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Throughout the world, solutions to some of the greatest challenges of the day are either nascent or fully thriving. Organized people's movements - sometimes with help from supportive government - are changing the structures which cause violence, poverty, inequality, and environmental destruction.

News and Updates

Check out these articles by and about our allies, who are creating vibrant grassroots alternatives everyday.

Mexican Workers Win Ownership of Tire Plant with Three-Year Strike

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/05/2013 - 11:28

Cross-posted from LaborNotes

By Jane Slaughter

Part 1 of a two-part series on the TRADOC worker cooperative in Mexico. Part 2, about how the co-op is functioning today, is here.

“If the owners don’t want it, let’s run it ourselves.” When a factory closes, the idea of turning it into a worker-owned co-operative sometimes comes up—and usually dies.

On the 879th day of their strike, Mexican tire workers sought help in Germany, where the multinational that wanted to close their plant was based. After a determined 1,141-day campaign, the company sold them the plant, which they now run as a cooperative.

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New Report on U.S. Aid to Haiti Finds “Troubling” Lack of Transparency, Effectiveness

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 18:08

“Haitians, U.S. taxpayers unable to verify how U.S. aid funds are being used on the ground”

For Immediate Release: April 3, 2013
Contact: Dan Beeton, 202-239-1460

ANOTHER POOR BLACK BOY DEAD IN HAITI

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 08:29

By Beverly Bell
April 4, 2013

Inside the USAID-headquarters-turned-courthouse in Port-au-Prince, the case against former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier was being heard, in a trial unlikely to bring justice to the hundreds of thousands killed and tortured by him and his father François.

Vexed by the circus show of judges and defense lawyers, I fled the building and hailed a collective taxicab. The driver asked my nationality. When I told him, he said, “If you don’t mind, I want to ask you something. Are there all these children sleeping in the streets and under bridges in your country?”

IACHR tells Haitian government to stop violent evictions from earthquake displacement camp, provide clean water

Submitted by admin on Wed, 04/03/2013 - 18:18

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights tells Haitian government
to prevent excessive force and violence in evictions from earthquake displacement camp


Re-posted from IDJH

(Port-au-Prince, March 27, 2013)— Yesterday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures to residents of Grace Village, one of approximately 450 earthquake displacement camps in Haiti.  The Commission advised the Government of Haiti to immediately take steps to prevent any violent evictions and provide clean water and security to camp residents, especially women and children.

Reflections on the Reconstruction

Submitted by admin on Tue, 04/02/2013 - 13:45

Haitian and international media have published many articles on the progress of Haiti’s reconstruction.

The watchdog partnership Haiti Grassroots Watch (HGW) has been investigating this subject, in depth, for almost three years now. For a change, HGW decided to approach some of the major players to inquire about the following three aspects of the reconstruction process.

1)    Aid, dependence and sovereignty

2)    The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC)

3)    The question of vision, leadership and coordination

HGW made numerous requests for interviews, several of which were refused, namely those with government ministers and several members of parliament  [1]. Nonetheless, HGW was able to access numerous national and international actors important to the reconstruction, such as: four former members of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), three current and former employees of the Haitian government, and the Haitian representatives of the World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

One Mexican town finds more security by throwing out the police

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:31

Cross-posted from Christian Science Monitor

By Annie Murphy

Lidia Romero (c.), a member of the Community Police, stands guard on a road at the entrance to the town of Cherán one week ago. Residents of remote regions have taken up arms to patrol and defend their communities from organized crimes and gangs. Alan Ortega/Reuters

CHERÁN, MEXICO

About two years ago, citizens in Cherán, Mexico decided to battle illegal logging and drug violence by kicking out the police and running the town according to indigenous tradition.

Interim Assembly of COPINH: "We are all Chavez" and Celebration of the 20th anniversary of COPINH.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:13

Translated from the Spanish by Stephen Bartlett

COPINH was 20 years old on March 27

This is a moment to consider the path, and to face new challenges.  To recovery the strength of the compas who have been walking this path and making history.

Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly – World Social Forum 2013

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:09

29 March 2013, Tunisia

As the Social Movements Assembly of the World Social Forum of Tunisia, 2013, we are gathered here to affirm the fundamental contribution of peoples of Maghreb-Mashrek (from North Africa to the Middle East), in the construction of human civilization. We affirm that decolonization for oppressed peoples remains for us, the social movements of the world, a challenge of the greatest importance.

A contribution to the Climate Space 2013: How to overcome the Climate Crisis

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:02

Cross-posted from Focus on the Global South

By Pablo Solon

 

There is no single answer, no single campaign nor single approach.

 

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that avoids catastrophe, we need to:

  • Leave more than two-thirds of the fossil fuel reserves under the soil;
  • Stop the exploitation of tar sands, shale gas and coal;
  • Support small, local, peasant and indigenous community farming while we dismantle big agribusiness that deforests and heats the planet;

FROM GROWING PROFIT TO GROWING FOOD: CHALLENGING CORPORATE RULE

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 08:04

Just outside of the small town of Maumelle, Arkansas sits your run-of-the-mill American strip mall. And as in so many other box store hubs, a Walmart dominates the landscape.

But something is a shade different about this one; its big, looming letters are not the standard blue. These letters, in a new, green hue, spell out “Walmart Neighborhood Market.” These “neighborhood markets” are a tactic in Walmart’s conquest of the grocery industry. The nation’s world’s biggest retail store now captures more than a fourth of the domestic grocery market.