FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2007
Solidarity Activists Gather in Managua!
July 13-15, 2007
Two hundred people from the United States and Nicaragua gathered at the Olofito Center in Managua July 13 to 15, 2007, to confirm their mutual solidarity in what all appeared to agree was a successful conference. Among the attendees were representatives of sister communities (sister cities, sister parishes, etc.), peace and justice activists, leaders of Nicaraguan non-governmental organizations and popular movements, environmentalists, religious personnel, and even a delegation of Rotarians from Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The solidarity conference was sponsored by the Nicaragua Network and co-sponsored by numerous other solidarity groups around the country. The Nicaragua Network worked in partnership with the Kairos Association for Formation in Nicaragua in the planning and logistics for the conference. Nicanet convened a planning committee in the United States which met regularly by conference call and Kairos convened a planning committee of Nicaraguan groups that met in Managua. Constant electricity outages and political differences among our traditional partners in Nicaragua made the planning for this conference a challenge for a while, but as the conference date neared, everything seemed to smooth out and we gained confidence that things would go smoothly.
After a welcome from Nicanet and Kairos, Chuck Kaufman, Co-Coordinator of the Nicaragua Network, gave a speech on the history of the movement in solidarity with Nicaragua and the different currents in that movement. [See the May-June issue of the Nicaragua Monitor.] Kaufman identified two traditions within US solidarity with Nicaragua: “There are the committees, primarily sister city, whose solidarity is based on long-time personal relationships and economic cooperation. The other tradition is committees that are in political solidarity based on their efforts to transform the US” and its policies especially as they relate to corporate globalization, free trade, labor rights and other political and economic issues. Kaufman said that the Nicaragua solidarity movement had survived based on the deep personal relationships of the sister city movement and on the fact that we joined (and helped form) coalitions opposing “World Bank and IMF policies, free trade orthodoxy, environmental destruction, the 500 year war against indigenous peoples, and our own country's increasing militarism [and] looked at all these things through the lens of our Nicaragua experience.” He finished by saying that it was the job of conference attendees that weekend to “talk, sing, and dance our way onto the road” to the better world that we know is possible.
Magda Enriquez, an old friend of Nicaragua solidarity in the US who is now in charge of international organizations at the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry, gave the welcome speech for the government of President Daniel Ortega. She introduced another Foreign Ministry official who spoke about the hopes that the government has for the Zero Hunger Program. Georgina Muñoz, the head of the Civil Coordinating Group (which brings together hundreds of Nicaraguan organizations), gave the welcome from civil society.
On Saturday morning, Elena Hendrick of Kairos led the conference attendees in singing a rousing “round” song. “Levántese, levántese, pueblo hermoso levántese!' went the song. “Arise, arise, beautiful people, arise,” was the meaning in English. We all surprised ourselves at how well we could sing!
Moises Arana, former mayor of Bluefields, gave a moving keynote address. He called on his audience to be profoundly human before being Christian or a part of any political movement. “We have to always see the misery around us,” he said, reminding his listeners that 1.8 billion people around the world live on less than one dollar per day and that this fact must inspire in us a cry of protest. He pointed out the difference between solidarity and charity, saying that charity bestows a gift but solidarity works for profound changes in the economic system.
Arana said that he admired the people of the United States but not their government. He rejected the consumer society of the world's rich who spend $50 billion on perfume yearly, an anti-human sum when placed next to those vast numbers of people who live in poverty. “I don't understand that lack of consciousness!” he exclaimed and called for a complete change of mentality. Without a change of mentality, we will not change the world, he said, and will not be able to call ourselves humans. Children who do not have enough to eat are the responsibility of all of us, he added.
“Welcome to Nicaragua,” Arana said in closing. “Open your eyes here and in the United States,” he continued. “In your hands and consciousness and in that of Nicaraguans is the changing of the world for the better. We cannot continue with hypocrisy and indifference to reality. With mutual solidarity, we can make a better world.”
After a break for refreshments, the group gathered again for a solidarity plenary session on 1) solidarity in the face of globalization; 2) true reciprocal solidarity; and 3) solidarity as an instrument for change and empowerment. Speaking about solidarity in the face of globalization, this author emphasized that solidarity and the struggle for peace and justice are globalized and gave the example of the powerful world-wide movement against the privatization of water.
Donna Katzin of Dos Pueblos, a New York City-Tipitapa sistering project said that the task during the first Sandinista government of educating and organizing people at the grassroots level in both Nicaragua and the U.S. is every bit as important now, at this time of new obstacles as well as heightened hopes for change. She added that we also need to build the base of young activists, and give voice to the next generation of work for solidarity and change in both countries in the future.
Speaking about true reciprocal solidarity, Tim Jeffries of the Bend (OR)-Condega Friendship Project said, “Charity talks. Solidarity listens. Charity assumes it has all the answers. Solidarity learns. Charity can be patronizing. Solidarity is humble. Charity decides what its recipients need. Solidarity asks for input and participation from both sides.¨
During the lunch break, conference attendees were able to visit the exhibit tables and learn about the work of numerous organizations and sister city projects. They also had the opportunity to purchase beautiful pottery from San Juan de Oriente and primitivist paintings and balsa wood animal carvings from the Archipelago of Solentiname along with Nicaraguan fair trade coffee from the central highlands of the country.
A session of reflection on the morning presentations in small groups began the afternoon activities. Participants were asked to describe the characteristics of solidarity that we have lived. Those who were in the group I attended will not soon forget the story of the woman from the Department of Jinotega who came to the conference representing the indigenous people of her region. She said that she had been wounded by a US-made land mine during the contra war and was hurt in the head and in one leg. For many years she believed that all the people of the United States were evil and only now at this conference had she learned that that was not true. She said that Jinotega did not have a sister city in the U.S. and asked us to try to set up such a partnership for her city. US-Nicaragua solidarity had not existed for her before this conference.
The small group reflections were followed by the first set of workshops. There were workshops on sustainable tourism, health projects, indigenous rights, DR-CAFTA, and other topics. Betty Stewart of the Merced, CA-Somoto Sister City Committee said that “the Microcredit Workshop was one of the reasons I came to the conference. Our committee wants to start a microcredit program and this workshop gave me exactly the information I need. Barbara Larcom and José Leonardo Silva of Casa Baltimore-Limay went through step by step how they started their microcredit program with $2000.00 and giving small loans; how loans were paid back, plus some pitfalls to watch out for and some examples of types of businesses they funded.”
Sunday morning began with another session of workshops. They included panels on the environment, sustainable agriculture, water projects, Plan Puebla Panama and others. Jim Fleming, of Prairie Health in Missouri said, “The director of the Federation for the Integral Development of Peasant Communities (FEDICAMP), Elvin Castellon showed slides and discussed the organization's extensive tree planting campaign, as well as FEDICAMP's project building cisterns for storing potable water for individual families, schools, etc. and promotion of the use of special stoves which use significantly less firewood than conventional stoves. One point Castellon made about the tree planting project was particularly potent: planting trees often does not have a significant impact until the generation that plants them passes on, but they can feel good about doing something extremely important for the next generation. In the last several years FEDICAMP has planted 1.2 million trees which not only protect waterways but provide food in the case of fruit trees but also wood for construction in the case of native rapidly growing varieties.
After a break and refreshments, the final session of workshops began. Among them were panels on literacy programs, the dangers of medical tourism, labor rights in the maquila sector and others. Sherry Erickson from Denver who works with ATRAVES, an organization that places volunteers in Nicaragua, said that she was most impressed with Drs. Tabatha Parker and Tania Neubauer and their workshop on Social justice medicine vs. medical tourism. Erickson said, “The information that they imparted was genuine, and from a real hands-on perspective. They outlined the dangers of medical teams 'parachuting in' and setting up clinics without the guidance of the Health Ministry, the dangers of leaving potentially dangerous drugs behind that no one knows how to use or properly dispose of, and the importance of these teams recognizing the social and cultural influences that are so very different from their own. Their workshop made me really re-evaluate the work that I am doing in Nicaragua, the importance of a cultural 'debriefing' for anyone choosing to come and work in the country, looking at bringing money instead of drugs, and buying what we can in-country, and as well, instilling in those coming into the country a heightened sense of cultural awareness, working toward longevity in projects, and instilling sensitivity that they may not realize that they need prior to coming on such a trip.”
Small groups (the same ones from Saturday) met again and reflected on the question of “What ideas for alternatives do we have that would bring us closer to a new world of justice, dignity and well being and happiness for all peoples?” Notes of the discussion were taken on butcher block paper and a member of each group reported back to the final plenary. Harkening back to Moises Arana's key note address, one group said “Before we take any formalized action, we should think in a universal manner and be human beings before all other things.” Solidarity “in its finest form” was defined as encouraging “networking both within communities and among them especially in a global setting.” It was noted that “We need to organize people by talking with them using tenderness and solidarity.”
Conference attendees agreed to send a message of solidarity support to the 13 Salvadoran activists who were in jail under terrorism charges for protesting water privatization. They applauded the hardworking translators who had made the conference possible and confirmed their agreement with the slogan of the conference, “There is no road to solidarity; solidarity is the road.”
The most spectacular part of the conference came after our final dinner together. Musicians and dancers from different parts of Nicaragua, including famous singer Philip Montalvan from the Caribbean Coast; the group Oscarina; the grandsons of Manuel Palacios from Monimbo, Masaya, playing marimba and guitar and accompanying the little dancer Dulce Esperanza; the dance group "Jovenes - CANTERA of Ciudad Sandino; and a young group of dancers from the rural community of El Arenal, Matagalpa. It was a beautiful ending to the conference.
By Katherine Hoyt
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