The SOA Watch Border Encuentro is fast approaching, and from November 10-12, grassroots activists from across the Americas will converge in Eloy-Tucson-Ambos Nogales to take a stand for justice and accountability, and to create a culture of justice and peace in the face of militarized US intervention in Latin America and migrant criminalization and incarceration.
After 26 years of protest at the gates of Ft. Benning to call for a closure of the notorious School of the Americas, renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), we hope you can join us to challenge US imperialism and racism at the US/Mexico border. We moved our annual event to the border to highlight US intervention in Latin America as a root cause of migration, and to visibilize the expansion of the violent US border militarization regime throughout Mexico and Central America. Register HERE!
Call for 2017 Encuentro Workshops and Forums!
Last year, we were honored to have an incredible array of workshops facilitated by equally incredible activists and organizers. This year we are creating workshop and forum spaces once again, centering the voices of communities of color and all those directly impacted by devastating US economic, military and political policies – across all borders. Similarly, in order to build a shared analysis to understand US intervention and imperialism, and gain the tools necessary to confront and challenge the systems that oppress us, submitted proposals for workshops and forums are required to be aligned with our 2017 demands:
- An end to Plan Mérida and the Alliance for Prosperity
- Demilitarization and divestment of the borders
- An end to US economic, military and political intervention in Latin America and the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC)
- An end to the racist systems of oppression that criminalize and kill migrants, refugees and communities of color
- Respect, dignity, justice and the right to self-determination of communities
We strongly encourage allied organizations and activists to submit proposals. In addition to workshop spaces, we will also host forums in which presenters can engage in conversations that speak at the intersections of our Encuentro demands based on their identities and experiences. Please forward widely! To ensure your proposal is considered, please apply by September 29. Due to the limited amount of space, late applications will not be accepted.
Become an Encuentro Sponsor or place an Ad in the Encuentro Program!
Becoming a sponsor or placing an ad (or both!) is a great way to promote your organization to reach out to a diverse crowd from all across the Americas and to show support for the Encuentro. Sponsors will be acknowledged in our bilingual Encuentro Program, which will be distributed to all attendees, allied organizations, and published on our website, and ads will be printed in the 2017 Encuentro Program. Submit your application to be an official sponsor of the 2017 Encuentro, or place an ad in the program here.
Help us make this year's Encuentro a success!
We are still accepting organizational endorsements as well as applications for tabling. Interested in volunteering? Many hands are needed and throughout the course of the weekend, over 100 volunteers will contribute a few hours of their time to make this year's Encuentro possible. Please consider making a donation - any amount is a great contribution to our work! This is a people power-led movement, and over 85% of our funding comes from individual donations from people like YOU! For updates, please visit www.SOAW.org/border.
With gratitude,
Brigitte, Candice, Eduardo, Kat, María Luisa, Pablo and Roy