Talk by Mexicn Human Rights Activist Sunday, March 4, 7:00 PM in Bangor

Communities Confronting Globalization
a talk by Manuel Mendez Guzman of the Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos

Sunday, March 4, 7:00 p.m., Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine
sponsored by PICA (Peace through Interamerican Community Action)

Since the Zapatista uprising began on January 1, 1994, (the first day NAFTA went into effect) the Mexican military and paramilitaries have waged a counter insurgency war against Zapatista communities. Thirteen years after the uprising, human rights abuses continue and the entire state of Chiapas is heavily militarized. The Mexico Solidarity Network presents a speaker from the Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos (Community Human Rights Defenders Network) to discuss the impact of this "low-intensity" warfare, and what is being done on the ground to resist.

The Red de Defensores is a network of indigenous human rights observers from Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico. The Red, founded in May 2000, is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the promotion and defense of human rights. The Red developed an alternative model of human rights work in which community members who suffer human rights abuses at the hands of the army, paramilitaries, and the federal government assume control of their own defense. Self-determination and autonomy are the guiding principles of the Red de Defensores. The Red is currently made up of 25 community indigenous defenders from eight regions. In each case, the community chose their representative to the Red in a traditional process that assigns "cargos" (tasks) to highly respected members of the community. All of the defensores live in threatened communities that have a history of suffering from human rights abuses.

The representative from the Red de Defensores will:

- Discuss threats to indigenous communities, such as NAFTA, Plan Puebla Panama, and the agricultural crisis in Mexico.
- Discuss human rights abuses in Mexico, their relationship to globalization, and how indigenous communities are working to end the abuses and impunity.
-Promote a sustainable model of international trade based on economic justice.
- Discuss the leadership of women in fair trade cooperatives.

Talk by Mexican Human Rights Activist March 5 at COA

COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC PRESENTS TALK ON GLOBALIZATION BY MEXICAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Manuel Mendez Guzman talks on Communities Confronting Globalization: Autonomy and Human Rights

BAR HARBOR-Manuel Mendez Guzman, a human rights activist from Mexico, will be talking at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 5 at College of the Atlantic's McCormick Lecture Hall as part of the college's Human Ecology Forum. He will be discussing issues of globalization.

Guzman, a member of the Red de Defensores Communitarios por los Derechos Humanos, or the Community Human Rights Defenders Network, is on a tour of New England communities and college campuses speaking about recent issue in Mexico. His talk, "Communities Confronting Globalization: Autonomy and Human Rights," will be presented in Spanish with an English translation.

Guzman will discuss human rights abuses, their relationship to globalization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, as well as Plan Puebla Panama. It is sponsored by The Mexico Solidarity Network, which is focused on promoting dialogue and collective action for social change between the United States and Mexico.

Since the Zapatista uprising in 1994, the Mexican military and paramilitaries have waged a counter insurgency war against the Zapatista and supporting communities. Thirteen years after the uprising, communities in Mexico are developing new forms of resistance.

According to its website, The Red de Defensores operates as an autonomous human rights model in which community members who suffer human rights abuses from the army, paramilitaries and the federal government assume control of their own defense.

For more information, visit www.mexicosolidarity.org, or call Donna Gold, at 288-2944 ext. 291, or dgold@coa.edu.