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- Local
Spotlight: Organizing in Kansas City
-
Differing Views on CAFTA Clash During the
Central American Ambassadors’ Tour
Local Spotlight:
Energized by 10 parishes and organizations
with sister communities in El Salvador, the
Kansas City Salvadoran Faith Accompaniment Committee
has planned an entire year of activities to
remember Salvador’s martyrs and work for
justice in the Americas.
In February, Fr. Dean Brackley, SJ, professor
at the University of Central America, began
the year with a presentation that drew over
150 people to the Rockhurst University campus.
The year will end December 2 with a prayer service
honoring the four churchwomen featuring Sr.
Dianna Ortiz, an anti-torture advocate.
Kansas City will continue the commemoration
with a series
of events throughout the year including
:
- April 8: a 25th Anniversary
Mass and Fiesta honoring Oscar Romero; Ongoing,
a traveling Power Point Presentation entitled
“Why Oscar Romero Still Matters;”
- Oct.-Nov.: the Kansas City
Public Library will host a literary and film
series based on the lives and struggles of
Romero and the churchwomen.
- Nov. 2: Scott Wright,
Director of the Religious Task Force on Central
America and Mexico, will lead a discussion
on Romero at the 2005 Community of Christ
Peace Colloquy.
- Ongoing: the movie “Romero”
has been offered to church groups throughout
the city along with a discussion
guide.
But remembrance is not enough. Each commemorative
event includes a plea to take a stand for government
policies that do not exploit, terrorize or objectify
the poor in Central America.
In light of the National Week of Action against
CAFTA in February and in the spirit of Romero,
SHARE Grassroots Outreach Coordinator Chloe
Schwabe came to Kansas City to share information
about CAFTA and the Salvador Option. She encountered
a group that is actively applying pressure on
the US Congress to strike down the free trade
agreement in its current form.
She also found a group – made up of businesspeople,
students, educators, church leaders and activists
– grappling with the balance between protesting
current policies while finding sustainable solutions
for the future.
While visiting Kansas City, Chloe also met
with Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Shawnee,
KS and Visitation Catholic Church in Kansas
City, MO. Both parishes have sustained sister
parish relationships that began during the war
and have grown throughout the years.
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Differing
Views on CAFTA Clash During the Central American
Ambassadors’ Tour
The Kansas City discussion was one activity
in many across the country to recognize the
National Week of Action Against CAFTA sponsored
by the Stop CAFTA Coalition. The week lasted
from February 21st-25th. While many grassroots
and solidarity groups spent the week protesting
CAFTA, the Central American ambassadors and
big business interest groups were on the road
promoting CAFTA .
At times, these opposing groups crossed paths,
such as in visits to North Carolina, Washington,
D.C. and Colorado.
The most recent stop on the ambassadors’
tour was to the University of Washington in
Seattle(UW). While MECHA (a Chicano and Chicana
student group), and students from labor and
health organizations congregated in opposition
to CAFTA outside of UW while ambassadors from
the five Central American countries met inside.
Opposition groups were quick to point out that
NAFTA already demonstrated how the free trade
agreement brought more poverty to Mexico’s
poor.
The next stops for the ambassadors’ tour
will be March 8th in Sacramento, CA and March
11th in Los Angeles.
If you would like to get involved in efforts
to tell others how CAFTA will adversely impact
the people of El Salvador during the ambassadors
tour, or if you participated or heard about
an activity during the National Week of Action
Against CAFTA, please let us know by writing
Chloe Schwabe at chloe@share-elsalvador.org.
To learn how CAFTA will impact Central America
and what you can do, visit http://www.share-elsalvador.org/cafta/educ_pack.htm.
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