¡Compañero David Ayala, presente!
CISPES is devastated by the news that our dear compañero David Ayala Zamora passed away on October 17.
As a young union organizer in El Salvador in the late-1980s, David was captured and tortured by the US-funded Salvadoran military. Later in his life, he spoke often about how the international pressure that CISPES and other solidarity activists in the United States mobilized helped secure his release.
(David is the right in the El Salvador “ES” shirt)
After coming to the US, David applied his organizing skills and knowledge to build the movement for immigrant and worker rights, working at unions and organizations such as SEIU, OneAmerica and Working Washington, and was the field director of Pramila Jayapal’s successful 2016 Congressional campaign.
But he always kept the revolutionary struggle of the Salvadoran people close to his heart. He was a close friend and mentor to several generations of solidarity organizers in Seattle. He was a keynote speaker at the the 2005 CISPES National Convention in Portland, as well at the 2015 Seattle CISPES 35th Anniversary celebration. In between, he engaged with CISPES as a board member, volunteer, monthly donor, summer camp participant, and “Solidarity Cycler.”
As Heather Day, Director of the Community Alliance for Global Justice, wrote, “We met in 1997 when I was a new organizer with Seattle CISPES, and he accompanied me to the airport to meet our Salvadoran guests, as he did every time we hosted people on tour. He gave me so much confidence and he shared his respect for me with our guests in a way that gave me pride that I’ve always carried with me. His willingness to share about his experience as a political prisoner was always very moving and profound, especially given that he credited the solidarity movement with saving his life. I will miss his warm laughter, his often-surprising political perspectives, and the way he made comrades feel like equals even when we knew we were in the presence of greatness. My heart goes out to his family, for we lost him much too soon.”
David was the consummate organizer, always thinking about how to support the leadership and political development the next generations of organizers. CISPES is honored to have worked with David for many years and we know his legacy will live on in the many struggles he strengthened and organizers he inspired and mentored.
¡Compañero David Ayala, presente!
Night of Revolutionary Art & Music: A Seattle CISPES Fundraiser
Join Seattle CISPES for a night of reveling, musical performances, and art.
The Seattle chapter of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) is raising money for our partners in El Salvador, including an association of women unionists and the youth secretariat of the leftist FMLN party. Our fall fundraiser will be a chance to contribute to these revolutionary groups, meet friends from CISPES and the solidarity community, and enjoy powerful music and art.
We’ll have a silent auction of visual art donated by local artists, and there will be performances from talented local musicians who are in the CISPES community, playing music about struggle, social justice and radical history.
Please help spread the word by inviting your friends on FacebookWe look forward to seeing you there!
Transportation and accessibility details:
Free street parking is available on 12th Ave NE and/or on the nearby streets. There are also several bus lines in close proximity (including from the UW light rail station) — 45, 67, 71, 73, 83, 373.
There are 23 steps from street level up to the front door. The back entrance can be accessed via the back alley and has 3 steps up to the door. Feel free to contact us for more info about how to enter from the back.
Building Power & Solidarity – Activist Skills Training (April 29, 2017)
Join the Seattle chapter of Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) for a training to build our organizing skills, political analysis, community, and the chapter. This is an exciting opportunity to re-engage or get involved for the first time!
RSVP Today! – https://goo.gl/forms/
April 29, 2017
Location to be announced
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BASICS: There will be a potluck to keep us well nourished, community building to keep us smiling, and inspiring discussion to keep us fighting for a new world.
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EDUCATION & ACTION: Participants will have an opportunity to deepen political analysis and community organizing skills, including…
— MOVEMENT HISTORY – We will learn about the history of the movement in El Salvador as well as the history of CISPES’ approach to solidarity.
— STRATEGY – We will analyze social movement strategy and the role of community organizing in creating long-haul social change. This includes topics such as direct action, coalition-building, leadership development, and beyond.
— SKILLS – Participants will have an opportunity to learn and practice their community organizing skills, such as making asks and giving an elevator speech.
— SOLIDARITY & OPPRESSION – Participants will discuss how building multi-issue movements and fighting oppression (eg: racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia) is intimately connected to powerful solidarity work.
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COMMITMENTS: We are asking participants to make some commitments, including attending the full workshop, participating in an upcoming CISPES event (follow us on Facebook to stay updated on events!), deepening your involvement during 2017, and a commitment to having fun!
Please remember to register to save your spot.
(https://goo.gl/forms/
Victory for El Salvador in mining dispute! Great time to continue supporting Seattle CISPES
Seattle CISPES is excited to share the news of an important victory in one of the campaigns that we’ve been involved with for many years — supporting anti-mining activists in El Salvador and fighting back against an unjust lawsuit. We’re using this occasion to ask for your support and we also want to give you an update about our current work.
Here’s what our former coordinator Cameron Herrington had to say about this week’s victory:
Seven years ago, when I worked for Seattle CISPES, we fought against a Canadian gold mining company called Pacific Rim that wanted to open a mine in El Salvador. Pacific Rim sued the government of El Salvador for $250 million under the rules of the Central American Free Trade Agreement after El Salvador denied the company a mining permit based on environmental and public health concerns.
This week, after seven years of opaque legal process in a secretive World Bank tribunal, the lawsuit was unanimously thrown out. Today I’m thinking of the heroic Salvadoran environmental justice activists who were murdered as a result of their outspoken opposition to gold mining: Juan Francisco Duran Ayala, Gustavo Marcelo Rivera Moreno, Ramiro Rivera Gomez, Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto. I’m also thinking of all my friends and compañer@s at CISPES — in Seattle and around the country — who worked to support the Salvadoran people’s struggle for sovereignty and a healthy environment.
Here’s a 2010 video from when Seattle CISPES activists went to protest outside of Pacific Rim’s headquarters in Vancouver, BC. At the time we were also working to support trade reform legislation that would have prevented foreign companies like Pacific Rim from suing governments that sought to protect their people from environmental and health disasters.
As we enter our 36th year as an organization, Seattle CISPES is now all volunteer-run but still going strong. In June we hosted a successful tour visit from Moisés Gómez, a leader of the Jesuit Migration Network El Salvador, and met with a number of our elected officials, including Congressman Adam Smith. Over the summer, five Seattle CISPES activists went to El Salvador to learn about the migrant crisis in Central America, and upon return they coordinated several events to raise awareness about border militarization. Most recently we sent two members to the border in Arizona to participate in a national mobilization. We’re also excited to continue working with and supporting local partners like the NW Detention Center Resistance as well as sponsoring events for the upcoming Caravan Against Repression in Mexico.
In order for Seattle CISPES to keep up the fight we need you to support this amazing solidarity work. Click on the donate button below:
or send a check to the address listed on our website.
We are also looking for new members and volunteers so feel free to reach out at seattle@cispes.org.
Adelante!
— The Seattle CISPES core team (Burke, Eddie, Helena, Jenny, Jed and Leigh)
PS: As a special treat here’s a picture of the spoof labels Seattle CISPES created for a number of anti-Pacific Rim actions we organized:
Report-back from El Salvador, Thursday Sept. 8th at 7 pm
Dangerous Journeys: How US-Sponsored Border Militarization in Meso-America is Fueling a Human Rights Crisis
June 2, 2016 – 7 pm EST
For decades, the United States government has imposed economic and military policies in México and Central America that have resulted in mass displacement and family separation. Rather than change its policy, the US has a dangerous new plan: to stop migrants and asylum seekers from leaving their countries of origin, no matter the cost.
Join Seattle CISPES for a discussion on the root causes of forced migration and the impact of US-sponsored border militarization on the region. We will be joined by:
*Moisés Gómez, professor and researcher at the Central American University (UCA) and part of the Jesuit Migration Network El Salvador
*Maru Mora with NWDC Resistance/Resistencia al NWDC
*Wendy Pantoja with NWDC Resistance/Resistencia al NWDC
Come learn how Salvadoran and local groups are resisting detention, deportation, and militarization; and join the fight for the lives and rights of migrants!