The 4th national Latin America Solidarity Coalition conference (LASC IV) will take place this April in Chicago. US grassroots solidarity activists will be joined by activists and organizers from Latin America and the Caribbean to plan, evaluate and celebrate the growing US Latin America solidarity movement.

Some of the Speakers at the LASC Conference:

- Emilio Tojín, from the Guatemalan Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), has pursued the former military dictator General Ríos Montt in the Guatemalan courts since 2001.

- Hector Aristizabal, a native from Medellin Colombia whose commitment to the human rights work forced him to leave his country due to death threats. He is also a practitioner of the techniques known as “Theater of the Oppressed”, developed by Brazilian Augusto Boal.

- Luis Javier Garrido, a Senior Researcher in the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

- Jorge Edilson Arias, an indigenous councilman representing the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca in Colombia, known as ACIN.

- Gloria Andino, a Nicaraguan campesina and community leader from the small, farming community of El Regadío.

- Bolivar Ramilus, a Haitian peasant leader and former member of Parliament from the Fanmi Lavalas Party who was hounded by death threats following Haiti’s U.S.-supported coup in February 2004, forcing him into exile for more than a year.

- Sonia Umanzor , a leader of the Washington DC chapter of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the Salvadoran leftist political party. She is also a nurse who works with immigrants in Washington DC. She left El Salvador in 1981 to escape persecution by paramilitary groups

The Americas have a strong legacy of resistance. From the Mapuche struggle for land and autonomy against the conquistadors to the successful fight to force U.S.-owned Occidental Petroleum out of Ecuador earlier this year; from Simon Bolivar's struggle for freedom from Spain and slavery to the Cuban, Sandinista, and modern day Bolivarian Revolutions -- no decade has passed without seeing people coming together to fight subjugation. Millions of Latin Americans, dispossessed by Neoliberal Capitalism, imperialist looting, militarization and repression are defying the racist system of violence and domination with increasing frequency and effectiveness. Popular movements are gaining influence throughout the hemisphere.

Participants in the Latin America Solidarity Coalition conference will exchange information on the state of the campaigns against military, political, and economic U.S. Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean and develop action plans. Art and culture, which is an integral part of grassroots movement building throughout the Americas, will be a strong component of the conference.

LASC IV will be a space for reflection and discussion about vision, strategy and tactics, with workshops featuring activists with decades of experience addressing some of the most pressing issues on the left. Where do we want to go and how do we plan to get there? What does it mean to be anti-capitalist in terms of our daily practice? How do we implement strategies that challenge current power structures without falling into the reformist trap? How do we build multi-cultural, multi-ethnic movements?

The Conference will also take place the same weekend as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) are organizing a huge protest targeting the McDonalds Corporation. For more information visit http://www.ciw-online.org/2007truthtour/index.html

SUPPORT THE ORGANIZING EFFORT
National and local grassroots organizations that practice the solidarity model of organizing and agree with the core principles of the Latin America Solidarity Coalition see www.lasolidarity.org are invited to join the LASC and participate in planning and shaping the conference. Click here to endorse the LASC IV conference and contribute to the organizing effort.

To join the LASC IV planning list, send an email to lasc4-subscribe@lists.mutualaid.org or check out the archive at http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/lasc4.

If you individually or organizationally are able to contribute financially to this project, please send a check or money order to LASC, c/o CISPES, 168 7th st. 3rd fl, Brooklyn, NY 11215. The organizing of a national conference like this is a huge undertaking and wouldn't be possible without the support of grassroots activists. Your contribution will help to cover the expenses for outreach materials, transportation costs, food, money for scholarships and equipment needs.

see list of endorsing organizations

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