As part of a commitment to active solidarity with the people and social movements of the Americas, SOA Watch joined the Peoples' Human Rights Observatory this past June. The movement initiated by Father Roy Bourgeois 26 years ago started its participation in this effort during the First International Coordinating Assembly of the Observatory on June 13 and 14 and during the working sessions that extended until June 15 in the city of Oaxaca, in southwest Mexico. Thus, along with the Alliance for Global Justice, SOA Watch became part of the Observatory's representation in the United States.
For three days, the People's Defense Committee (CODEP in Spanish), a key member of the Observatory, coordinated the spaces where representatives of the indigenous and Afro-descendant communities of central and southern Mexico joined with social activists from Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Palestine and the United States. The cornerstones of the conversation included the promotion of human rights in the Americas, solidarity with those who defend life outside the American continent, particularly in Palestine, the denounce of US imperialist aggression, as well as the defense of the environment and the territory against private and monetary interests.
The presence of SOA Watch during this First International Coordination Assembly allowed the organization to share the grassroots efforts made in the US in order to stop the US imperialist strategies that affect Latin America, as well as to listen to the stories of strategy and resistance of the countries directly impacted by the economic, political and military intervention of the United States. As a result of this exchange, the Observatory and its members agreed to organize the "International Caravan for the Unity of the Peoples: Against the Walls of Infamy and Para-militarism, Territorial Defense, Sovereignty and Human Rights", in order to join the 2nd Border Encuentro convened by SOA Watch in the Arizona and Sonora border from November 10 to 12, 2017. Register to join this year's Border Encuentro following this link!
The People's Human Rights Observatory is an initiative of grassroots and popular organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean that seeks to monitor, document, disseminate, promote and demand the protection of Latin American communities Human Rights, Democracy and Social Justice from a perspective of constructing and deepening of resistance, rebellion, memory and popular power. In this way, the Observatory seeks to acknowledge human rights as achievements of the struggles of grassroots communities and not as gifts of political power, both local and international. This is an effort of more than 100 organizations, with representation from indigenous leaders, Nobel Peace Prize recipients, feminist groups, agrarian movements, academics and journalists of the Americas.
The presence of SOA Watch in the Advisory Council of the Peoples' Human Rights Observatory is the materialization of an active solidarity with Latin American movements that fight against militarization promoting violence. This is an example of resistance against the oppressive systems perpetuated by US imperialism and its allies on the continent. It is an example of the dignity that unites the free peoples protecting their historic memory and autonomy.
SOA Watch's participation in the Observatory has been made possible because of your support. To continue to support SOA Watch's participation in this social movements of resistance, please click here.
