Building Across Borders: What We Heard on Day 2

The People’s Movement for Peace and Justice (PMPJ)

The People’s Movement for Peace and Justice (PMPJ) brought to the stage representatives from Global Exchange, Black Lives Matter Sudbury, Black Lives Matter South Bend, Colectivo de Formación Popular (COLEFOM), Newtown Action Alliance, Co-redes Negras por la Paz y la Justicia, and the Indigenous Center of New York.

Moderated by Global Exchange Co-Executive Director Marco Castillo, the panel presented on how communities impacted by structural violence are building cross-border solidarity. And how through people’s consultations in Mexico and the United States, PMPJ has developed a binational agenda rooted in dignity, diversity, and resistance to authoritarianism

Irma Alicia Nimatuj

Journalist, activist, social anthropologist, and Maya-K’iche’ political leader from Guatemala, Irma Alicia Nimatuj, took us on a historical journey through the political organizing traditions of Indigenous peoples:

What we need is not permission to speak, but the recognition of our right to exist and decide for ourselves.”

“The systems of governance that have survived or have been re-created include Indigenous mayoralties, councils of Elders, cofradías (religious brotherhoods and sisterhoods), and participation in state political structures.

The cofradías are not only religious in nature—they are profoundly political and represent a different way of conceiving power and community. They are spaces for Indigenous peoples to continue asserting autonomy, despite the violence and exclusion they have faced.

Today, we continue to witness a struggle to heal the wounds left by colonialism, to build a plurinational state, and to protect the institutional gains that we have achieved.

But these gains are under constant threat—from both domestic elites and international interests that seek to erase our memory and silence our resistance.

We are not victims waiting to be saved—we are active political subjects with our own systems, our own knowledge, and our own vision for the future.

We began our second panel of the day, focused on media, moderated by Laura Carlsen—analyst, journalist, and activist—who shared:

“We weren’t able to have an independent US media outlet join us because of the current context under Trump and the rise of the international far right. Some of the colleagues we invited couldn’t attend out of fear of facing retaliation upon returning to the United States. Among the many forms of oppression independent media now faces is the erasure of language—words like racism, anti-racism, climate crisis, gender, activists, diversity, oppression, Native, discrimination, and women can no longer be used without risking consequences. These words are being erased with the intent of erasing our identities.”

Nicole Kramm

A Chilean documentary filmmaker and survivor of institutional violence, Nicole shared:

“In Chile, press freedom is currently being repressed at an alarming rate, dropping 17 places globally in the latest Reporters Without Borders ranking.

There’s also a gender bias, as women journalists face more violence on the streets.

Mainstream media largely respond to hegemonic monopolies, which severely limits media pluralism.

This concentration makes it difficult to speak of true freedom of expression, as critical or independent voices are often marginalized.

Unlike other places, in Chile, media outlets are not part of professional associations nor do they have strong institutional mechanisms to support their work.

This leaves journalists and media workers without an effective safety net when facing threats or censorship.

There is a systematic persecution of outlets that dare to engage in alternative, critical, or independent journalism—anything outside the official narrative.”

Ángela Cuc

From América Indígena en Red at the Latin American Association for Popular Education and Communication (ALER):

“It’s essential to recognize that Guatemala’s state institutions have been co-opted by corrupt networks that seek to silence voices. That’s why
journalism must be guaranteed the freedom to operate without fear.

This co-optation fractures collective processes, but we’ve found some strategies that work. One is recognizing that structural racism must be challenged with the same force as capitalism or other systems of oppression.

Another is creating our own communication strategies—rooted, embodied, and territorial—that reject neutrality and take a clear political, communal, and Indigenous stance.
Indigenous peoples have never asked to be saved. They’ve built their own media to defend life, land, and truth.

Indigenous communication doesn’t just denounce injustice—it expresses the worldview, rights, and joy of original peoples.”