Written by our partners at the Michigan Suburbs Alliance:

Jordan Eizenga is framed by the house's metal structure

A barn-raising in the heart of Detroit? That’s certainly what it felt like as activists from across the region gathered in Highland Park on Sunday, June 26, to construct a 2000-square-foot hoop house from plastic sheeting and metal tubes.

This solar-powered greenhouse can grow food year-round—even in Michigan winters. Armed with the right equipment, it doesn’t take more than a day to construct one. As UniverCities Energy Data Intern Jordan Eizenga and other Suburbs Alliance staff found, it does take a number of willing hands.

Jordan (not to be confused with Energy Policy Intern Jordan G.) found lending his hands easy enough. He moved to Ferndale this summer to be near the Suburbs Alliance main office, and biked the few short miles along Woodward Avenue from Ferndale to help build the house. The site was behind the Green Economy Leadership Training (GELT) house near Woodward and McNichols. A branch of a national youth network organizing for solutions to global climate change, GELT seeks to give young people a holistic understanding of the transition to a sustainable, community-scaled economy through neighborhood projects like the hoop house.

Things heat up in the hoop house's interior

By late morning, most of the metal hoops that formed the hoop house’s structure were already in place, and the lot was a hive of activity. Builders included master hoop-house mechanic Jeff McCabe, co-founder of Ann Arbor’s SELMA Café, Margaret Lewis, publisher of the Highland Park-based Legacy News, and scores of others from the block, the neighborhood and the greater region. Now that’s metropolitan cooperation in action!

The plastic sheeting has been hauled into place

While at rest, the group traded farming tips and enjoyed impromptu rapping from the youngest attendees.

“Billow it!” As the sun sank lower, the team gathered on either side of the curving metal frame to push and pull the plastic walls of the house into place, sending ripples through the giant sheets to carry them over the top. Slowly, under the careful hands of Jordan and two dozen others, the double sheets slid down to meet the wooden frame near the ground. What had been empty space open to the elements at dawn became a warmer interior where plants will grow come winter.

Collective celebration with the help of a timpani

There’s much more to be done before the hoop house produces its first crops. For Jordan and the other six Suburbs Alliance staff on hand, though, the day was an inspiring confirmation that people from all over the area can come together to build a healthier, greener and tastier future.

Working cooperatively, the group built in one day what a single person couldn’t have constructed alone. Metro Detroit needs to bring that lesson to a regional scale: we’re stronger together.

The following was written by Medea Benjamin about the U.S. boat to Gaza’s delayed departure. News just broke with an update about this delay, which you can read below this post.

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The 50 passengers and crew on the U.S. boat to Gaza “The Audacity of Hope” have converged in Athens, Greece, ready to head out to sea to join an international fleet of ships that will challenge the Israeli-imposed naval blockade of Gaza. But on Thursday, June 23, when the boat was scheduled to leave its port outside Athens and move closer to an international meeting point, the boat’s owner was suddenly served with a complaint by an unknown individual that the boat was not seaworthy. The captain, convinced that the complaint was bogus, was nevertheless told by Greek authorities that he could not set sail until they did a thorough inspection.

Also on Thursday, Greek port authorities issued an unusual warning to all ship captains to steer clear of the coordinates that correspond with Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The advisory said there will be continuous electronic surveillance of the region to “record the movements of ships that will possibly participate in such an action.”

It appears that the Greek government is bowing to intense pressure from the Israelis—and possibly the U.S. government—to try to block the flotilla. The American passengers on the U.S. boat, called The Audacity of Hope, are pushing the Greek government to do a quick inspection, as they are convinced the ship would pass muster. “The boat we are leasing for this journey has been worked on for months by qualified technicians and is ready to sail,” said organizer and passenger Ann Wright. “We do not believe it needs to be re-inspected, but we are open to the Greek authorities doing this quickly so that there will be no further delays.”

The move to block the U.S. boat is just the latest in a flurry of recent activity designed to thwart the flotilla. Israel has publicly stated that it is pressuring countries around the world to stop their citizens from participating. Its pressure on the Turkish government was so intense that the Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, the same ship that was so violently attacked last year, recently announced that it would not be joining the flotilla.

Several boats in the international flotilla are now docked in Greece. To its credit, the Greek government has taken a position that the blockade on Gaza must be lifted and many people in the government are sympathetic to the aims of the flotilla. But Greece is being battered by a severe economic crisis that has wreaked havoc within the government itself. The passengers speculate that Israel, which has extensive trade and investment ties with Greece, is callously taking advantage of the economic hardship the Greek people are experiencing right now to put the screws on the Greek government.

They also see the hidden hand of the United States behind this, as the Obama administration has been publicly railing against the flotilla, calling it a “provocative act” against Israel and issuing harsh travel warnings to Americans against any attempts to reach Gaza by boat. The U.S. passengers speculate that the Obama Administration is using economic blackmail on the Greek government. Greece’s economic and political crisis is a result of extreme austerity measures imposed by the European Union and the largely U.S.-controlled International Monetary Fund (IMF). The United States may well be using its leverage at the IMF over the implementation of an ongoing bailout of European banks with massive Greek debts to compel the Greek government to block the U.S. boat.

“Greece is not going to be able to meet the targets that it is pledging to the IMF and the European authorities. In this situation the IMF and therefore the U.S. government will have enormous leverage because these institutions will decide what will be acceptable benchmarks for Greece to receive future tranches of IMF/EU funding,” said Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington DC.

Passengers on the U.S. boat are asking Greek government officials to clarify the situation. “Is our boat being blocked from leaving Greece because of an anonymous request of a private citizen concerning the seaworthiness of the ship, a situation could be easily dealt with by a quick inspection, or is  this a political decision by the Greek government in response to economic pressure?,” asked passenger and political analyst Robert Naiman.

In any event, the flotilla participants remain determined to set sail. “We have overcome many roadblocks along the way and we will overcome this one as well,” said passenger and CODEPINK organizer Ridgely Fuller. “We might not have the economic clout of the U.S. and Israeli governments, but we have morality and the support of the Greek people on our side.”

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A Press Release issued today offers this update on the situation:

Israeli Group Responsible for Delaying US Boat; Passengers Confident Greek Government Will Allow Boat to Sail.

Passengers on the U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope,  said news reports that an Israeli “lawfare” group, Shurat HaDin, is behind the complaint delaying the departure of the U.S. boat from Greece substantiate the Americans’ assertions that the complaint is frivolous. The passengers expressed confidence that Greek authorities will now quickly dispense with the complaint and allow The Audacity of Hope to sail.

On Sunday, June 26, the Jerusalem Post reported:

Sources in the Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) on Sunday took responsibility for lodging an anonymous civil complaint against the American-flagged ship, The Audacity of Hope, which is a part of the flotilla expected to sail towards Gaza later this week. The Israeli group is known for making frivolous legal complaints against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

Ann Wright, a Global Exchange board member and organizer and passenger on the U.S. boat, had this to say:

We reiterate that the boat we are leasing for this journey, after it’s refitting for the voyage to Gaza, was surveyed by a professional surveyor and successfully completed its sea trials. There is no reason for any further delays on this matter, we are ready to sail.

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Follow the flotilla on this blog, at www.codepink.org /pinkonflotilla and www.ustogaza.org.

“I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him,” said Dr. Martin Luther King as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. These words will guide me and other passengers aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a fleet of nine boats scheduled to set sail for Gaza on June 25 from various Mediterranean ports. While the Israelis try to label us provocateurs, terrorists and Hamas supporters, we are simply nonviolent advocates following the teachings of Dr. King. We refuse to sit at the docks of history and watch the people of Gaza suffer.

The U.S. boat, which will carry 50 Americans, is called The Audacity of Hope. It is named after Obama’s bestselling political autobiography in which he lauds our collective audacity of striving to become a better nation. But I prefer to think of our boat as part of Dr. King’s legacy. He, too, talked about audacity, about his audacious faith in the future. “I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘isness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him,” Dr. King said.

Our intrepid group has its moral compass aimed at the way things ought to be. Our cargo is not humanitarian aid, as some of the other ships are carrying, but thousands of letters from the U.S. people, letters of compassion, solidarity and hope written to people living in the Gaza Strip. We travel with what Dr. King called “unarmed truth and unconditional love.”

We focus on Gaza because since 2007 the Israeli government has enforced a crippling blockade on its 1.5 million residents. Inflicting collective punishment on civilians is morally wrong and is a gross violation of international humanitarian law under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Yet the world’s democracies do nothing to stop Israel’s extraordinarily cruel behavior, and in fact did nothing for 22 days in 2009 while the Israel military unleashed a tidal wave of carnage that left 1,400 Palestinians dead. They continue to sit by while the people of Gaza remain isolated and unable to secure access to building materials and basic living supplies, and while Israeli soldiers shoot at Gaza’s farmers trying to till their land along the border and attack fisherman trying to make a living in waters off their shore. And in the case of the United States, our government is not simply sitting by, but supporting the Israeli military with $3 billion in military aid a year.

The Palestinians’ plea for help has been ignored by world governments, but it has pricked the conscience of civil society. Caravans have crisscrossed Europe and Africa, carrying tons of aid. Boats have braved Israeli war ships and tried to dock in Gaza’s ports. Over 1,000 people joined the Gaza Freedom March, an attempt to break the siege that was brutally stopped by Egyptian police during the rule of Hosni Mubarak.

In May, 2010, seven ships and nearly 700 passengers carrying humanitarian aid tried to breach Israel’s naval blockade. The Israeli military violently intercepted the ships, killing nine passengers aboard the Turkish boat, including a 19-year-old American citizen. The rest of passengers were roughed up, arrested, thrown in Israeli prisons, and deported.

For a brief moment, this tragedy in international waters focused the world spotlight on Gaza. Israel said it would ease the draconian siege, allowing more goods to enter the beleaguered strip. But just this month, the health authorities in Gaza proclaimed a state of emergency due to an acute shortage of vital medicines and also this month, a report from the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, found unemployment in Gaza at a staggering 45.2 percent, among the highest in the world. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the number of abject poor living on just over one dollar a day has tripled to 300,000 since the blockade was imposed in 2007. “It is hard to understand the logic of a man-made policy which deliberately impoverishes so many and condemns hundreds of thousands of potentially productive people to a life of destitution,” Gunness said.

Hopes inside Gaza were buoyed by the Egyptian revolution. A groundswell of grassroots solidarity by Egyptians pushed the new government to announce that it would open its border with Gaza. But that promise remains elusive, as thousands are still blocked from crossing, and all imports and exports must still pass through the Israeli side. Israel remains the warden for the world’s largest open-air prison. It continues to decide what goods can enter, what exports can come out, and which people can get exit visas. It continues to control Gaza’s electricity, water supply, airspace and access to the Mediterranean.

Although the Israelis know that our boats will not carry arms and we, the passengers, are committed to nonviolence, they have nonetheless vowed to stop us with a dizzying array of force —water cannons, commandos, border police, snipers, and attack dogs from the military’s canine unit.

Equally astonishing is the U.S. government’s reaction. Instead of demanding safe passage for unarmed U.S. citizens participating in what passenger and writer Alice Walker calls “the Freedom Ride of our era,” the State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner has labeled our actions “irresponsible and provocative” and the U.S. government has joined Israel in strong-arming countries in the Mediterranean to prevent us from sailing.

This pressure is having an impact. At the urging of the Turkish government, our flagship, the Mavi Marmara, the same ship that was so violently attacked last year, recently announced that it will not be joining the flotilla. The Mavi Marmara was going to carry 500 people; its absence cuts our numbers in half. And there may be more ships forced to drop out.

All this bullying, however, only strengthens our resolve. We may be fewer boats, we may have fewer passengers, we may be threatened with violence, but we will sail. And if the Israelis intercept our boats, we call on people around the world to gather at Israeli embassies and consulates to express their outrage.

Like the inexorable rhythm of the ocean, the Palestinians will continue to lap at the shores of injustice. They will keep coming back, wave after wave, demanding the right to rebuild their tattered communities, the right to live in dignity. Shoring them up will be the international community, including activists like us who join their nonviolent resistance. The real question is: How long will the Israelis, with U.S. backing, continue to swim against the tide?

Medea Benjamin is cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace.  Follow the flotilla on this blog, and at www.codepink.org /pinkonflotilla and at www.ustogaza.org.

The following post was written by Global Exchange’s G.E.L.T. (Green Economy Leadership Training) program participant Kate Powers:

Today, Matt, Lauren, Mike, Dan (a resourceful new addition to the program), and I went over to Grove Street determined to gut the whole house. Our biggest challenge: the feces-covered basement. It was decided that since we were in this together, we would all work on the basement together. All five of us, armed with our shovels, attacked the basement full force. Once we completely scraped up the floor, Mike, Matt, and Dan began disassembling the musty couch and moving the washing machine and other large items upstairs while Lauren and I swept up the dirt and threw away all the trash. The task of cleaning the basement seemed difficult but it took us less than an hour to complete. It’s true when they say many hands make light work.

Next, we tackled the second floor. The group cleaned out the back room, swept, and ripped up the remaining carpets. In a relatively short time we got a great amount accomplished. As inspiring and enriching the G.E.L.T. workshops and lectures are, the physical gratification that comes along with the Operation We Squat group project is unmatched. We had a sense of accomplishment driving back from Grove Street. Having the house gutted was a morale boost… However, there is still much to be done.

The top three issues that need to be addressed are as follow:
1)   Replace foundational support beam in the basement
2)   Repair roof
3)   Plumbing/Bathtub

Making the house functional is an intimidating task, but in the face of this challenge I just think about how daunting of a task gutting out the house was and how we were able to accomplish it. All we can do is face each challenge as it comes while supporting one another and the community.

Until next time,
Kate

This update was originally sent to Global Exchange Mexico e-mail list. Be the first to receive urgent news and actions by signing up for Global Exchange’s e-mail lists.

We wrote last week about Federal Police breaking into the Paso del Norte Human Rights Center in Ciudad Juárez, an important host of the Caravan for Peace that was travelling 3,000 kilometers north to Juárez through cities hard hit by the drug war like Morelia, San Luis Potosi, Torreon, and Monterrey.

Many people wrote to U.S. officials about this atrocious break-in. The State Department response of privately expressing concerns to Mexican officials and publicly praising the spirit (though not the demilitarizing goals) of the caravan would not have happened without pressure. The Caravan arrived safely in Juárez last Thursday.

The Caravan Arrives In Juárez

I met the Caravan on the outskirts of Juárez on Thursday evening as part of a noisy and expectant crowd of hundreds that swelled into more than a thousand as we waited hours in the sun and then descending darkness to welcome the 20 some buses and dozens of cars that had joined in. The caravan was late — mostly due to making repeated stops to speak with large groups of people who spontaneously organized to show their solidarity and give testimony along the route.

As you can see in the news reports we linked in the first paragraph, stories of pain, death, and victimization were a constant in all the meetings along the way. The leaders of the caravan, including Javier Sicilia, who was honored and spoke in San Francisco just days before at the Global Exchange Human Rights Awards Ceremony, listened and made careful note of the chillingly similar stories of brutality and impunity including horrors inflicted by army, police, criminals, and others.

Ted Lewis, Javier Sicilia and John Gibler at the 2011 Human Rights Awards Gala

What impressed me the most about the arrival of the Caravan in Juárez that night was the response it elicited from ordinary residents, shopkeepers, truck drivers, and others along the usually abandoned and eerily quiet streets of Juárez. Instead of spending evenings inside shuttered houses and behind multiple gates and padlocks as residents of Juárez have become accustomed to doing in recent times, people surged into the streets; whole families clustered on street corners at 10 PM to join smiling citizens who stopped to wave and in some cases, hold up handmade signs of welcome. The mood was infectious and spirits remained high even as a vast welcoming crowd in Villas de Salvarcar — a neighborhood shaken in 2010 by one of the war’s worst massacres – listened to a series of speeches and testimonies that lasted until one in the morning.

Building the Movement

On Friday morning, movement organizers met again on the campus of the University of Juárez. The aim was to discuss and clarify the goals of the movement, as well as to propose concrete steps for further action to build the movement and challenge the failed drug war strategy and its supporters on both sides of the border. The results of these meetings included calls for drug policy reform, ending the Merida Initiative, pressuring the U.S. to take measure to end gun trafficking, and to end the dangerous militarization of a public security. In the wake of the meetings, some tactical and other disagreements over emphasis have emerged, giving this powerful and morally grounded movement some difficult growing pains.

Global Exchange is supporting a number of campaigns to end gun trafficking, challenge the U.S. to get serious about drug policy reform (this week marks the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s launching of the drug war in 1971), and end the Merida Initiative. Please check out the links in this paragraph for more information.

On Saturday, movement organizers crossed the border to headline a rally and multiple press conferences in El Paso, Texas. One of the most notable events of that day was the announcement that Cipriana Jurado Herrera had been granted political asylum in the United States — which she had sought based on her mistreatment at the hands of the Mexican Army. The granting of her petition, which exposes the routine abuses of the Mexican military, is unprecedented.

Protest from the Air

On Sunday, far away in California, another event that shows the growing reach of Mexico’s peace movement took place. A small plane pulling a banner with the now familiar logo of the No Más Sangre (No More Blood) movement saying “40,000 Dead! How Many More?” passed above Stanford Stadium where Mexican President, Felipe Calderón, was about to give the commencement address to the graduating class of 2011. The fly over, which lasted for 15 minutes of the president’s 18 minute speech, was barely mentioned in U.S. publications, but created a firestorm of TV and front page news coverage across Mexico, where public challenges to the President are rare.

Articles and cartoons generated in the wake of the action are documented on this excellent Facebook page. This homemade video clip of the action has been posted widely and has already been viewed tens of thousand of times.

We will continue to update you on this growing peace movement in Mexico, and encourage you to sign our petition encouraging the Obama Administration to put an end to the Merida Initiative.

GELT participants striking peaceful poses

The following post was written by Global Exchange’s G.E.L.T. (Green Economy Leadership Training) program participant Kate Powers:

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Ready for community input, O.W.S. (Operation We Squat) canvassed earlier today. Our original vision for the home on Grove Street was to create a community space for Highland Park, potentially a youth center or library. We were very focused on the specifics of the house rather than the basic, functional elements and what the community really needed. As a result, canvassing was a major reality check.
We received three kinds of responses:
  1. Negative. The first house Marion and I approached consisted of a woman who was skeptical and, frankly, very angry with the G.E.L.T. program. She said that last year GELTers went around Grove Street making promises to the community that were not fulfilled. She felt like outsiders invaded Grove Street with lofty goals but left once the summer was over with none of the goals met. She made it obvious that some people on Grove felt betrayed by the G.E.L.T. program. Many of these “broken promises” were due to miscommunications between the program and the community last year but that doesn’t change the fact that there are trust issues present between G.E.L.T. and Grove Street that need to be addressed.
  2. Apathetic. Other people we talked to said they didn’t care what was done to the house as long as the yard was taken care of. They were more worried about the potholes and lack of streetlights than the renovation of 76 Grove Street.
  3. Positive. Some people supported our efforts. Families with small children were responsive to the idea of having some kind of youth center where kids can go after school. Other community members liked the idea of having a garden in the back where the food grown can be distributed to people who tend to the garden. One community member in particular was a great advocate for our cause, Ms. Walker. Now she even has a date with Mike to go to the city council meeting on Monday and is going to go to church with Lauren one upcoming Sunday. Ms. Walker cares about the Grove Street community and wants to see it prosper.
As a result of our canvassing, we have determined three issues that need to be addressed on Grove Street:
  1. Trust. The outside of the house is a very important part of its transformation as many people in the community will not believe or support us until prominent physical change has occurred. Keeping our promise to renovate 76 Grove Street is very important in building our trust with the community.
  2. Security. Multiple community members have told us that the house is not safe to leave alone overnight. Squatters can easily take over or illegal activity can occur. Therefore, we plan to definitely have a residency aspect integrated into our renovation plans.
  3. Community. We are starting to realize that simply creating a youth center or library on Grove Street does not make it a community. We can help the area more by fixing up the home and renting it to people who care about Grove Street and Highland Park. We do want some community aspect involve with the home, so we have been playing around with the idea of forming a garden in the backyard where fresh produce can be distributed to community members who tend to the garden.
After the canvass, Mike made a good point that maybe we had misunderstood where the value of the project should be placed. In the words of Marion, our idealist bubble had been popped. We still believe in this project but we have to take it one step at a time. To achieve our goals, we must rebuild the broken relationships between G.E.L.T. and Grove Street by following through with our promises.
Until next time!

The following post was written by Global Exchange’s G.E.L.T. (Green Economy Leadership Training) program participant Kate Powers:

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I am working with several other participants on a project that is part of Global Exchange’s G.E.L.T. program called Operation We Squat.

Our project is one of four G.E.L.T. group projects taking place over the course of nine weeks, the others focusing on solar energy, urban agriculture and waste repurposing, respectively.

G.E.L.T. aims to build a new, clean energy economy in Highland Park through education, training, and community participation. Major aspects of G.E.L.T. include permaculture, renewable energy, and infrastructure redevelopment. This program centers around improving people’s lives by creating a healthy economic and social community in Highland Park by using a sustainable model that can be repeated in other cities around the country.

Operation We Squat plans to address a major problem in post-industrial cities– abandoned, rundown houses. The usual response to this problem is demolition of the residence, dumping the materials into landfills. This process is energy-demanding and labor insensitive while preventing community advancement and adding little long-term value to the city. O.W.S. wants to demonstrate an alternative solution to abandoned homes in urban areas. The project plans to find the most effective ways to transform neglected houses into beneficial, sustainable representations of community.

The time frame of this project is June 7th to August 7th. The house: 76 Grove Street. The GELTers involved are Lauren, Matt, Mike, and myself (Kate). The team leads are Marion and Scott.

On Thursday, the group assembled and visited 76 Grove Street, for most of us it was our first time. Overgrown grass and weeds engulfed the yard while trash and broken glass filled the alleyway. Inside was not much better, the first floor consisted of discarded furniture and boarded up windows. After viewing the basement and the second floor it was evident that previous squatters had allowed their pet(s) to run wild.

For me, the most disheartening part of the house was not the dirt and grim or the broken windows and furniture, it was the deserted, child-made mother’s day card and the baby furniture and bottles left behind. The house was not completely vacated but rather it was almost as if, in the words of Marion, a hurricane came through destroying the inside of the home, taking the residents with it, but leaving traces of the family’s life. Lauren even found a film strip containing family photos– the family members that once lived in the house are now like ghosts, their abandoned possessions just glimpses of their past lives.

A few first impressions from the group are as follow:

  • Marion- Transformation through community and group cooperation
  • Matt- 76 Grove has a lot of potential
  • Mike- Great importance in having the home be a “community space with function”
  • As a group we decided that the first step of our project would be to cut the grass and have a bulk clean-up/trash pick-up as well as engage the community in some ways to include their input in the project.

Group Roles are as follow:

  • Marion: Timeline/Vision/Oversee
  • Scott: Resources/Oversee
  • Lauren: Community outreach
  • Mike: Find sources of inspiration/Similar models in the area
  • Matt: Internal workings of the house
  • Kate: Front and back yard/Story creation

If all goes as planned Operation We Squat will improve the lives and environment of Grove Street community members. However, in order for this project to have more than just an isolated impact on Grove Street, the steps taken must be repeatable and act as a model for the greater Detroit area, Michigan, and other parts of the United States. So as things progress, I’ll blog again about this project and the steps we’re taking to transform an abandoned house into something that can strengthen a community and create more sustainable systems within a city. Who knows, maybe sharing our story will aid others involved in similar conquests.

Until next time,
Kate

Next week, John Gibler will be celebrating the release of his new book To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War, a collection of stories about Mexico’s drug war, at City Lights bookstore in San Francisco.

When: Wed, Jun 15, 2011 7:00 pm
Where: City Lights Bookstore
261 Columbus Avenue at Broadway, San Francisco

City Lights Publishers describes To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War–

Combining on the ground reporting and in-depth discussions with people on the frontlines of Mexico’s drug war, To Die in Mexico tells behind the scenes stories that address the causes and consequences of Mexico’s multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking business. Gibler tells the hair raising stories of a Mexican journalist kidnapped, interrogated and threatened with death by the Gulf Cartel before being miraculously released; family members of people killed in the conflict; survivors of assassination attempts and massacres; along with crime-beat photographers, funeral parlor workers, government officials, convicted traffickers, cab drivers and others who find themselves working against, with, or for the drug cartels. Gibler sees beyond the cops-and-robbers myths that pervade government and media portrayals of the unprecedented wave of violence and looks to the people of Mexico for solutions to the crisis now pushing Mexico to the breaking point.

John Gibler is a writer based in Mexico and California, the author of Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt (City Lights Books, 2009), and a contributor to País de muertos: Crónicas contra la impunidad (Random House Mondadori, 2011). He is a correspondent for KPFA in San Francisco and has published in magazines in the United States and Mexico, including Left Turn, Z Magazine, Earth Island Journal, ColorLines, Race, Poverty, and the Environment, Fifth Estate, New Politics, In These Times, Yes! Magazine, Contralínea, and Milenio Semanal.

I’ve known John for many years, and I’ll say this; he is one of the most ‘committed-to-the-cause’ people I have the pleasure of knowing. He is courageous, thoughtful and driven in his efforts to raise awareness about the violence, militarization, and corruption happening in Mexico.

You can read the table of contents and opening chapter from John Gibler’s To Die in Mexico by downloading the pdf here.

To find out about where and when John Gibler will be speaking next, go here.

Pictured l to r: Ted Lewis, Javier Sicilia, and John Gibler at the 2011 Global Exchange Human Rights Awards

P.S. Last week John translated for Javier Sicilia at the Human Rights Awards where Mr. Sicilia received the People’s Choice Award for his work in building a movement to free Mexico from the spiraling violence of the ‘war on drugs.’ Check out the event recap here.

Ben Cohen, Tex Dworkin, Kevin Danaher, Jerry Greenfield Photo Credit: Natalie Mottley

The Ninth Annual Human Rights Awards was a great success!  The sold out event included inspirational speeches by three incredible honorees, witty banter by event emcees Ben & Jerry (in tuxedos!), and the participation of the entire Global Exchange staff, board, and community.

Since 2001, the Human Rights Awards Gala has brought together activists, supporters, and friends to recognize the efforts of exceptional individuals and organizations working for human rights from around the country and around the world.

Guests in attendance this year included folks from Ben & Jerry’s, CODE PINK, Dr. Bronner’s, Drug Policy Alliance, Fair Trade USA, Harrington Investments, Sungevity, The Pachamama Alliance, Thanksgiving Coffee, and a whole lot more!

Fair Trade models Jocelyn Boreta, Rae Abileah, Zarah Patriana

Fair Trade models donned Fair Trade outfits & accessories with “Ask Me About My Outfit” sashes or swatches. They strutted their stuff on the big stage to showcase some of the Fair Trade goodies being auctioned off during the silent auction, while guests enjoyed Fair Trade Certified Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream.

Thank you to everyone who joined us June 1, 2011, as we honored the work of:

  • Gulf Coast Activist Wilma Subra (Domestic Honoree).  Wilma  is an accomplished environmental scientist who has been on the frontlines fighting for the rights of local communities in Louisiana following the Gulf Spill. Watch her speech at the HRA here.
  • U.N. Ambassador for Bolivia Pablo Solón (International Honoree), a strong proponent of climate justice and the Rights of Nature.View his speech at the HRA here.
  • Javier Sicilia (People’s Choice Honoree) , a poet building a movement to free Mexico from the spiraling violence of the ‘war on drugs.’ Watch his speech here.

Photographer Natalie Mottley

All in all, the 9th annual Human Rights Award Gala was a great time. If you weren’t able to make it, we hope to see you there next year!

The event was photographed and filmed by pros, and we’ll be sharing some of those clips n pics down the road a bit.

In the meantime, I brought my camera along to snap a few pics on my own during the event. Below are a few of them, plus one from photographer Natalie Mottley. Hope you enjoy!

2011 Human Rights Awards Gala Photos

Liza Gonzales and Medea Benjamin

Jason Mark, Antonia Juhasz, and Wilma Subra

Beth Rogers-Witte Garriott and Ashley Cline

Wanda Whitaker checking out the silent auction

Walter Turner and Pierre Labossiere

Kylie Nicole-Nealis and Cheryl Meeker

Mary & Mike Murphy and Kevin Danaher

Kevin Danaher and Jeff Furman

Javier Sicilia and Ted Lewis Photo Credit: Natalie Mottley

Pablo Solón and Carleen Pickard

CODEPINK: Women for Peace , Global Exchange, Interfaith Peace-builders, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, together with over 100 peace and justice groups, organized the Move Over AIPAC conference that took place in Washington, DC on May 22-24, 2011. The purpose; to expose the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) lobby and build the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Move Over AIPAC attendees; Rae Abileah in pink flowered skirt Photo Credit: By acourtney6☆

CODEPINK’s Medea, Shaden, Alli, Sasha, Rae, Tighe, and the Move Over AIPAC Team summed up the events that took place during this 3 day conference:

  • On Friday we kicked off our actions with a demonstration outside the White House, and participated in the Hava Nagila parody flashmob, which has been seen by more than 30,000 people so far! See it here.
  • On Saturday we had the privilege to hear keynote talks from The Israel Lobby authors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, renowned authors, and a stellar panel of analysts discussing the way forward.
  • On Sunday we surrounded the AIPAC meeting at the convention center with chants, music and amazing visuals like the apartheid wall that turned into a Palestinian village scene and a human-powered flotilla to Gaza.
  • On Monday the protests continued outside the Justice Department demanding AIPAC be registered as a foreign agent, followed by a march to our workshop about military aid to Israel and lobbying training.  That night during the AIPAC gala, a group of five brave activists stood up to disrupt Netanyahu’s speech with messages about what is really “indefensible” – occupying land, starving Gaza, silencing dissenters.
  • On Tuesday Move Over AIPAC participants lobbied members of Congress, while courageous CODEPINK organizer Rae Abileah interrupted Netanyahu’s Congressional address with a banner that said “Occupying Land Is Indefensible” and shouting, “No more occupation, stop Israel war crimes, equal rights for Palestinians, occupation is indefensible.” Read her account of the action here.

Dalit Baum, Global Exchange’s Economic Activism for Palestine Director, attended the Move Over AIPAC conference and had this to share:

For me, it was striking to see first-hand the hordes of well-dressed people coming into the AIPAC gala event from hundreds of buses. More and more of them: congressmen, African American community organizers, business people, Jewish youth from all around –  so many –

Speaking to whomever we could, there was even one open-mike session when demonstrators invited the AIPACers to come on stage and speak to us. Again and again, I saw in these conversations such total blinded ignorance about the fate of the country they claim to support, about the implications of sending more and more free weapons to Israel. I also encountered a lot of polite racism and Islamophobia – most of the well dressed gala guests who spoke with me would not listen to anything a Palestinian says; they dismissed all accounts of human rights violations, imprisonment, torture, checkpoints, land grab etc. as an anti-Semitic fabrication. It was very different then similar arguments in Israel, where people are mostly aware of the facts, but they try and justify the crimes by “security”.

I was amazed by the courage of Rae and the rest of our friends who went into the gala and then into Congress to confront Netanyahu’s speech. If it weren’t for them, all left on record would have been the 29 standing ovations and outpouring of unconditional US support to one of Israel’s most hawkish, neo-liberal and racist governments. The protesters inside had to deal with the most brutally violent, sexist and hateful elements among the well dressed AIPACers, and they had to face this violence alone. I am very grateful for their courage.

More On the Move Over AIPAC Conference

Move Over AIPAC Press Coverage: www.moveoveraipac.org/press
Move Over AIPAC Photos: www.flickr.com/groups/moveoveraipac