{"article":{"id":6296,"heading":"Border Evidence - Maclovio Rojas","author":"juan - sd imc","created":"2001-04-27 17:34:38","modified":"2013-11-10 23:37:20","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 06:37:20","article":"

(a26) The final official activities of this weekend's anti-FTAA border mobilization brought nearly one hundred Americans across the border to participate in daylong meetings and events in the Maclovio Rojas poblado community. Located forty minutes from the fence, this area is the site of this border region’s newest foreign-owned maquila factories. The American visitors were greeted at the Aguascalientes cultural center in the center of town by community members and people representing committees from across Baja California. The Aguascalientes center was a symbolic meeting place, as it was built in 1995 in response to the Zapatistas’ call to build public spaces representing the values and traditions of disenfranchised cultures across the country. It is the only one of its kind in Baja California.

The day's formal events began with speakers from both sides addressing the crowd of about 200, who sat in a courtyard surrounded by murals depicting this community’s sufferings under the forces of repressive globalization. At noon, a hovering police helicopter provided a poignant counterpoint to the speech given by Hortensia Fernandez, Maclovio's charismatic leader. Hortensia recounted Maclovio’s 13 year-old fight against local PANista government officials and their powerful Caciques associates, who are trying to force out the townspeople in order to turn Maclovio into an extension of the Hyundai maquila located next door.

During the working session that followed, almost forty binational organizations quickly reached consensus, agreeing to draft a resolution in defense of Maclovio Rojas and the communities of Valle de San Quintin and Mahuadero, by providing an \"emergency response network.\" The Americans promised to provide immediate support in the form of: computers and money for Internet access, coordination of tours of the region, and a plan to return to Maclovio Rojas for a second formal binational encounter--in order to extend the global network of peoples’ resistance and support. A bilingual bulletin\/newsletter will also be developed. Organizers from the FTAA border mobilization and other activists solidified plans for the immediate implementation of this new peoples’ network by scheduling an organizing meeting for May 26th at the Frente Zapatista, Tijuana,

The visitors ended their day with a tour of the poblado, home to about 10,000 people. The human cost of NAFTA was evident as they walked through the town. The daily tragedy that the people of Maclovio Rojas have endured since 1988 was sobering, but spirits were raised when community member Juan Regalado commented, \"the only place we'll move to is the new cemetery we're building.\"<\/p>\n","contact":"sdimc@aol.com","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Border action ends a20 weekend with plans for the future.","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2001\/04\/6296.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":6332,"heading":"widening crossborder solidarity,cooperation","article":"Now is an ideal time for us to widen our crossborder\r\nsolidarity and cooperation. I believe many people are now\r\nready to put their shoulders to the wheel and build real,\r\nlasting citizen cooperation in our region.\r\n\r\nSome people have not yet found their place in this\r\nmovement, perceiving the FTAA demonstrations, for example,\r\nas pure protests without a constructive component. Many of\r\nus want to use this opportunity now to develop a positive\r\ncomponent to this struggle, by working to build lasting\r\ninstitutions of economic and political cooperation, and\r\nreal democratic and internationalist forms of organization.\r\n\r\nPeople in Maclovio Rojas and elsewhere must meet basic\r\nneeds in order strengthen their ability to resist state\r\nrepression. Efforts to build economic autonomy and\r\ncommunity health, educational, and cultural institutions\r\nshould be considered as the sine qua non for any wider\r\npolitical organizing. And effective crossborder citizen\r\ncooperation also requires building trust through a wide\r\nrange of joint undertakings.\r\n\r\nHere are some specific proposals by Paul Rogers. Many \r\nof these could be of immediate benefit and would not\r\nrequire overwhelming resources to undertake. \r\n\r\n-------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\nCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS\r\nTHERE CAN BE NO SOCIAL\/POLITICAL JUSTICE WITHOUT\r\nECONO0MIC JUSTICE\r\n We seek to provide funding, resources and information\r\nfor community development projects for people in\r\nlow-income communities on both sides of the border.\r\n These projects are based upon the intitiative of\r\nthe people themselves and totally under their control.\r\n As Americans our \"job\" shall be to seek the above\r\nmentioed reosurces, such as grants, techological\r\ninformation, connections, etc.\r\n EXAMPLES\r\nA. Economic -\r\n1. Consumer cooperatives - neighborhood food and\r\nclothing warehouses, child care, clinics, etc.\r\n2. Producer and worker cooperatives - Mondragon Style\r\nSmall business suport, worker owned cooperatives, such\r\nas gardening, handicrafts, second hand stores, etc.\r\n3. \"Poor Peoples' Bank\" - lending bank similar to the\r\nGrameen Bank in Bangladesh.\r\nB. Social\/Cultural - Promotion of arts activities for\r\nchildren, classes in literacy and \"autonomous schools\"\r\nfor use by residents, health education, etc.\r\nC. Political -\r\nForums and \"how to\" support for - running candidates,\r\npetitions, referendums, etc.\r\n\r\nCurrent focus-\r\n1. Maclovio Rojas - Tijuana\r\nNeeds support for:\r\na. clinic\r\nb. community lending bank\r\nc. cooperative commercial center\r\nd. water purification system\r\ne. cultural center.\r\n2. Loma Toba - ner Tecate\r\na. Animal husbandry project\r\nb. clinic\r\nc. school\r\n3. San Quintin farmworkers\r\na. Water purification\r\nb. clinic\r\nc. school\r\nd. Market for handcrafts\r\n\r\n4. North County Farmworkers-\r\na. food and clothes\r\nb. clinic\r\nc. agriculture project - medicicanal herbs\r\n\r\nPaul Rogers\r\n619-423-0406\r\n","author":"Guy Berliner","parent_id":6296,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-04-28 16:21:43","modified":"2001-04-28 16:43:44","fileurl":""}]}