CISPES Delegation To El Salvador!
Buenos días!
Friends, as you may know I'm recently unemployed after leaving my job at a nearby labor union. However, I'm still a committed activist and labor organizer, engaged as a volunteer at several incredible organizations until I find work. I've been using as much of my time off to learn about the challenges faced by low-wage and immigrant communities in Los Angeles, and the good hard work we can be doing to aid their struggles.
As part of this work I'm planning to take part in a week-and-a-half delegation to El Salvador led by CISPES - the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador!
Can you contribute a donation to make sure I'm able to participate in this important delegation?
Aside from meeting with and hearing from local workers, trade unionists, feminist activists, and organizers in El Salvador, this year the CISPES Delegation will assist and accompany organized workers and the popular social movement at their massive International Workers' Day March on May 1st!
I will be learning directly from the people of El Salvador about the devasting US foreign policy that has perpetuated human rights abuses at the hands of US-sponsored right-wing governments, and trade policies that have wrecked their economy. Our delegation plans to bring their stories, wisdom, and winning strategies back to the battles we're fighting in Los Angeles, a city where many Salvadoran refugees now call home.
In addition, the week beforehand I plan to attend a 5-day Spanish Immersion program at the amazing, collectively-owned PLQ (Proyecto Lingüístico de Quetzaltenango) in Guatemala!
Because of my current financial predicament, I'm going to need some help raising the funds necessary to participate in this amazing opportunity. If you could contribute a donation of any amount, no matter how small, and could spread the word to your friends, I would so appreciate your help!
Upon my return, I hope to host a report-back detailing what I've witnessed and learned, and will likely do some fundraising to support the work of Salvadoran organizers and activists we meet. Please stay tuned.
In the meantime, pasted below are more details about CISPES and this year's delegation, plus a breakdown of the expenses I'm trying to cover.
Thank you so much!
I'm raising funds in order to cover the following expenses:
$850: Airfaire
$1100: Lodging, meals, materials, and in-country travel in El Salvador
$225: 1-week Spanish immersion in Guatemala
Any further funds raised will go directly to support efforts in both El Salvador and the US to advocate on behalf of the people's movement in El Salvador.
About the CISPES Delegation to El Salvador:
At CISPES, we believe that international solidarity is a powerful element in the fight for social and economic justice. Over the past 30 years, we’ve learned that people-to-people connections are necessary to build a lasting solidarity movement based on mutual respect and shared struggle. Our delegations and work brigades to El Salvador are an opportunity for people in the US to learn first-hand about social movements in Latin America and join the struggle to break the chains of US domination and corporate exploitation. This is a particularly exciting and important moment to travel to El Salvador, where the country’s first progressive government and the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) continue to make advances on behalf of the majority.
During CISPES delegations, we spend most of our time with our partners in the Salvadoran social movement, which range from workers’ unions to farming cooperatives to youth organizations, and our allies in the leftist FMLN party. CISPES delegations are an important opportunity to learn directly from organizers who’ve successfully beat back privatization of public services, resisted state repression, defended their local lands and waterways, and struggled to build real democracy from the ground up.
About CISPES:
http://cispes.org
The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) is a grassroots solidarity organization that has been supporting the Salvadoran people’s struggle for social and economic justice since 1980. We organize strategic campaigns against US government and corporate intervention in El Salvador and accompany the Salvadoran popular movement in its work to realize an inspiring vision of participatory democracy and economic justice. Our work is coordinated through the CISPES National Office in Washington, DC, and carried out by local CISPES chapters and supporters across the country.
