Dear Friend, On Friday we’ll be celebrating International Human Rights Day. Leading up to the day, it’s important to reflect on the struggles our partners are engaged in around the world — and the role your and my solidarity plays in their important work defending human rights. Today, I especially want to focus on the situation in Honduras. If you may recall, earlier this year the Honduran police detained two sisters, Marianela and Jennifer Mejía Solórzano. These two members of our partner the Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH, the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras) were arrested merely for defending the ancestral land of their Garifuna community. You and I joined hundreds of others to write to Honduran officials to demand their release. Our solidarity was successful and the sisters returned home — and returned to the struggle for Garifunas’ human rights. But this is just one piece of our shared solidarity. The ongoing material solidarity provided by Grassroots International donors allowed OFRANEH and other movements in Honduras to keep up the struggle. Funds from supporters like you — those who took the extra step with a donation — gave OFRANEH and others the resources they needed to face down the repressive narco-state. These donations allowed them to sustain themselves for over a decade under the military coup regime that came to power in 2009. That’s why I’m asking today: can you join hundreds of others to support human rights with our New Visions, Continuing Resistance end-of-year campaign? |
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Just last week, the coup regime finally fell with the election of Xiomara Castro from the Libre Party. But the battle for Honduran human rights continues. As Miriam Miranda from OFRANEH said: “[W]hat power will [Castro] have if she is not accompanied by a social movement that can position itself against this [military and corporate power]?” Miriam is 110% right. But we also have to ask ourselves a similar question: what power can social movements have if it is not accompanied with the resources they need to sustain the struggle? You and I can play a crucial role in that regard. So before the end of the year, please consider giving the gift of solidarity to movements in Honduras and around the world. Let’s keep up the fight for human rights into 2022! In gratitude, |
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Chung-Wha Hong
Executive Director |
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