referred to U.S.-Cuba relations, or even relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. The line in the sand has, sadly, shifted since the coup in Honduras.
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Defending Human Rights

Amnesty International report calls Israel’s actions during 2008-09 Gaza assault War Crimes

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 2, 2009

Grassroots International board and staff members Marie Kennedy and Salena Tramel saw first-hand the devastation in Gaza after the Israeli assault on the territory in Dec08-Jan09.
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Defending Human Rights

Honduras: Crisis of Democracy & Human Rights

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 2, 2009

Last April my colleague Saulo Araujo (Program Coordinator for Brazil & Mesoamerica) and I visited Honduras. What impressed us the most was the strength and vibrancy of social movements, like our partners the Via Campesina (Central America) and COCOCH (the Honduran Coordinating Council of Peasant Organizations), and our allies like COPINH (Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras) and OFRANEH (Honduran Black Fraternal Organization). And especially the strong and resilient women in the forefront of struggle. Afro-Hondurans like Leoncia and Wendy, Lencas like Pasqualita, and Mestizo women like Analina and Berta

At a candidates forum convened by the Via every single presidential candidate attended.
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Defending Human Rights

Violence Sparked by US-Peru FTA Highlights the Need for Stronger Communal Resource Rights

By: Dory Dinoto with Saulo Araujo | July 1, 2009

The US-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA), created in 2005 by the Bush and Garcia administrations, came into effect on February 1st, 2009. Since this time, several protests have been held within the country by indigenous groups, peasants and their supporters. At the heart of the protests are several laws, which have been enacted, and since revoked, by the Garcia administration under the FTA.
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Defending Human Rights

Free Gaza Reports: We are NOT the “Story” – It’s Not Just Our 21 Kidnapped Passengers

By: Carol Schachet | July 1, 2009

Yesterday the Israeli Navy forcibly boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat Spirit of Humanity in international waters and kidnapped 21 human rights workers and journalists who were on their way to deliver much needed humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to Gaza. Those abducted by the Israeli Navy include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.

Since their kidnapping, tens-of-thousands of people around the world have mobilized to demand their immediate and unconditional release. Although deeply grateful for international support, Free Gaza said the following:
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Defending Human Rights

Help Protect Democracy and Human Rights in Honduras

By: Carol Schachet | June 30, 2009

Social movement leaders in Honduras, including members of Grassroots International's partner, La Via Campesina, fear for their lives, as tens of thousands have gathered to protest Sunday's coup d'etat against President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya Rosales.

Please call on the Honduran Embassy to demand that the congress and military respect and guarantee the human rights of all Hondurans and reinstate the democratically elected president, Mel Zelaya.
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Defending Human Rights

Crisis Building in Honduras

By: Carol Schachet | June 26, 2009

Grassroots International supports peasants’ and indigenous people’s movements throughout Mesoamerica, including in Honduras. As described below by our colleagues at Rights Action, Honduras currently faces a significant threat, including a potential coup. Please read and circulate the information below and stay tuned for updates.

Crisis in Honduras: Democracy in the Balance

The Honduran Armed Forces are in the street, as thousands of citizens mobilize peacefully to defend democracy and the presidency. Repression is feared.
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Defending Human Rights

Grassroots International Grantee Honored

By: Carol Schachet | June 18, 2009

Ravi Rebbapragada Receives National leadership Award

Ravi Rebbapragada, coordinator of Mines, Minerals & Peoples-India (MM&P), received the National leadership Award - 2008 for Community Service and Social Upliftment. MM&P is a growing alliance of communities, individuals and institutions who are concerned and affected by mining, and a grant recipient of Grassroots International through the Global Activist Fund.

Below is a press release from MM&P describing the honor:

June 12, 2009
Visakhapatnam

Ravi Rebbapragada Receives National leadership Award for Social Service from Vice President Shri Hamid Ansari
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Defending Human Rights

Avigdor Leiberman’s Ascent Has Roots in Over 60 Years of Israeli History

By: Carol Schachet | June 5, 2009

Alice Rothchild has recently written about the deep roots of Avigdor Leiberman's rise in Israeli politics, and draws attention to the similarities between Israel's policies towards its minorities and our own history in that arena.

Alice is a longtime friend and supporter of Grassroots International; a doctor; an author; and a passionate voice for justice and peace in Palestine-Israel. Her book Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience explores, in a very personal way, the trauma faced by Jews and Arabs in Israel-Palestine.
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Defending Human Rights

Let CAT Know What You Think

By: Carol Schachet | June 5, 2009

Grassroots International joins our ally Jewish Voice for Peace in calling on Caterpillar to respect human rights and end its business with the Israeli government. Please sign onto the petition and forward it to friends and family by June 9th. Jewish Voice for Peace will deliver the signatures at Caterpillar's annual shareholder meeting next week!

Here is the message that I received from Jewish Voice for Peace this morning:

"See if you can explain this… I can't.
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Defending Human Rights

Grassroots supporter offers blog from Gaza

By: Carol Schachet | May 29, 2009

Grassroots International supporter and friend, Felice Gelman is currently in Gaza on an international solidarity delegation. She is also a member of the WESPAC Committee for Justice & Peace in the Middle East. In March this year, Felice was part of a delegation organized by CODEPINK and Grassroots International, among others, invited to Gaza by the UN Relief and Works Agency. To read her blog, click here.
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Defending Human Rights

Tell Congress: No Blank Check for Military Aid to Israel

By: Carol Schachet | May 27, 2009

President Obama's 2010 budget calls for $2.775 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel, an increase of $225 million compared to the 2009 budget. Send a resounding message to Congress that this appropriation for military aid to Israel is unacceptable.

Israel has consistently misused U.S. weapons to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians and systematic violations of international law. Some of those violations are documented every year in the State Department's own human rights reports. Even more are documented by the United Nations and respected human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
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Defending Human Rights

Program Coordinator Salena Tramel’s article is published in Common Dreams

By: Carol Schachet | May 22, 2009

Salena Tramel, Grassroots International Program Coordinator for the Middle East and Haiti, recently visited with all of Grassroots' partners in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. This was not her first time in the region, having lived and worked in the West Bank just two years ago. Her previous experience in the region provides a vantage point from which to consider the current political, economic and social reality in the region.
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Defending Human Rights

14 Brazilian Activists Freed After Protesting Mega-Dam Project

By: Grassroots International | May 18, 2009

Our colleagues in the Brazilian Movement of People Displaced by Dams (MAB) just sent some wonderful news that I want to share with you. After a week of intense work gathering support from Brazilian and international organizations, 14 MAB members are now free, although another four still remain in jail.

The original group of 18 activists was arrested for demonstrating on behalf of families displaced by the Tucuruí Dam in the Amazon region. The group of peasant families called on the Brazilian government to stop the mega-dam project and instead provide infrastructure projects--such as roads, schools and health clinics--and to open lines of credit for agriculture and fishing farming.
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Defending Human Rights

The People at the People’s Summit

By: Nikhil Aziz | May 5, 2009

Many social movements from across the Americas were in Trinidad for the 4th People’s Summit to articulate their demands for moving the hemisphere towards economic (including trade) and climate justice, food sovereignty, human rights, and an end to militarization. They represented movements of women, peasants, indigenous peoples, labor and those struggling for environmental justice.
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Defending Human Rights

Brazilian activists weigh in on U.S. environmental policy

By: Saulo Araujo and Lilian Autler | April 29, 2009

Representatives of two of Grassroots International’s Brazilian partners were in the San Francisco Bay Area April 22 - 29 to meet with U.S. allies and help educate the U.S. public about the damaging impacts of agrofuel production in Brazil. Altacir Bunde is an economist and leader of the Popular Peasant Movement (MCP) and coordinator of the Creole Seeds Project in Goiás, Brazil. Altacir has been a leading voice in the movement to protect agro biodiversity and defend against the expansion of large scale single crop plantations in the Central Plateau of Brazil.
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Defending Human Rights

Rural Communities in Maranhão, Brazil Flooded; Please Help

By: Carol Schachet | April 24, 2009

Two weeks of steady rain have led to heavy flooding in the Brazilian state of Maranhão, the poorest state in Brazil. Officials estimate that over 30,000 people have been displaced and that at least 6,000 have had their homes destroyed by the flood. Assessment is still ongoing since many of the affected communities are very remote and roads are presently inaccessible. Grassroo
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Defending Human Rights

Women’s Rights Are A Precondition to Food Sovereignty

By: Nic Paget-Clarke | April 23, 2009

Matola, Mozambique
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Defending Human Rights

Health and Human Rights in Palestine

By: Carol Schachet | April 23, 2009

Today I attended a panel at Harvard featuring authors of the Lancet Special Series Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. They discussed and suggested reasons for the rapidly deteriorating health of those living in Gaza and the West Bank, including a lack of access to food and medicine. These vital resources remain blocked by obstacles such as the Wall in the West Bank and inaccessible borders in Gaza. Panelist Mitchell Plitnick, the U.S.
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