| | Delegation Alert,
The coal workers and the communities have asked for our support in their struggles, and this delegation will take the next step in our ongoing campaign to work directly with the victims of first world energy policies.
This delegation will meet with international mining activists from Latin America (Guatemala and Venezuela), Europe, the US and Canada, who are coming to Colombia to witness the devastation caused by the Cerrejon mine, and learn what the communities, the union at the mine, and their international supporters have done during the past year to pressure the mine to recognize the existence and the rights of the communities. We will launch a book that brings together testimonies from the communities and discussions of the 10-year international campaign to support them. We will meet and share strategies with mining activists from around the world. We will play an important role as witnesses and observers to the ongoing discussions within the union and communities, and among union, communities and mine officials.
We are extending the application deadline for this important delegation so please let us know ASAP if you are considering this trip.
Avi Chomsky OR Ellen Gabin
| THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE COAL
Witness for Peace New England Delegation to Colombia
August 3-13, 2007
| | Cost: The price of the 11-day delegation is $1350 USD. The delegation fee covers all set-up, preparation, meals, lodging, interpreters, transportation within Colombia. The fee also covers extensive reading and activist tools both before and after the delegation.
Fund-Raising: You can ask us for fund-raising materials or advice. Occasionally scholarship money becomes available.
Deadline: ASAP: Application with a non-refundable deposit of $150.
The delegation fee does not include airfare.
| | Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the hemisphere, and also the country with the highest levels of official and paramilitary violence, including forced displacement, killings of journalists, trade unionists, and human rights activists.
Foreign corporations are some of the major beneficiaries of this situation, and multinational corporations control Colombia's two largest exports, oil and coal, much of which comes back to U.S. markets. Most of the coal goes to supply power plants in Massachusetts and the southeastern U.S., including the Salem Harbor and Brayton Point power stations in Massachusetts.
Colombia's coal comes from two of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world: El Cerrejón, begun by Exxon in the 1980s and now owned by a consortium of European-based companies, and La Loma, owned by the Alabama-based Drummond Company. Both of these mines export large quantities of coal to the United States, and both have been accused of serious human rights violations.
This delegation will follow the trail of the coal that supplies power to New England, meeting with human rights activists, trade unionists, members of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, and others affected by coal production in Colombia. We will explore how we as consumers can work in solidarity with communities and organizations in Colombia to hold corporations accountable for human rights.
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