Support Human Rights Work In Oaxaca
Date: Jan 30, 2007 9:38 PM
Join Me in Supporting Grassroots' Human Rights Work in Oaxaca
Oaxaca is living through a horrifying moment of wholesale human right
abuses.
Police and paramilitaries are instilling fear in people opposed to the
questionably elected governor, Ulises Ruiz.
Both the current repression and historic neglect of Oaxaca's poor
majority are on the rise.
Scores of activists and ordinary Oaxacans are unjustly jailed.
We have received an urgent request to raise $25,000 by March 1st to
provide legal assistance and support.
extending a hand of solidarity to persecuted Oaxacans and their
families.
Protests in Oaxaca began in May, 2006 with a strike by a local teachers union and have since grown into a broad-based movement, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).
The people are calling for the removal of Ruiz, who is accused of systematic corruption and human rights violations. At least 17 have died in the protests, including independent American journalist Brad Will.
The grassroots organizations involved in this human rights initiative will cover the costs of lawyers and legal assistance and provide support to families of prisoners.
Your donation will bring justice to the families of the unjustly jailed and hope to the people of Oaxaca.
In solidarity,
Lila Downs
Click here to make an online donation and support human rights.
posted by Lorna Dee Cervantes at 10:50 AM
1 Comments:
Dear all,
Last night/this morning all Hades broke out. Both my Flickr & Blogger site went down when I was trying to post some fotos and information on Project TUPA - www.radiotupa.org - a project of Free Radio Berkeley which empowers people throughout the Américas to build their own radio stations. (YEA!)
Those of you who know me, and some who do not, know that I am a lifelong supporter of community public access radio, and that I was interested in helping to found a radio station on Isla Mujeres as a means to hurricane relief as well as all the other things great radio brings -- like democratic change. Also, you may have read my post from last year: "What were you doing 30 years ago?" where I talk about once working in a CB radio factory. I'm also a child of public radio, I was born around the time KPFA was and have been listening since I was a child since my brother was a fan and early radio person on the programming end of things.
Anyway, this project ties a lot things together that are near and dear to my heart and consciousness: free speech, democracy, education, truth, freedom, cultural preservation, public access radio and the indigenous peoples of the Américas, and just plain ole do-it-yourselfness (some might remember that I taught myself how to run a printing press in my kitchen when I was 21 years old) so I'm really excited about the work they are doing in Mexico right now: a couple of dozen workshops with people throughout Mexico who are being trained in Oaxaca to assemble and operate their own low-cost 10 watt radio transmitters from kits they design. How cool is that? I had a lot of great pictures of the great work they are doing that I was planning to post today & last night when everything went down and I am unable to post anything at all to Blogger right now.
I'd like to help Project TUPA in any way I can right now, when they need it most as they are between 2 1-week workshop sessions in Oaxaca and could use some PayPal donations right now. You can also send a check (tax deductible) or payment to them at their Berkeley address, and any donations of equipment, parts, microphones and other broadcast equipment, cameras, dvd players -- you name it. Also, especially if you have electronic technology skills or web or translation skills, they could use volunteers in the Bay Area or in their travels throughout Latin America and Mexico. You can also bring them to your own community. You and folk could learn how to build a radio transmitter from a kit (apr. $200) to donate to an impoverished community.
Donate whatever and get free goodies from me!! (CDs of playlists of love songs and bummer love songs -- hey, LD collector's items to some; my new book, DRIVE: The First Quartet, and maybe a copy of my new 250 page manuscript of love poems -- just in time for Valentine's day.) More details as soon as I can post again. If you can read this, please let me know.
As I've always said about publishing: "Freedom of the press belongs to the person who owns one" and, as my grandmother always said, and I'll paraphrase: If they can't do it right, do it yourself!
KEEP RADIO FREE! SUPPORT FREE RADIO and Project TUPA. Support the transformers of the Américas!
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