ONLINE: Colombia Support Network Annual Meeting

press release: Colombia Support Network, Invitation to the Annual Conference (by Zoom) 

Saturday, August 21, 2021, 11 am (Central Time) to close at around 3 pm

Members and friends of CSN: Once again, due to Covid-19, we can’t gather as usual for two days here in Madison, and instead will host an international virtual Zoom event, addressing topics of serious concern to us, our political representatives, and above all, to the Colombian people.

If you wish to attend this free event: register here to receive the Zoom participant link for the CSN annual meeting. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd__EfJPQknG3HZOXuGrt13g4yU77Vp6Z8Xu2Jj7AekwPAhgA/viewform

Speaker schedule:

Part I: Violence in Rural Colombia and the precarious situation of Dane County’s Sister Community, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó

11 am CDT: Gwen Burnyeat, Political Anthropologist, Oxford University, has studied the lifeways, principles, and politics of  the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.  Her film “Chocolate of Peace” and her 2020 book “Chocolate, Politics, and Peace-Building” examine the foundations and resilience of this courageous community, which has survived and sought justice for the massacres, libels, and harrassment it has endured over decades.

11:45 CDT: Father Javier Giraldo, S.J., is a Colombian human rights defender who created the data bank of human rights violations in Colombia with the Jesuit think tank CINEP.  Throughout his career, Father Javier Giraldo has accompanied victims of the armed conflict and many communities in resistance, such as the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. 

Part II: Threats posed by the “extractive” development model and multi-national corporations to social justice, environment, and rural livelihoods in Colombia

12:30 pm CDT: Al Gedicks, Professor Emeritus, UW-La Crosse, has studied and written about the extreme threats posed by mining to the environment and the water resources that support life, both here in the US and in Colombia. 

1:15 pm CDT: Francisco Ramirez Cuellar, Colombian labor attorney and activist, has represented victims of multinational corporations’ activities in Colombia, and has investigated the negative role these corporations play in Colombian political life.

Part III: Discussion of recent social protests, the National Strike, and the government’s violent response 

2:00 pm CDT: with John Dugas, Political Scientist, Kalamazoo College, an expert on politics, governance, and social protest in Colombia.

Please join us!

For more information on these and other topics, see recent articles and editorials from the Colombian press, translated by CSN Volunteer Translator Eunice Gibson, posted under "News" at colombiasupport.net

AND

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Colombia Support Network

P.O. Box 1505

Madison, WI  53701-1505

Phone:  (608) 257-8753

Fax:  (608) 255-6621

E-mail:  csn@igc.org