NEWS & REPORTS

February 2005
Center for Global Justice Newsletter #4

It’s been two months since the last Center Newsletter. That’s because we didn’t want to overload your inbox during the holidays. Actually the Center has been very active on a number of fronts, as you will see below. There is a lot of Center news to report to you.

CONFERENCE ON WOMEN AND GLOBALIZATION
The Call has gone out for our July 27-August 4, 2005 conference and the initial response has been very encouraging. Our focus on the impact of globalization in the Global South has struck a responsive cord. The Call is available in English at workshop2005.htm and in Spanish at encuentro2005.htm Pass it on to others who you think might be interested. Although the deadline for papers is still months away, we’d appreciate knowing early if you intend to come. That will help us in our planning.

SEEKING SUMMER INTERNS
In preparation for the Conference, the Center is seeking a few student interns and a supervising professor who would conduct some research on women in the San Miguel area. The idea is to compile some data, prepare some community profiles and take some oral testimonials as background information for Conference participants. We can offer free housing at the Center and economical living in San Miguel and the surrounding campo for the month of July (and possibly June). Bi-lingual applicants should contact cliff@GlobalJusticeCenter.org

CENTER VISITS COOPERATIVES
Center representatives conducted an inspection visit to two groups of cooperatives in the state of Hildago. Luis Martinez and Patricio Bravo, both of whom participated in last summer’s Workshop, hosted the visit. In Alfajayucan, where12 coops already exist or are being formed, we met with over 30 cooperativistas to discuss their work. In Ixmiquilpan there are 16 coops which are linking themselves into a union of coops (Integradora). They have just completed a course of training in how to run a coop from a university extension agent. Bob Stone was the speaker at their graduation and we awarded the diplomas. Bob engaged the 60 participants in a dialog about a revolving loan fund for cooperatives. For a more detailed report, contact bobstone@igc.org

SNOWBIRD SYMPOSIUM
As a service to visitors as well as foreign residents of San Miguel de Allende, the Center is sponsoring weekly public lectures and films during the high season of January through March. Kevin Danaher of Global Exchange opened the series, followed by Mexican anthropologist Luis Berruecos, law professor Mark Kruger, and Center founders Cliff DuRand and Betsy Bowman. Especially popular was an open forum on the eve of Bush’s inauguration where 65 people came together to think about how to respond to what’s coming over the next four years. The Center is also planning panels on War and Peace Today on February 15, the second anniversary of the worldwide anti-war demonstrations, and again in mid March on the anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

REALITY TOURS
The Center has opened discussions with Global Exchange about designing and hosting Reality Tours here in central Mexico. We met with Kevin Danaher, co-founder of GX, and Melia Everette, director of GX’s Reality Tour program. Global Exchange offers such tours to many parts of the Third World, usually in partnership with locally based organizations such as the Center. Since it takes six months lead time to adequately promote such tours, the Center hopes to be able to offer its first Reality Tour for New Years 2006.
Meanwhile, we are discussing with a couple professors plans for focused study trips for their students. If you are interested in bringing a group of your students to Mexico for a Study Tour, contact Cliff@GlobalJusticeCenter.org and we’ll see what kind of a customized program we can design for you. Your students will find such an encounter with the realities of Mexico an eye opening experience.

LeMOYNE STUDENTS VISIT MEXICO CITY FOR THANKSGIVING
U.S. professor Mario Saenz, an Associate of the Center, brought a group of 8 bi-lingual students to Mexico City. Ross Gandy, also a Center Associate, gave them a guided tour of Teotihuacan. They also visited the Museum of Anthropology and the Diego Rivera murals. Accomodations for the group was at Casa de los Amigos. The trip was intended to expand the student’s social consciousness.

CENTER SUPPORTS CHARCO DEL INGENIO
Those of you who have been to San Miguel will remember the Botanical Gardens known as Charco del Ingenio. It is a treasure of cacti and succulents that includes many endangered species. Its natural beauty is now itself endangered by real estate development along its boundaries. In response, a local campaign has succeeded in getting the mayor and city council to create an ecological zone to protect the Charco that will limit construction to one story in height. The Center led in mobilizing the foreign community in support of the effort to protect this ecological zone.

TRANSGENETIC CORN
The Center joined with Greenpeace Mexico in calling for adoption of restrictions on the export of genetically modified corn to Mexico. The restrictions had been recommended by a scientific panel set up under NAFTA to evaluate such issues. The Bush administration sought to delay the release of their report until after the election, but Greenpeace made a copy public in October. Among the controversial recommendations was that corn imported into Mexico be milled so that modified genes could not contaminate locally grown corn. An estimated 6.3 million metric tons of U.S. corn were sold to Mexico last year. As much as half contained modified genes created by companies like Monsanto.
The Center sent letters to the U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture and Commerce asking their cooperation with Mexico in protecting their corn from genetic contamination.

MEMBERSHIP CAMPAIGN
We begin the new year with a campaign for pledges of monthly donations to the Center for Global Justice. Whether you can give $50 a month or only $10 a month, a pledge will enable us to develop a budget based on a steady stream of revenue. And it’s easy to do by having your bank automatically send a designated amount to our account at the Bank of America. You just have to give your bank our account number 003924482361 and the bank’s routing number 052001633. Or if you prefer, you can mail your checks directly to the Center for Global Justice, c/o Border Crossings, 413 Interamerica, No. 1 BC-2323, Laredo TX 78045. As a third option you can also use your credit card to pay on our website at donate.htm Remember, all contributions are tax deductible.

CENTER WEBSITE
Our webmaster Holly Yasui has been adding new papers to our website. And thanks to Steve Martinot you can make your comments on any paper and engage in dialog with the author and others through the website. If you have a paper you’d like to share, send it to Cliff@GlobalJusticeCenter.org We’ll put it up and see if anybody salutes it.