Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

December 20, 2010

Listen: Jose Matus: Indigenous Rights of Passage


Struggling for justice for human rights and migrants rights
Listen to Jose Matus, director of Indigenous Alliance without Borders, on Censored News Blogtalk Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell
Jose Matus, Yaqui, director, of the Indigenous Alliance without Borders, joined Jason Aragon of Migrant Patrol Copwatch, James Jordan of the Alliance for Global Justice and Isabel Garcia of Derechos Humanos to celebrate the International Day of Human Rights and the International Day of Migrants on Saturday, Dec. 18, in Tucson.
During the panel, Matus spoke on the Indigenous right of passage in their border territories. Aragon spoke on how Tucson has become a militarized borderzone and how Tucson police have the US Border Patol on their speed dials during routine stops. Jordan described the ongoing criminalization and imprisonment of human rights activists in Colombia and US spying on activists in the US.
While speaking on human rights and the deaths of migrants at the border, Garcia pointed out that the United States has no intention of stopping the violence or the drug war south of the border, which justifies the US budget, militarization and other US agendas.
The powerhouse of the area's peace and justice community was visible.
The workshps during the day included: Structural Violence of Criminalization, Derechos Humanos; Legal Immigration Simulation, BorderLinks; Labor and Immigration, Tucson Jobs with Justice/Salt of the Earth Labor College; Indigenous Issues, Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras; Palestine/Israel Solidarity, Jewish Voices for Peace and White Skin Privilege, Alliance for Global Justice.
The plenary session was Defining Security, with moderator Leilani Clark
The panelists were Moyheddin Abdulaziz, Middle East Justice Now; Dan Millis, Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign; Jon Miles, Tucson Veterans for Peace and Nikoletl Gomez, Tierra y Libertad.
The afternoon workshps were Know Your Rights/Prepárate, Promotoras de Derechos Humanos; Know Your Media Rights, Pan Left Productions; Environmental Impacts of Militarization, Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign; The Struggle for Ethnic Studies, Social Justice Education Project; Human Rights Implications of Foreign Policy, Alliance for Global Justice/AZ Peace Council and Nonviolence in Defense of Human Rights, Nonviolence Legacy Project Youth Team.
The Plenary session of Building Arizona Solidarity, with moderator: Alison Harrington, included Chuck Kaufman, Alliance for Global Justice; Steve Valencia, Jobs with Justice; Kim Dominguez, Social Justice Education Project and Southside Day Laborer.

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