RIGHTS ACTION / DERECHOS EN ACCION
DECEMBER 2008
NEWSLETTER & FUND-RAISING APPEAL
Dear friends-activists-supporters,
At http://www.rightsaction.org/newsletters/RAnewsletter_December08.pdf you can read and print our December 2008 newsletter.
As of December 10, 2008, we have channeled more than US$800,000 of foundation and individual donations to community organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, as well as Chiapas, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Peru and Oaxaca. At http://www.rightsaction.org/Reports/Grants%202008%2008-12-10-WWW.htm you will find a summary of projects, organizations and work funded in 2008.
FUNDING PHILOSOPHY & VISION
Getting your funds directly into the hands of community grassroots organizations, so that they can plan and carry out their own development projects (including health, education, potable water, irrigation, fair trade micro-enterprise), environmental protection and conservation projects, human and indigenous rights projects and disaster relief projects, is a major part of Rights Action’s work.
SELF-DESIGN / SELF-IMPLEMENTATION / SELF-EVALUATION
The organizations we fund and work with have the principal role in implementing projects of their own design. They carry out their own self-evaluation processes; Rights Action staff visit regularly to carry out our evaluations.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL AND DYNAMIC
Rights Action pays particular attention to funding and working with new, small community-based organizations. Real change to the unjust global order must always begin where the harms and injustices are being lived and experienced.
STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY
To support community organizations addressing the wide range of harms and injustices (poverty and exploitation, repression, discriminations, environmental destruction, etc.), Rights Action helps them build their own capacities: to grow in their communities in a healthy way; to coordinate their work and experiences with other local, national and international organizations; to achieve greater financial diversity.
HIGHLIGHTS OF SOME RECENT WORK IN 2008
GUATEMALA: Funding and doing emergency relief work for victims of the heavy rains and mudslides in impoverished Mayan-Chorti communities of eastern Guatemala.
HAITI: Funding the emergency relief work of our community-based partner groups Konpay (Konbit Pou Ayiti) in Haiti for victims of 2 tropical storms and 2 hurricanes. The semi-permanent crisis situation in Haiti continues.
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Our “disaster relief” work is always done in conjunction with community organizations based in the regions where the disaster has struck; with groups that have a long term, systemic vision that poverty elimination is the most important way of avoiding the destruction and particularly deaths caused by natural disasters.
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HONDURAS: Funding the 2nd Continental Anti-Militarization Gathering that took place in October in La Esperanza, Honduras. Hundreds of people from across the Americas gathered to share stories and “best practices” strategies as to how to end the many harmful effects of militarization and the related repression in so many countries of the Americas.
GUATEMALA: Funding and directly supporting the 3rd Social Forum of the Americas that took place in October in Guatemala. Right after the Anti-Militarization Gathering, thousands of people from across the Americas came together for one week of meetings, education sessions, music and activism workshops all aimed at enabling “another world is possible, and necessary.”
EL SALVADOR: Funding the 4th Annual Human Rights Congress “Herbert Anaya Sanabria”, a human rights lawyer and activist gunned down in front of his children on October 27, 1987. Our partner group, the Human Rights Collective “Herbert Anaya Sanabria” organizes this annual teach-in (aimed at educating about human rights and ending the impunity of the political, economic and military elites) and supports ‘recovery of the historic memory’ projects throughout El Salvador.
CANADA / GUATEMALA & MINING: Coordinating a public ‘sign-on’ letter http://www.rightsaction.org/urgent_com/Canada_Goldcorp_Guate_111208.html to the new Canadian Ambassador to Guatemala about “Canada´s Role in Supporting the Harmful Activities of Goldcorp Inc. in San Marcos, Guatemala”.
NORTH-SOUTH EDUCATION: Leading educational delegation-seminars of North Americans to Honduras and Guatemala to visit with Indigenous and campesino communities resisting harms caused by large-scale “development” projects like mining, hydro-electric dams and tourism. Read and view a Photo-Essay “A Journey in Guatemala of Transformation”: http://web.unbc.ca/~nolin/.
NORTH-SOUTH EDUCATION: Helping with two documentaries about struggles in favour of community controlled development and against the harms of the global mining industry:
The above work we have done in addition to our on-going work of:
HOW TO DONATE
You can make a tax-deductible personal or corporate donation in one of three ways:
Make cheque payable to “Rights Action” and mail to:
CANADA: Rights Action, 552 - 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
USA: Rights Action, Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
Make a credit card donation: Go to www.rightsaction.org and click on appropriate button for donations in the USA or Canada.
Make a donation of stock, contact Grahame Russell at: info@rightsaction.org.
THANKS …. INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL DONORS
On behalf of our partner organizations and projects, thank-you to all individual and institutional donors, including: Agape Fdn, Agostino Fdn, American Jewish World Service, Bradybus Fund, Cut Fdn, Fund for Global Human Rights, Lawson Valentine Fdn, Moriah Fund, MSST Fdn, Fritz Pappenheim Fund, Sisters of St. Francis of Philly, United Methodists, … and anonymous donors.
COME: to Guatemala, Oaxaca or Honduras on Educational-Activist Delegations to learn more about struggles for global justice, equality and the environment.
JOIN: Rights Action’s e-mail and snail-mail lists.
INVITE: Rights Action to come to your community to give talks and popular education about these issues.
ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION: Set up your own e-mail and mailing lists and re-send our information to your lists. On request, we provide extra copies of our newsletter. Countering and getting around the dominance and distortions of the corporate-dominated media is a major challenge for work for global justice and equality.
Thank-you for your donations and trust in us.
Annie Bird, Grahame Russell (co-directors)
Ruben Dominguez, Rosario Martinez, Martha Garcia, Francois Guindon (in Guatemala)
Freddie Schrider (part-time in Washington DC)
Matthew Simpson (part-time in Toronto)
Special thanks to long-term supporters: Jim Schrider, Rosalind Gil
Questions, comments, more information?