Reality Tour Delegations

Honduras September 2004:

In September 2004 Nonviolence International co-sponsored a delegation to Honduras with Global Exchange and the Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas. Issues examined included Indigenous and Garifuna peoples, women, workers and campesinos/as confronting globalization and militarization. For a complete list of the activities, please click here .

Uruguay and the World Social Forum, January 2005:

Nonviolence International, together with the Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas, will be leading a delegation to Montevideo, Uruguay to examine the Emergence of Progressive Politics in Latin America's Southern Cone (Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay) through the Uruguayan example; with an optional extension to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

These countries suffered the rule of military dictatorship for extended periods during the 1960's, 70's, and 80's, with countless human rights violations against those who spoke out and acted against authoritarian rule.   With the return to democracy in the mid-1980's, many of the former military leaders who committed torture, imprisonment, disappearances, and other atrocities were granted immunity for their actions -- forcing former victims of human rights crimes to share the same street with their torturers.  

However, with the presidential election in Uruguay on October 31, and with the Encuentro Progresista-Frente Amplio leading the polls, it appears that Uruguay will join its neighbors with progressive leaders in power attempting to bring human rights violators during military rule to justice.   The delegation will also look at the effects of corporate-led globalization in Uruguay and efforts to globalize solidarity and hope.

There will be an optional extension to the reality tour to Porto Alegre, Brazil to participate in the Fifth World Social Forum and be part of the movement to make another world possible.   Participants can choose to participate in the Uruguay and WSF parts of the trip together or separately. For more information on how you can participate in the delegation, please click here .

School of the Americas nonviolent resistance

We are currently promoting the documentary film Hidden in Plain Sight , co-produced by Andrés Thomas Conteris.   The film examines US relations with Latin America through the prism of the School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), the controversial international military training school at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia.   Narrated by Martin Sheen, the documentary includes strong voices and opposing views that tackle a sensitive issue about a subject that most U.S. citizens know little.   It includes interviews with political writers Noam Chomsky and Eduardo Galeano, Father Roy Bourgeois (SOA Watch), Maj. Gen. John LeMoyne, Maj. Joseph Blair, and others.   For more information, please visit www.hiddeninplainsight.org .

Coalition Efforts

No Foreign Military Bases Networks:

Nonviolence International works to promote this network, www.abolishbases.org, especially among anti-base activists in Latin America and the Caribbean. Through a listsev and website, the network is dedicated to bring together peace groups to stop the proliferation of U.S. military and other foreign bases throughout the world.   Speaking out against war and militarism, this collaboration works with groups around the world to mobilize demilitarization efforts.

Negroponte Watch:     

A new initiative is currently proposed to increase public awareness of the historical background and current activities of John Dimitri Negroponte, the recently appointed US ambassador to Iraq.   Negroponte was U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985, where he played a key role in coordinating US aid to the Contra death squads in Nicaragua and shoring up a CIA-backed death squad in Honduras. His post as Ambassador to Honduras during this time period has earned him the reputation for supporting widespread human rights abuses and campaigns of state terrorism.   The importance of this record is magnified when coupled with the recent abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.   If you are interested in joining this effort, please contact us at: Americas@nonviolenceinternational.net

Stay tuned for the ILEA Watch