HSP Director's Corner

The Health of Nations

2012-01-24T12:19:00.000-08:00

After a recent visit to the family physician in which I learned that my blood pressure has crept to a dangerously high level, I’ve jumped feet-first into the quarry of healthy living.

One thought that keeps occurring to me as I work to live in the world of vegan diet and increased exercise is just how crazy it is that we pay to make ourselves sick. On a recent trip to Guatemala, I noticed an alarming increase in the number of youth smoking and was very disappointed to witness the explosive growth of McDonald’s and other fast food chains. While there, I was studying possible solutions to the increasing water crisis provoked by mining and the desire to support the economic growth of manufacturing sectors outside of the region. Looking at things like the astronomical profits of mining companies that destroy not only mountains but people’s lives and thousands of years of cultural heritage, and the purveyors of pharmaceutical companies that engage in Machiavellian maneuvers to limit the public’s awareness of natural remedies, it truly challenges one’s belief in humanity that doing wrong is so profitable, while struggling to do good is so monumentally more difficult.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, evil is seen as something that is delicious, beautiful, and desirable. In many Native American cultures, that which can be conceived of as evil is engaging in behavior that is out of balance. It is interesting to note that while money isn’t evil, people will do evil things to obtain it. Something that I have learned from working in the highlands is that words mean much less than actions. Frequently we are criticized by faith-based groups for not being loud enough, while secularly minded folks feel that we are too much compromised by our individual faiths.

In our work, we find that if only we organized projects to support the status quo, realized programming to benefit private interests, or enabled people to feel good while avoiding sticky ethical issues of social justice, we could be financially well remunerated. I believe this really gets at our struggle in the 21st century- How do we recapitalize the social capital that is diminished in the pursuit of the material success that has become the new religion?

For me, it’s listening to my Grandmothers. Of all those I have heard, none are wiser, more centered, and more well-adjusted than they.

Carcinogenic Development

2011-12-29T14:38:00.001-08:00

I remember hearing a talk in college given by an indigenous leader whose name escapes me. He spoke about the arrogance of North American academics, missionaries, and scientists believing in the materialist Western world view as being both the apex of human intellectual development and the shining path to human prosperity. With a missionary zeal, North Americans promote their way of life through medical missions, education, and military intervention.

It is rather obvious that if someone is going to “sell” a way of life, then it should be healthy, sustainable, viable, and optimal. Before one asks an indigenous culture that has successfully sustained large populations for centuries to ditch their world view, agricultural technologies, and diet for the American McLifestyle, one had better first ask some introspective questions. One, does this indigenous population have an army ready to obtain the petroleum necessary for everything from pesticides to tableware to throw pillows? Is this a sustainable way of life, both ecologically and socially, and does the system require too many “have nots” to incentivize success? Does the work ethic lead to dysfunctional families, neglected children, and abandoned elders? Is the medicine more damaging than then the illness?

An issue that frequently confuses the matter is a rather colonial view of either negating all traditional knowledge as being “unscientific” or imagining there is a perfect past.

What we endeavor to accomplish as the Highland Support Project is an honest examination of indigenous knowledge and practices to find those which provide a promise for better lives for all of humanity. It is a tricky balance between over romanticizing an idealized path and becoming a Luddite who instinctively resists good ideas. This is where reflection, reason, and aesthetic play a significant role in the process of program design and development. We do believe that there is a role for ingenuity, inquisitiveness, and tinkering in the process of observation, quantification, and validation.

Over the years I’ve had interesting conversations with fellows in academia who bemoan the current state of affairs in which they are only able to obtain funding for research that they do not believe in and have to self-censor their public statements and writing in order to keep from alienating their university’s funding sources. It can be tempting to compare your progress in relation to other entities that use development strategies that prove to be more lucrative. Therefore, we return to that cardinal principle of economic development- small is beautiful. Do not compromise beauty for growth.

Recollections of Things to Come

2010-08-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

This morning I was reading team reviews from the Summer 2010 Partners in Service program and I found a couple of comments to be rather illuminating. They demonstrated a significant obstacle faced by indigenous nations in obtaining a meaningful part in contemporary political, philosophical, and academic discussions. One comment bemoaned the mixed messages delivered by HSP between “preserving Mayan culture and trying to bring progress to the Highlands.” So, the subliminal message to this dichotomy is that indigenous culture is primitive, backwards, and antiquated. Actually, one of the greatest struggles faced within indigenous communities is the internalization of this very message—that their culture is the cause of their poverty. That is to say that Westerners have a romanticized and erroneous view of indigenous culture. First, to believe that indigenous culture is to be dirt poor, living on the side of a mountain in a shack, unable to provide for the nutritional needs of a family, and existing in complete ignorance of natural cycles and causes of illness. The problem with this colonial worldview is that it is both factually off base and that it also impedes an introspective process for industrial Western societies to find their way back to a healthy and harmonious lifestyle.

In the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas, written by Charles C. Mann and published in 1995, 1491 is not as much a story of the year itself as it is a story of what the Americas were like before Europeans arrived. As the book’s Amazon review observes, “The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.” In regards to the cultures predating European arrival, the same review writes of Mann’s work, “But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before.” As Mann says, to judge indigenous culture by what was found in the years immediately following initial contact is comparable to judging European Jewish culture through the pathetic living conditions of Auschwitz survivors in Eastern Europe in 1945. What is important to understand is that indigenous cultures have very valuable understandings of science, philosophy, spirituality, metaphysics, and aesthetics. To assume that being ignorant and superstitious is synonymous with an indigenous worldview is to not realize the colonial blinders that are inhibiting an honest assessment of past and potential contributions of indigenous culture.

Another antidote concerns a time when we had a Mayan priest conduct a ceremony and had a participant complain that it would have been more authentic had the shaman not worn a cell phone on his belt. It’s interesting to contemplate that it was this shaman’s ancestral profession that independently came up with the concept of zero—something pretty dawgon important in computer operating systems, and, more notably, cell phone operating systems.

Mayan languages describe different periods of times as frequencies as well as contemplate variances in solar radiation—things that took Western societies hundreds, if not thousands, of years to understand and utilize. Therefore, one could look at Western observers at the Mayan ceremony and smile that their primitive and war-like societies have finally been able to harness powers that cannot be seen, touched, or dissected.

Global Consensus and a Unifying Vision: A 21st Century Solution to Materialism, Individualism, and Selfishness

2010-07-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

I read a book a few years ago called The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. It emphasized the fact that vision is far more important that any particular theory, policy prescription, or program. It made me think--we could talk at length using development jargon, but unless we have some unifying vision, then all programming is really just window dressing. For the 21st century, the critical issue is just that—a lack of unifying vision or mythology.

This is especially true in relation to our existence on this planet. Historically, religion has played a social role by promoting values and norms that enable societies to function without tearing apart internally. Whether we are talking about a village shaman or the Pope, one function of religion is to provide moral instruction. Over the last century, however, one dominant vision has taken hold—a cancerous, myopic sense of materialism and selfishness. We even have a school of thought where greed is actually good. Traditionally, the role of religion was to balance out societies by recapitalizing social capital that was depleted by the drives of self-interest. Yet we have shifted away from this, towards a doctrine of individualism and materialism.

So what does the formation of this unifying vision require us to do? First of all, it asks us to be tolerant. It requires us to possess a sense of shared belonging to the same tribe as well as an understanding that religions are cultural processes. They are much like languages—different tribes and regions developed different languages, but the information being communicated was universal.

Therefore, to create global consensus and tackle the environmental, ecological, and political crises facing humanity, we need to move beyond literal understandings of ancient text and begin to forge a unifying vision based on the meaning rather than the narrative.

The Road Most Taken: LeBron James and the Individualist Construct

2010-07-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Listening to the fiasco of the televised “Decision” of LeBron James to play in Miami and the ensuing debate concerning the virtues of his choice provides a fascinating opportunity to dissect the philosophical strands that comprise the tapestry of contemporary American thought. There are two schools of thought in judging his choice to leave his hometown club in the backwaters of Ohio for the brighter lights and sultry nights of South Beach.

On the one hand, there are a number of people who question the virtue of LeBron’s decision to abandon both his hometown and his team for his own pursuit of wealth, fame, and status. The opposing view, dominant outside of Ohio, is that LeBron made a rational and moral choice because he was looking after his own best interest, which, in the end, represents the true American way.

Now, what I find interesting is how this discussion reflects the evolution of the philosophical and spiritual constructs of modern America. A significant difference between the religious practices of indigenous nations and modern Christianity is that, for tribal peoples, one’s relationship with the divinity is as a community, not as an individual. Contemporary North American theology, in contrast, talks a great deal about personal salvation and one’s relationship with God. Because many view LeBron’s decision as a “sinful” act, it is fruitful to look at different views of sin.

We can understand sin in a Christian sense—something a person does which goes against their culture’s understanding of God’s will or community law. Native spirituality, however, is practically void of any concept of sin. Instead, what is viewed as important is the maintenance of the tribe; the survival of the group. Therefore, there is no abstract, intellectual process to assess the value of an act. If it hurts the tribe or disrupts the harmony, it is bad. Furthermore, in a tribal society, one does not achieve for personal glory, but rather to further the interest of the group. Skills, abilities, and talents are deemed worthy only to the extent that they propel forward the lives of the entire collective nation.

What I find most fascinating with my interactions with communities that still maintain the tribal worldview is that one’s own life only has meaning within the context of their relationships with others in the community. In the indigenous cultures of the Southwestern United States, there are a number of rite of passage ceremonies for females that provide insight into the acculturation and socialization process of a tribal worldview. In one ritual, a young woman, just after her first menstruation, will have a weeklong initiation ceremony in which she is sequestered from the community for four days. She will walk for an entire day in one direction of the compass points, then return back to prepare an immense loaf of bread made from corn. She engages in a very laborious act to prepare sufficient bread to feed everyone in the community that entails many days of baking over a hardwood fire. During this time, different community members bring gifts of ceremonial attire and accouterments. When it’s time for the feast, she will emerge clothed entirely in these gifts—a symbolic showing of how her identity is drawn from membership in the community. She feeds the community while not consuming a single crumb for herself, again underlining the teaching that she exists not to further herself, but to benefit the community.

It is difficult to assess that LeBron’s actions were immoral when the dominant theology of the United States preaches individualism and personal salvation. Philosophically, it’s interesting to question whether commentators who applauded LeBron’s narcissistic choice would then encourage him to play for the Chinese national team if they were able to entice him before the next Olympics.

What I’m getting at here is the sense of group—because the U.S. is one constructed largely of immigrants, because very few people have ties to a community, and because many nuclear families split to live in different regions—there are no strong kinship, tribal, or clan affiliations with a place. This is relevant for development studies because we frequently witness the same dynamic. On the one hand, you have North American faith groups who believe they are furthering God’s will by preaching a gospel of narcissism and self-absorption. Then, you have development agencies promoting a survivalist economic agenda that fosters competition versus collaboration. We frequently see nurses, doctors, and community organizers who abandon their communities after receiving a subsidized education that was intended to enable them to serve their people. There are also community leaders who increasingly manipulate the system for their own benefit rather than the transformation of their group. This underscores the significance of civic virtue, cultural context, and moral instruction in the transformational development approach.

To criticize LeBron James’s decisions is to criticize the American way, the Protestant Church, and the capitalist economy. When we travel to foreign lands to engage in a transformational process, we must be prepared to leave behind arrogant notions of cultural superiority. We must be prepared to reflect on our own value systems and not impose dysfunction in the guise of progress.

Brujeria at the Beach

2010-07-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Virginia Beach with Lupe and the kids and was reminded by Lupe just how shallow our lives can be as Westerners.

We were on the beach, the kids were swimming in the ocean, and we had packed all the necessary accoutrements: boogie boards, hummus, pistachios, etc. The deepest thought I had that day was thinking of a response to Brian’s question of, “If we swam across the ocean, where exactly would we land?”

Then I looked over at Lupe, who was performing some brujeria, or Spanish witchcraft. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied that, as a child, whenever her family went to the beach and someone went in the water, her grandmother would pray to the ocean, give her thanks, ask for permission to enter, and ask her to be gentle and protecting.

This made me reflect on the idea that we just jump in that same water without any deeper connection to the planet. Lupe’s little rituals underscore the sacredness of our planet, of relationships and family time; of life. They are like a compass point keeping you on track. We even see it now, as the Gulf oil spill rages on—causing conflicting sentiment over using petroleum products for transportation to and from the beach.

Development Through People and Not Things

2010-05-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

I recently attended the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE) conference in Las Vegas. I had the luck of stumbling into a session with Karol Boudreaux, of George Mason University, presenting a paper titled “Land Reform as Social Justice: The Case of South Africa”. I was interested in the title as social justice is not a theme you encounter much at APEE events unless it is demonstrate how us egg headed idealist tend to mess things up in our attempts to realize a more just world.
While her paper focused on examining South African land reform policies in the context of Hayek’s arguments about social justice, she mentioned private land reform policies that offer a comparative sample for evaluating land reform programs.

Her research found that state directed land reform policies were a disaster. The numbers demonstrated that transferring functioning agricultural holdings to poor farmers only decreased output with the majority of farmers abandoning the lands within a decade. While not providing very much analysis on why they failed, it appears that the primary issues were the lack of technical and business capacity to manage competitive commercial enterprises.

An exception to the failed attempts at justice through government intervention was the land distribution program of the sugar growers association. While their motives were self-serving, they wanted to lessen the demands for redistributing white sugar growing lands to blacks by increasing the number of black growers, their results where much better. The primary difference I was able to observe in the presentation concerned the focus of the private sector programs to assure success by not only distributing land but also providing capital, technical assistance and guaranteeing a market while the new farmers got their feet on the ground.

After her presentation, we talked about different land reform models and she commented on how the most successful agricultural programs in South Africa were not based on land or capital. It was working with women living in the slums to understand local markets. They were able to identify an urban market for the housewives in Johansburg looking for organic gourmet produce. With knowledge, these women were able to start producing and growing their business.

The South African land distribution program demonstrates that capital and land are not the critical elements of successful transformational development programming. People have to be empowered to use these tools. These resources are transformed into wealth by ingenuity and hard work. Programs that do not stimulate these attributes while at the same time undermining them create worse results then the injustices they seek to remedy.

HSP’s methodology to focus on the empowerment of people is demonstrated to be the critical factor in successful development programming. While this is obvious to development people, community organizing and empowerment programs are the least funded off all charitable, justice and anti-poverty pursuits. The reason is that these transformational programs are more expensive.

The challenge is to educate funding sources, be they the World Bank or Aunt Jane Doe, about the benefits of investing in real transformation.

The Haiti Aid Debacle: A Case for Community Organizing

2010-02-19T07:57:00.001-08:00

It is becoming increasingly evident that the lack of local engagement by large international organizations has resulted in a breakdown of relief efforts in Haiti.

There are numerous reasons why international organizations do not foster coordination with and empowerment of local actors. A primary factor is the time and expense involved in developing local community infrastructure. Efficiency and scale are the primary measures that agencies are judged by in the development industry. Furthermore, community organizing does not produce an emotional response in potential donors. In the typical marketing that HSP avoids when it comes to development and relief services, it is understood that a message needs to be easily communicated and pull at the heartstrings.

If we visualize the development and relief industry in traditional market terms, we would have to ask what is the supply and who is the demand. Understanding that the foundation of market relationships is meeting demand, that becomes the salient question. While we would like to imagine that development engineers focus on the needs of an impoverished community, the reality is that they must meet the demands of donors. Without the donor’s funds, the majority of programming activities simply would not be possible. Therefore, it becomes paramount to meet the donor’s ideological, political and theological world view.

Another factor is the corporate structure of international development, relief, charity and faith organizations. Semantically, the difference between a corporation and a cooperative is very small, but in practice this difference has a tremendous impact on programming. A corporation exists to make itself money while a cooperative exists to make its members money. Investors gain value with the growth of a corporation. In a cooperative, the entity exists to facilitate the growth of the member.

If we analyze the usual relationship of community members with international development agencies, we can see relationships akin to an investor in a corporation. The community members are passive recipients. A significant difference is that they typically do not have any voice and management policies as a shareholder would have in a private enterprise. Their benefit is dependent on how large the agency becomes. Increases in funding are typically directed towards growing the size of the agency. Staff and personnel allegiances are with the agency rather than the community and are compensated based on the growth of the agency.

The relevance of these issues are striking when considering reports like those on today's Democracy Now.

Sasha Kramer witnessed that aid arrived quickly but was not able to be distributed for lack of local coordination. She noted that when the big aid organizations do circulate around Port-au-Prince they are in large vehicles with their window sealed. They are not able to develop good relationships with the community and do not speak Creole. These organizations are that have worked in Haiti for decades, but do not have the local contacts or organization to go out in the communities themselves.

Catherine Lane commented on how the security concerns before the earthquake limited the type of interactions you would expect people to have after working in the country for a long time. She said this lack of connections in the community is the main reason they are not able to get things out quickly and that this is a major failure in the way larger aid organizations function and in general.

This underscores HSP's methodology in focusing on community empowerment and fostering agency with partner organizations. This reinforces our commitment in staying the course even though it is very challenging.

Wolfowitz should have studied Che

2010-02-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

I recently watched Steven Soderbergh’s two part film project based on Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s memoir “Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War”.

I found it to be extraordinarily pertinent for community organizers. It shows that development can only be sustained from within. This constant is demonstrated through the difference of Che's role in Cuba and then Bolivia with a clear view of the results.

In Cuba, Che played a supporting role in Castro' s revolution. On various occasions, Che was relegated to medical support rather than leadership of a column. This validates the appropriate and most functional role for outsiders engaged in organizational efforts. Che provided critical support in a role that he was trained to perform. A role that was needed and there was not sufficient local capacity to perform. When a Cuban capable of performing the role appeared, he moved on to another training role.

The documentary makes clear that the Cuban revolution was an indigenous effort led by Cuban nationals who had investments in the process on different levels. You see the importance of family and professional networks that went well beyond ideological solidarity or strategic interests.

A second significant role that Che played for the Cuban revolution was that of international spokesperson. As a highly educated vagabond documented in the motorcycle diaries, Che had the life experiences and literary flair to play the role of international revolutionary rock star. He played this role in support of and with the direction of an indigenous movement. He was not an outside media star imposing a strategy or ideology on a third-party; rather, he was a spokesperson for that movement.

Analyzing his tragic adventures in Bolivia we can witness the disastrous results of failing to follow the prime directive of community organizing. In the Bolivian experience, we find Che and his merry band of international zealots attempting to jump start a peasant revolution. Che's frustration is almost palatable as he begins to experiences the lack of commitment and integrity of his Bolivian counterparts. In him, we also see the arrogance of the expert attempting to impose a strategy rather than fostering of local leadership. In Che's Bolivian experiment, we witness the problems of not engaging family networks, lack of personal ownership over processes, lack of ego or material investment in the process and impatience in building community capacity and organizational infrastructure. In the end, Che's failure to follow basic organizing practices is a fatal error that is as costly for the Bolivian peasants as it is for his band of Cuban followers.

Therefore, community organizers must support local community development whether we are attempting to spread a worker's utopian revolution or democracy in the Middle East. Unless we have a Messiah complex, the rule of development must be followed lest we wish for others to suffer along.

Haitian Relief Through Fair Trade

2010-01-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

Now you can support relief efforts in Haiti by purchasing beautiful Haitian fair trade crafts and jewelry. AlterNatives, HSP's sister fair trade boutique, has created a Haiti Relief section of its web page for products from fair trade producers in Haiti. We are going to donate 50% of sales from the Haitian product to Lamp for Haiti.

While emergency assistance is very important, assisting in job creation and opportunity in the next few weeks is going to be critical in rebuilding a positive and transformed Haiti. I’ve experienced in Guatemala that the communities who were helped through the market and business development had far more sustainability and positive results then their neighbors who were supported as long as it was the cause célèbre, but then abandoned when the next crisis took precedence. We can all see how the widows of Chontola are much better off for the investment in threads then corn 25 years ago. Chontola was one of the very first villages HSP worked with, first helping the women literally rebuild their community and then critically helping them form their own cooperative, Ruth y Nohemi, now an internationally successful business.

After hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua, we focused on marketing the pottery from San Juan del Oriente. It really worked out that they were able to not only recapitalize from lost inventory but to sustain growth that continues today.

We do not feel that it is correct to “profit” off of the calamity and therefore are donating all proceeds from the sales of the product to sustained efforts to train and advocate for the poor of Haiti.

Blame for the Victim and Praise for the Predator: Haiti in the Wake of Devastation

2010-01-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

A recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by David Brooks demonstrates the worst colonial mentality of blaming the victim. In a piece titled The Underlying Tragedy, Brooks argues that the voodoo culture and poor work ethic are the underlying causes of the economic woes of the country. He postulates that other former colonies have been able to pull themselves up by the boot straps and ask why not Haiti. He proposes to fix Haiti by changing the Haitian culture through programs to teach hard work, responsibility and thrift.

Mr. Brooks is either ignorant or overlooks a critical difference in Haiti’s history. The Haitian people have struggled under a significant debt load since colonial times as a price for their “freedom”. The islands example of liberation has caused fears in Northern capitals for two centuries and to this day the island’s attempts at self rule are blocked by anxious outsiders worried by the example Haiti could represent to its neighbors.

Haiti became the third revolutionary republic of the modern era, joining the USA and France, when François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture successfully defeated the French, then the Spanish and finally the English to obtain liberation for the enslaved population of the island. This liberation was short lived as chains of force were replaced by chains of debt. While the United States initially supported the revolution through the policies of President John Adams, this was changed by Thomas Jefferson who feared an independent state of black people so close to the United would influence the South’s enslaved population. Jefferson went so far as to advocate the emancipation and colonization of American slaves to Africa to prevent another Haiti.

Haiti was left isolated after the revolution and had no friends in the colonial West. Besides slave holding United States, all of her neighbors were colonies that depended on slavery.

In 1825 Haiti was forced to sign a treaty with France to prevent another invasion and forced slavery by European forces. France’s king agreed to recognize Haiti's independence only if the new republic paid France an indemnity of 150 million francs and reduced its import and export taxes by half. By comparison, the United States paid France 60 million francs for the much larger Louisiana Territory.

Haiti was forced to borrow money from private European banks to pay the indemnity. The banks charged high interest and administrative fees that further increased the debt burden. The nation did not finish paying the French for their freedom until after WWII. The repayment of these loans has been a major factor in the continued invasion and occupation of Haiti by the United States. From the 1960’s and beyond, Haiti has suffered under International Monetary Fund management that has done little but assure that all GDP would be channeled to serving debt hosted upon the Haitian people by the governments imposed upon this people by governments acting on behalf of international banking.

While CNN commentators are praising the American response to this crisis, there seems to be little understanding of why we invaded Haiti so many times in the 20th century or the continued role of the United States in defending the interest of banks. There is even less understanding of the long term structural issues created by these policies.

AMA Women Act & Inspire Solidarity with those in Haiti

2010-01-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

Great news for everyone! The Mayan women of AMA have made their donation to their peers in Haiti, through the grassroots organization Rights Action. And better still, HSP has heard back from lots of people about how AMA's story of sacrifice and solidarity inspired to them to give to the relief efforts even though they themselves are struggling with economic hard times right here in the U.S. Here's just one of the many responses we received:

"Ben, thanks for that thoughtful and inspired breakdown. I will figure out a way to make some kind of a donation, especially considering the example of AMA. It becomes too easy with the amount of bills to be paid in the US to lose track of how lucky we are to be able to pay those bills." - Susan Posey

Folks have also really appreciated the recommendations and analysis. More is on the way, and we're really glad to see people carefully considering how to best support those in need, both through urgent short-term and necessary long-term efforts.

Haiti Relief - How to Really Help

2010-01-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

We all want to help the people of Haiti as they deal with the horrific consequences of yesterday’s earthquake. While HSP isn’t capable of doing emergency relief work outside of Guatemala, we can recommend good folks who do, that you can donate to. Personally, I’ll be donating through Oxfam to help provide immediate emergency assistance.

HSP’s sister nonprofit in Guatemala, AMA(Asociacion de Mujeres del Altiplano), is also planning to donate funds as an organization. The impoverished Mayan women in AMA’s women’s circles plan to raise $250 for women and families in Haiti by the end of this week. These AMA women and their families live on an average of $300 a year, less than $1 a day, making their donation all the more meaningful.

AMA's intentions remind us of the parable of the Widow’s Gift (Mark 12:41-43), in which a poor widow gives her last two copper coins, and thus the greatest gift of all – all she has. AMA will be making their donation through Rights Action, an organization that supports grassroots humanitarian organizing internationally.

Give Now to these HSP recommended organizations

Oxfam has long experience in Haiti and is rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation where our assistance is most needed.

Rights Action funds and works with community development, environmental justice, human rights and disaster relief organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and also in El Salvador, Haiti, Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Direct Relief has an ongoing "Emergency Pre-Positioning Program" and a program in Haiti that stages essential medical materials on site with key partners for immediate use in emergency situations.

Learn More about how to best support emergency relief and long-term aid

This post from the Blood And Milk blog is a good summary of relief vs. aid funding:

"Humanitarian relief programs are focused on rapid start-up, and rapid impact. Implementers of humanitarian programs need to gear up as fast as possible, and start providing necessary assistance as fast as possible. Their primary focus is not building local capacity, sustainability, or monitoring and evaluation. Their primary focus is getting help to people in need. They end when the emergency ends. Relief can come from the outside, and it is a response to some kind of breakdown or disaster.... Development programs are focused on achieving long-term change of some kind, with the intent of improving people’s lives and the lives of their descendants. They involve rigorous planning and ongoing operational research. They are rooted in local capacity building, because they are aimed at change which continues after the project ends. Even if it has outside support, development in the end has to come from inside.”

The blog, Good Intentions Are Not Enough has a great post entitled “Choosing organizations to donate to after the Haiti earthquake.”

AidWatch has posted “Haiti Earthquake: Help Navigating Complex Terrain of Disaster Relief.”

Tales from the Hood, written by an experienced aid worker, has a post—“Haiti”—just out providing information for donors as well.

Philanthropy Action has also posted “Advice for Donors to Haiti - providing advice based on research from the World Bank and the Fritz Institute”

An article “Haiti's Coming Public Health Challenges”, written by Alanna Shaikh at UN Dispatch.

An article from Michael Maren, the author of The Road to Hell – “From an expert: Haiti Donation Advice”

Colonialism and development

2009-10-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

I read a great article by Duane Champagne. I have lifted a few passages from his article to highlight a systematic approach to understanding the relationship of colonialism on contemporary development practice.

Political competition, economic incorporation, cultural exchange, and biological resistance are major features of the colonial context

Each of the three dimensions of colonialism, geopolitics, market incorporation, and cultural exchange, presents critical threats to indigenous or colonized communities
Similarly, the increasing economic globalization of the world and the penetration of markets and trade confront each nation. If indigenous peoples are going to engage in trade, and if they are to achieve any comparative advantage in that trade, the price they must pay is increased economic dependency and loss of self-sufficiency. The movement from relative self-sufficiency to market dependency implies that Natives will need to compete or at least participate in the marketplace. Global market incorporation is a new form of economic relations for indigenous nations, and, once involved, each nation is confronted with the issues of producing for exchange, which often involves economic specialization of labor, production, and entrepreneurship. Native nations that cannot reorganize social and economic relations according to the demands of the marketplace will be forced into impoverishment. The observed result over the past several centuries has been the economic marginalization of many indigenous nations. Thus, once captured in the trade and market networks, and dependent on market relations for basic goods, each indigenous nation is confronted with the requirement to maintain production for the market and to change economic output according to its demands. The possibility that any indigenous nation is able economically to survive within the world market system is not only partly dependent upon available local markets, but also upon the organization of labor, skills, resources, and the economic culture of the indigenous group. The possibilities of change or marginalization are not wholly contained within the colonial situation of market relations and resulting dependency.
A third requirement faced by indigenous nations within a colonial context is cultural pluralism. Through cultural exchange, new values, norms, political models, economic ethics, religious worldviews, language and other cultural aspects will be transferred and internalized by some members of the indigenous nation. These new forms of cultural understanding may be compatible with indigenous culture, may be tolerated, or may lead to division as well as to cultural and political factionalism

Every colonized nation confronts the dilemma of how to manage multiculturalism. The response of community members of colonized nations may depend on the organization and exclusiveness of the indigenous worldview, the compatibility of indigenous cultural elements with the culture of the colonizers, the degree of indigenous control over the socialization of children and other elements.

In the colonial situation, each indigenous nation is confronted with protecting self-government, economic viability, and cultural continuity. If the biological dimension is added, then protection of physical health is yet another responsibility for colonized communities. Given the situation of colonial expansion, each indigenous nation must develop, from within its own institutional order, a strategy that will ensure meaningful survival, despite drastic change and unfavorable situations. Since each nation confronts similar issues of maintaining self-government, economic viability, and preserving cultural communities, it is possible to make systematic comparative empirical descriptions and historical analyses of the ways in which indigenous nations have tried to solve the demands of colonization (Skocpol 33-40).

To read the entire paper:
http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~jast/Number3/Champagne.html

From Dependency to Agency

2009-10-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

The mission of the Highland Support Project is to promote transformational development. A term that often needs to be defined. In the simplest terms, we define transformational development as fostering agency to end cycles of dependency.

We view poverty as a complex process rather than a singular condition. Focusing on indigenous communities, it is arguable that the greatest obstacle to sustainable development is the colonial legacies that forced entire nations into states of dependency that continue to be sustained today.

Therefore, it is imperative to analyze the effects of development and charitable programming to assess the degree that these policies encourage dependency.

Do not be afraid to fail

2009-09-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

One issue we find over and over again in our work is the fear of people to fail. As an NGO, we are judged by the success and failure of our programs. We also find that many of the folks we partner with are afraid to fail. I know for myself, posting on this blog that I am supposed to handle has been poor because I want it to be perfect. I am going to follow the advice provided here by Perter Bregman and just do. It will not be perfect, but it will be.

Peter Bregman How We Work

How to Escape Perfectionism

3:10 PM Tuesday September 1, 2009

According to the World Database of Happiness (yes, there is one), Iceland is the happiest place on earth. That's right, Iceland. Yes, I know it's cold and dark six months out of the year there. I'm just giving you the data.

The secret to their happiness? Eric Weiner, Author of The Geography of Bliss, traveled to Iceland to find out. After interviewing a number of Icelanders, Weiner discovered that their culture doesn't stigmatize failure. Icelanders aren't afraid to fail — or to be imperfect — and so they're more willing to pursue what they enjoy. That's one reason Iceland has more artists per capita than any other nation. "There's no one on the island telling them they're not good enough, so they just go ahead and sing and paint and write," Weiner writes.

Which makes them incredibly productive. They don't just sit around thinking they'd like to do something. They do it. According to the psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, who wrote the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, "It is not the skills we actually have that determine how we feel but the ones we think we have."

So if you think you're good at something, whether or not you are, you'll do it. The converse is also true: if you think you aren't good enough at something, you won't do it.

A friend of mine, Jeff, has wanted for some time to start a business teaching guitar*. But he hasn't yet. Why? When you sift through his various explanations and excuses it comes down to one simple problem.

He's a perfectionist.

Which means he'll never think he's good enough at guitar to teach it. And he'll never feel like he knows enough about running a business to start one.

Perfectionists have a hard time starting things and an even harder time finishing them. At the beginning, it's they who aren't ready. At the end, it's their product that's not. So either they don't start the screenplay or it sits in their drawer for ten years because they don't want to show it to anyone.

But the world doesn't reward perfection. It rewards productivity. And productivity can only be achieved through imperfection. Make a decision. Follow through. Learn from the outcome. Repeat over and over and over again. It's the scientific method of trial and error. Only by wading through the imperfect can we begin to achieve glimpses of the perfect.

So how do we escape perfectionism? I have three ideas:

Don't try to get it right in one big step. Just get it going.
Don't write a book, write a page. Don't create the entire presentation, just create a slide. Don't expect to be a great manager in your first six months, just try to set expectations well. Pick a small, manageable goal and follow through. Then pursue the next.

This gives you the opportunity to succeed more often, which will build your confidence. If each of your goals can be achieved in a day or less, that's a lot of opportunity to succeed.
Do what feels right to you, not to others.
My wife Eleanor is a fantastic mother to our three children. Sleep is extremely important to her and in her early days of parenting she read a tremendous number of parenting books, each one with different advice on how to predictably get children to sleep through the night. Each expert contradicted the next.
The only thing those books succeeded in doing was convince her she didn't know what she was doing. It was only after throwing all the books away that she was able to find herself as a parent. It's not that she found the answer. In fact, what helped is that she stopped looking for the answer.

What she found was her answer. And that allowed her to settle into her parenting. It made her calmer, more consistent, more confident. And that, of course, helped our children sleep better.

By all means, read, listen, and learn from others. But then put all the advice away, and shoot for what I consider to be the new gold standard: good enough.

Be the good-enough parent. The good-enough employee. The good-enough writer. That'll keep you going. Because ultimately, the key to perfection isn't getting it right. It's getting it often. If you do that, then, eventually, you'll get it right.
Choose your friends, coworkers, and bosses wisely.
Critical feedback is helpful as long as it's offered with care and support. But the feedback that comes from jealousy or insecurity or arrogance or without any real knowledge of you? Ignore it.

And if you're a manager, your first duty is to do no harm. A friend of mine, Kendall Wright, once told me that a manager's job is to remove the obstacles that prevent people from making their maximum contribution. That's as good a definition as I've ever heard.

And yet sometimes, we are the obstacle. As managers, we're often the ones who stand in judgment of other people and their work. And when we're too hard on someone or watch too closely or correct too often or focus on the mistakes more than the successes, then we sap their confidence. And without confidence, no one can achieve much.

Catch someone doing seven things right before you point out one thing they're doing wrong. Keep up that 7:1 ratio and you'll keep your employees moving in the right direction.

These three ideas are a good start. Don't worry about following them perfectly though. Just well enough.

Honduras: History Derailed

2009-06-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Central Americans, across the political spectrum, are analyzing the unfolding events in Honduras as a presage of regional politics. The area has suffered arrested development of progressive political and economic reforms for centuries that leaves the vast majority of the population excluded from governing processes. There is fear that Sunday’s coup along with recent events in Guatemala, demonstrate a concerted effort by Central America’s traditional elite to continue blocking even moderate evolution of colonial power structures.

The Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was awoken from his bed Sunday morning at approximately 1:00 am by the sound of gunfire on his residency grounds. Mr. Zelaya and his family were captured and then driven to a military airport and exiled to Costa Rica. In a new conference with Tela Sur, Zelaya said that he doesn't believe it was regular soldiers who kidnapped him. "I have been the victim of a kidnapping carried out by a group of Honduran soldiers. I don't think the Army is supporting this sort of action. I think this is a vicious plot planned by elites. Elites who only want to keep the country isolated and in extreme poverty."

Mr. Zelaya had credited President Obama with keeping him in power after what appeared to be a failed coup the week before. This may need to be repeated as it is possibly the most relevant piece of information in this story. A leftist president in Latin American credited the president of the United States for KEEPING him power. If this is indeed true, then this demonstrates increasing complexity in efforts to reform the regions antiquated political structures and the continued collaboration of powerful counter-insurgency elements allied with regional elites.

At the root of this crisis is the continued existence of the disparity between the region's elites and the vast majority of the population living in poverty. A response across Latin America has been the growth of a leftist movement that is personified by Chavez of Venezuela. The bloc’s socialist ideology and strong populist rhetoric has elites around the hemisphere concerned about a new threat to their traditional parasitic relationship to society. Their frequent use of undemocratic techniques they justify by the long history of US meddling has many progressive observers concerned.

This confrontation has been symbolized by Zelaya’s executive decree PCM-05-2009, calling for a national referendum to take place no later than June 28. The purpose of the non-binding plebiscite was to poll the population to see if there is support to install a forth balloting box, during the next presidential election, to elect a new Constituent Assembly.

The Honduran constitution, the sixteenth since independence from Spain was completed on January 11, 1982, by a seventy-one-seat Constituent Assembly that had been elected on April 20, 1980, under the military junta of Policarpo Paz García. The Constituent Assembly was dominated by Honduras's two major political parties. The constitution, which contains 375 articles, can be amended by a two-thirds majority vote in congress. However, there are eight “firm articles” which cannot be amended. These articles define the allowed political structure of the country, term limits and presidential succession. Furthermore, Article 375 of the constitution states that the social contract cannot be terminated by an unauthorized individual or body and that anyone wishing to nullify the constitution is subject to criminal penalties. All Honduran citizens share the duty of defend the constitution against efforts to terminate it.

It is felt by many that the Honduran constitution solidifies the privilege of elites while limiting the participation of the majority of the population in the “democratic” process. Central America has been stuck in the mud of colonial social relations for centuries with little transformation of race or class relations.

It is therefore of little surprise that Zelaya’s drive to reform the constitution has been meet with popular support from across Central America while rising the ire of the entrenched elites. When mixed with his increase in the minimum wage and drive towards empowering the indigenous minority, his administration seems to have pushed the political envelope beyond the limits the system will allow.

A significant question concerning Zelaya and other populist Latin American presidents, especially those that run as conservatives and have a conversion in office, is the vision and sincerity of their populist reforms. There is concern that Zelaya’s effort to reform the constitution has more to do with his desire to manipulate the process and extend his term in office as has been done by Chávez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador.

Banking on this concern, an orchestrated attack has been unleashed against Mr. Zelaya by the ruling political elites and the private media of Honduras to categorize his non-binding plebiscite as an illegal attempt to modify the constitution. The criticism that this was a manipulation on his part to maintain power is difficult to support considering that the purpose of the poll was to ask the population if they wanted to vote on the idea during the next presidential election in which he is not a candidate.

Therefore, it seems clear that the real issue is the empowerment and participation of the “people” in the process. As with much of Central American politics, it is not as much the impact of a particular event as the fanatical need to limit all possible alternative models or advances. The poor must be kept in their place at all cost. If not, a sea of peasants and indigenous people will demand land reform in a region with the worst wealth and land distribution.

According to reports from grass-roots organizations in Honduras, there continues a state of martial law in the country. Leaders have been killed or disappeared, independent media has been censored, international news programs have been blocked while a concerted propaganda campaign has been unleashed in support of the coup.

Taken in conjunction with the events last month in Guatemala around the murder of the attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg, we can see the orchestration of high tech organizing techniques married with old school gangster tactics. In what can only be called brilliant moves to confuse and distract, the agents of the elites have been framing their actions in progressive terms. "NO MORE VIOLENCE" read the signs of students from Guatemala’s ultra right wing schools as they protested to bring down President Colom. Facebook and other online campaigns sprang up with amazing, if not unbelievable speed, to call for an end of injustice in Guatemala. Within hours of the Honduran coup, blogs and media sites were full of posts in perfect English from “regular” Hondurans approving of the coup. Rather than addressing the power issues at the roots of the conflict, the right is taking the moral high ground declaring their defense of democracy from another would be tyrant. It is never made clear how a non-binding referendum that would not have any impact until he leaves office qualifies.

What is interesting in these events is the apparent lack of participation from Washington in efforts to destabilize these regimes. If this is indeed the case, we are witnessing independent actors utilizing intelligence techniques for the protection and promotion of their own interest. A sort of privatization of the covert political operations pioneered by US entities in the late twentieth century. Reading and analyzing the spread of information over the last few months, it also appears that not only the web but progressive political agendas are tools being appropriated for the manufacturing of consent and fabrication of pressure.

Observers across Central America are watching the events unfolding in Honduras today as a gauge to the strength of democracy in the region and the power of the elites to adapt to changing circumstances to maintain their grasp on the levers of power.

Take Action Against Mining in the Highlands

2009-06-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

URGENT ACTION ALERT

Guatemala’s indigenous peoples need you to TAKE ACTION now!

Tell Mining Transnational Goldcorp Inc. to End the Persecution of Maya Mam Human Rights Defenders

Goldcorp Inc, through its Guatemalan subsidiary Montana Exploradora, has once again taken legal action against Maya Mam campesinos resisting their mining operations in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, in the Western highlands of Guatemala. Complaints were allegedly filed by Montana against 7 local leaders after a confrontation with the company over a land dispute and concerns over water resources that took place on Friday, June 12^th in the community of Saqmuj, located in the village of Agel.

NISGUA and Collectiff Guatemala, two solidarity organizations, are deeply concerned following reports of recent intimidation and persecution of human rights defenders, along with high levels of militarization as a result of this conflict.

The Context

As the Canadian gold mining giant Goldcorp attempted to begin new mineral exploration in Saqmuj last week, community members rallied in opposition, fearing mining activities would jeopardize precious water resources and result in additional environmental and health impacts. The conflict lead to the destruction of some company equipment. As a result, the Guatemalan police and military moved in en mass to the region, surrounding the offices of local development organization ADISMI, and Goldcorp has filed legal complaints against community leaders.

Since May 19th, company equipment had been stationed on a piece of land that a family had recently sold to the company. Allegedly, other family members and the remaining families in the community had tried to convince their neighbor not to sell the land, claiming that the community as a whole did not support the presence of the mine, and that there is no community consent to sell the land. The families fear that selling this land puts at tremendous risk the integrity and access to at least three water springs on which families in Saqmuj depend.

This event points to a festering tension between community members fueled by Goldcorp’s land appropriation tactics of pressuring individual families to sell instead of achieving broader consent from the community. Land conflicts have arisen from a continuous violation of the communities´ right to grant or deny their free, prior, and informed consent before mining operations begin.

One community leader, Gregoria Crisanta Perez, is facing an arrest warrant – this is the second time Goldcorp has taken legal action against her– and Goldcorp has filed charges against six others. Community leaders are receiving threats, including a text message sent to Javier de Leon with the San Miguel Ixtahuacán community group ADISMI on June 15^th stating, “Hello Mr. de Leon, do not get involved where it is not convenient, if you do say goodbye to your wife and your loved ones (feminine). And just await death…” (“Hola señor de León, no te metes donde no te conviene, si te metes despídete de tu mujer y despídete de tus queridas. Y solo espera la muerte…”). Javier de Leon has received a total of four threats via text message since the incident occurred.

According to local reports:

On Thursday, June 11^th: Goldcorp officials signed an agreement with the community stating their intention to address community demands to withdraw their equipment and agreed to meet the following morning at 9:00am. Six national police units and two special, anti-riot troops arrived in the community to allegedly protect Goldcorp officials.

On Friday, June 12^th: Community members awaited over three hours for Goldcorp officials to show up for the agreed-upon meeting, and as the company did not comply, some community members present took alternate measures and incinerated some company equipment.

On Monday, June 15^th: District attorneys from San Marcos (The District Attorney flew into the area from San Marcos on a company plane), military personnel, and Montana officials alongside police officers, surrounded the ADISMI office and questioned the organization’s leadership as to the whereabouts of community leader Gregoria Crisanta Perez, whom the district attorney was looking to arrest for allegedly committing criminal acts, while suggesting ADISMI was hiding her. As officials searched the office and took pictures, those members of the organization present report feeling afraid and intimidated during and after the event.

The events in Agel are part of a larger pattern of conflict over land rights between Goldcorp and communities, where organized community opposition to mining activities has been swiftly countered by militarized crackdowns. This is not the first time Goldcorp is involved in repression of human rights defenders. In 2007 the company filed charges against seven Maya Mam indigenous men for protesting coercive land appropriation strategies of the company, and in 2008 against eight Maya Mam indigenous women for their acts of opposition to the company’s presence on their land.

Recent occurrences stem from an increasing social conflict being caused by the mine’s extraction presence since 2005. In the same community where the confrontation took place, the local development committee, who receives substantial sums of money monthly payments from the mining company, cut off running water from the home of community leader Crisanta Perez, allegedly for her involvement in speaking out against the mine. Confrontations between mine workers and opposing neighbors have occurred repeatedly, at times ending in threats or violent attacks.

Through democratically held community referenda, since June 2005 many communities in the area around Goldcorp’s Marlin mine have voted in opposition to mining activities, and Goldcorp, alongside the Guatemalan government, has consistently ignored legitimate community declarations to reject mining activities; instead turning to the Guatemalan police to protect their private interests, employing intimidation tactics, illegitimately acquiring lands and failing to abide by community decisions to protect their rights, protect their territories and reject mining activities on their lands.

TAKE ACTION NOW to protect human rights defenders.

Please call CEO Charles Jeannes and tell Goldcorp to:

Immediately cease all intimidation and repression of community protest against mining activities,
Immediately drop all legal charges against community members, and
Suspend mining operations in Guatemala given existing and continuing social conflicts caused by the presence of the mine. Respect community rights to grant or deny their free, prior, and informed consent and community referenda.

Call, fax or write Charles Jeannes, Goldcorp CEO at:

Goldcorp Inc. Head Office:

Park Place, Suite 3400-666 Burrard Street

Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2X8

Telephone: (604) 696-3000, Fax: (604) 696-3001

Please write or fax the Guatemalan government and the District Attorney’s Office in San Marcos urging:

The immediate withdrawal of state and private security forces currently in San Miguel Ixtahuacán on behalf of Goldcorp Inc. and all excessive militarization used to intimidate and repress communities and human rights defenders.
To drop all criminal charges against community members in San Miguel Ixtahuacán and an end to the criminalization of protest in the area.
Protection for members of ADISMI and other threatened human rights defenders.
Respect community rights to grant or deny their free, prior, and informed consent and community referenda.

Call, fax or write the San Marcos District Attorney at:

Fiscalia Distrital San Marcos

7a. Av. "A" 8 - 06, zona 1

San Marcos, San Marcos. Guatemala.

Fax: + 502 7760 4350 / 7760 4355 / 7760 1051 (if someone answers, say "tono de fax, por favor")

Salutation: Estimado Sr./Sra. Fiscal.

English letters are welcome

* * *

For Background information on the Goldcorp Marlin mine, read NISGUA’s mining overview here: http://nisgua.org/themes_campaigns/index.asp?cid=1122

Or read the Guatemalan Accompaniment Program’s “Territorios indígenas y democracia guatemalteca bajo presiones” report in Spanish at: http://guatemala.at/ido%20smi/ido_sanmiguel.pdf

Sample Letter for Goldcorp Inc. and Montana Exploradora (Guatemalan subsidiary)

Dear Mr. Jeannes,

I send this letter expressing my grave concern for the situation currently unfolding in your ‘Coral Project’ in the community of Agel, in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala, where your gold and silver Marlin mine is located.

I understand you have brought legal charges against 7 community members opposed to your mine who were allegedly involved in destruction of property, one of who is facing an arrest warrant. While I do not condone violence on either side, understand that the recent conflict in Agel is part of a larger pattern of community opposition to your mining operations. Since June 2005, community pleas to reject mining activities through democratic community referenda have been swiftly dismissed by your company. Communities feel threatened and intimidated to sell their – collectively held – land and see this as coercive process of land appropriation. Instead of achieving broader community consent, land conflicts have arisen from your company’s continuous violation of the communities´ right to grant or deny their free, prior, and informed consent of mining operations.

The criminalization of human rights defenders is egregious and this is not the first time your company has filed legal charges against community leaders, including charges against seven Maya Mam indigenous men in 2007 for protesting coercive land appropriate strategies of your company, and then again in 2008 against eight Maya Mam indigenous women for their acts of opposition to your company’s presence on their land.

Tensions brought about by your mining operations have only escalated, and community leaders are receiving threats, including a text message sent to Javier de Leon with the San Miguel Ixtahuacán community group ADISMI on June 15^th stating, “Hello Mr. de Leon, do not get involved where it is not convenient, if you do say goodbye to your wife and your loved ones (feminine). And just await death…” (“Hola señor de León, no te metes donde no te conviene, si te metes despídete de tu mujer y despídete de tus queridas. Y solo espera la muerte…”). Javier de Leon has received four threats via text message since the incident occurred.

Human rights defenders have the right to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

I am concerned that these legal charges have been filed in response to the individuals' participation in opposing the Marlin mine and defending community rights in the face of damages caused by the mine and in protection of their rights, livelihoods and environment. I ask that you work to put an end to the criminalization of protest in the areas surrounding the Marlin mine, and urge you to:

Immediately cease all intimidation and repression of community protest against mining activities,
Immediately drop all legal charges against community leaders, and
Suspend mining operations in Guatemala given existing and continuing social conflicts caused by the presence of the mine. Respect community rights to grant or deny their free, prior, and informed consent and community referenda.

Failure to act now to stop the criminalization of community members who oppose your mine would only serve to bring strongly into question your company's commitment to human rights and respect for local communities.

Sincerely,

******************************

Lara Barth

Grassroots Network Liaison, NISGUA

The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala

436 14th St., Suite 409, Oakland, CA 94612

tel. (510) 238-8400

fax (510) 238-8444