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Education, Activism and Advocacy Aimed at Global North
The other main aspect of our work are education, activism and accountability efforts directed at the U.S. and Canadian governments, our companies, banks and investors, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), whose policies and projects often cause and profit from the harms and violences our partner groups are working to address and remedy.
Most community defense struggles are in response to violence, harms and corruption of different sectors of the global economy including mining, hydro-electric dams, for-export food industry and tourism.
Most truth/memory/justice struggles address genocides and crimes against humanity of the 1970s and 80s, funded and supported by the U.S. and Western allies.
Direct Funding
In this context, it is impossible to overstate the importance of getting funds, however small the amounts, on an on-going basis to land, environment, human rights and justice defenders.
Money is not the solution to the ills they suffer. There are many other facets of work and struggle that need to be carried out from the local to national to global levels.
But the glaring reality is that most community defenders around the world – particularly in global south countries - live in conditions of exploitation and poverty, violence and corruption to begin with. When they suffer further violence, destruction and harms, it worsens their pre-existing life conditions.
It is also true that most community defenders struggle to stay on their lands, defending their rights and environment, as best they can, with or without outside support. In most cases they have no options. In every sense of the notion, they are struggling for their lives.
Getting them even small amounts of funds helps them do more of this.
How Funds are Used
Repetitively, funds are used mostly for: responding to needs of victims of human rights violations, evictions, criminalizations and jailings, etc.; buying phones and data; transportation and food costs for gatherings of community members and defenders; documentation and reporting on harms and violences suffered; protests and advocacy work.
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