Chiquita and the “Cost of Doing Business” in Colombia
By the middle of 1997 officials from Chiquita Brands International had grown nervous about the company’s increasingly long list of so-called “sensitive payments” in Colombia. For years Chiquita had been quietly paying off the leftist rebel groups that dominated the country’s banana-producing northern coast. But the balance of power was shifting away from the guerrillas and toward increasingly powerful paramilitary groups, and Chiquita’s security payments reflected this new reality. Thousands of dollars that previously had gone to guerrillas were being redirected to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a confederation of drug traffickers and right-wing death squads that promised to drive guerrilla influence from the region and seize control of the illegal narcotics trade.
Read more →The Rebirth of Solidarity on the Border
By David Bacon
Increasing anti-union practices on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border have spurred a revival of solidarity work over the last several decades. In this third article of David Bacon’s series ‘Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity’, the author looks at the causes of this trend, the obstacles to it, and the power and potential of organizing across borders. All articles in this series were originally published in the Institute for Transnational Social Change report ‘Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity’.
Read more →Zapatistas March in Solidarity Against Calderon’s Drug War
A poignantly silent march of the masses, an eloquent speech, a plaza brimming with Zapatistas, and organizations and collectives from The Other Campaign in Chiapas, united in their rejection of Felipe Calderón’s drug war. This, and more, marked the reemergence of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) after more than 5 years without protesting outside of its territory.
Read more →Labor Law Reform – A Key Battle for Mexican Unions Today
By David Bacon
The Party of Institutional Revolution’s (PRI) recent effort to reform Mexican labor law took aim at workers and independent unionism in Mexico. In this second installment of David Bacon’s series on cross-border solidarity, the author looks at this legislative assault on workers’ rights and other recent neoliberal reforms of Mexico’s economy. All articles in this series were originally published in the Institute for Transnational Social Change report ‘Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity’.
Read more →Horror and Hope Walk Hand in Hand
500,000 women raped in Rwanda. 64,000 in Sierra Leone. 40,000 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 4,500 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Numbers are numbing,” warns Nobel Laureate Jody Williams. “There are women in here who have experienced sexual violence in conflict.”
Read more →The “Fascist Threat” on Peru’s Doorstep
By Raúl Zibechi
The upcoming Peruvian election presents two opposing choices, embodied in Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori. For half of Peru, this choice is about avoiding the triumph of the “fascist threat” and the return to dictatorship predicted by Vargas Llosa. But the mafia clientelism of the Fujimoris has broad social, ecclesiastical and business support.
Read more →The Hidden History of Mexico/U.S. Labor Solidarity
By David Bacon
In this first installment of David Bacon’s series on cross-border solidarity, the author lays out the questions that informed the series and takes a look at some of the notable campaigns and figures of the often overlooked history of US-Mexican labor solidarity. This installment, and all subsequent installments, first appeared in the report ‘Building a Culture of Cross-Border Solidarity’ put out by UCLA’s Institute for Transnational Social Change.
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