Fight Back! interviewed James Jordan, with the Alliance For Global Justice in Tucson, Arizona. Jordan recently returned from a solidarity delegation to the Colombian peace negotiations taking place between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) and the Colombian government in Havana, Cuba. The FARC-EP want their peace negotiator Simon Trinidad at the talks.
Fort Lauderdale, FL – 20 antiwar and international solidarity activists gathered in Pembroke Pines, Nov. 25, to hear two leaders of the Colombian human-rights movement speak about their country and U.S. intervention. The event was the final stop on a nationwide speaking tour.
Salt Lake City, UT – Over 200 activists and community members gathered at the state capitol, May 24, to join with cities across the country by rallying against the Monsanto Corporation. People assembled on the steps of the capitol despite the rain to listen to a number of speakers including Craig Bowden, Melanie Widerburg-Zucker, Justin Danneman, Lorena Apgar Hansen and Jonathan Hansen. People spoke of the effects that Monsanto has across the globe and locally on families and communities.
Grand Rapids, MI – Many are out marching and protesting Monsanto this spring, demanding food be healthy and safe, that Monsanto products be labeled as GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and insisting that one corporation should not control the entire seed supply or corner the market. Unions and immigrant rights groups are demanding protections and decent pay for farm workers who use Monsanto products in the fields.
Tucson, AZ – 20 anti-war protesters confronted the arrival of Colombian Air Force and Special Forces troops at a U.S- led military exercise near Tucson, May 4. The anti-war activists chanted, “Stop the U.S.-funded war in Colombia!” and “50 years of war is enough!”
Minneapolis, MN – The Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee (AWC) held a program called “The War Next Door: U.S. Role in Colombia's Civil War,” March 22 here at May Day Bookstore. Speakers included Eden Yosief, of SEIU Healthcare, who recently traveled to Colombia, along with AWC organizers Jess Sundin and Meredith Aby-Keirstead.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Jan. 18 statement from the Peace Delegation Revolutionary Armed Forces on the imprisonment by the U.S. of Colombian revolutionary, Professor Ricardo Palmera. Known in Colombia as Simón Trinidad, Palmera was kidnapped, brought to the United States and is now serving what amounts to a life sentence.For more information from the FARC Peace Delegation: http://farc-epeace.org/For information from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera: http://www.freericardopalmera.org/After 10 years behind bars, Simón Trinidad has to be repatriated
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). To view this and other news form the FARC peace delegation in Havana, Cuba go here: http://farc-epeace.org/Public Statement on the report of the Washington Post
Washington, DC – The Washington Post, in a major Dec. 21 article entitled “Covert Action in Colombia” confirmed the role of U.S. intelligence agencies in the systematic murder of at least 24 leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), as well as a smaller rebel group. The FARC, Latin America’s largest and oldest insurgent movement, is fighting for social justice and to free the country from foreign domination.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Peace Delegation of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The statement is addressed to a conference on the problem of illicit drugs which is taking place Bogotá, Colombia.The peace negotiations between the FARC and the Colombian government are taking place in Havana, Cuba.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Feb. 10 statement from the Peace Delegation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP). While the translation of the statement is imperfect, we think it will help readers better understand conditions in Colombia. Currently, negotiations between the FARC and the U.S.-backed Colombian government are taking place in Havana, Cuba.Prisons or human dumps?
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) have chosen Ricardo Palmera as one of their negotiators for Colombian peace talks. Professor Palmer is a political prisoner held in solitary confinement by the U.S. government in the Florence, Colorado Supermax prison. Palmera’s supporters in Colombia and around the world are demanding that Palmera be set free and that the U.S. government stop interfering in Colombia’s internal affairs. The FARC put Palmera’s name forward as one of the three main negotiators after peace negotiations were announced last week.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following press statement from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).FARC-EP Column shoots down Super Tucano aircraft of the Colombian Air Force
Colombia – Colombian political prisoner Liliany “Lily” Obando is now free, released on bond from prison where she spent over three and one-half years on charges of “rebellion”. Obando is today hugging her elderly mother and two children. The International Network in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (INSPP) is celebrating the freedom of this powerful Colombian woman labor activist and human rights defender. Obando is one of 8000 political prisoners and prisoners of war imprisoned by the Colombian government.
*Fight Back News Service is circulating the following speech delivered by Jess Sundin, Nov. 5, at the first national conference of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, in Chicago. Sundin is a leader in the anti-war movement. Her home was among those raided by the FBI, on Sept. 24, 2010.*