Adios 2020! C2C is ready for the next decade starting in 2021!
/This past year has been a long and difficult year for our communities and our Leadership Team.
For C2C, 2020 has proven to be a pivotal year. We have been and continue to be tested. It has been said that the best way to know the character of a person is to see what they do during the difficult times. But what about the character of a movement and an organization? In the fall of 2019, we celebrated our 15th Anniversary of community organizing on local, regional, and statewide levels. In 2020 we began our 16th year by creating a 5-year strategic plan to continue to advocate and struggle with impacted community leaders for equitable workplace rights for farm workers and low wage Latinx workers, and protection, equity and dignity for immigrant families. We re-committed ourselves to our ecofeminist principles and organize to build local solidarity economies, create a food sovereignty culture by challenging corporate food industry production practices, policies and regulations. We vowed to continue to take the lead from our constituents and their demands for self-determination by strengthening our participatory democratic processes such as the Dignity Vigils, Tribunals, Dignity Dialogues and People’s Movement Assemblies. We affirmed and clarified our beliefs and principles. We went to the land and through our Mistica process we included Mother Earth and pledged to listen to her as we worked with our partners and follow the Just Transition framework as we educate our community and address policy and regulatory changes.
Our work plan was radically changed in February soon after our Farmworker Tribunal in Olympia during the Annual Latino Legislative Day activities.
As ecofeminists we were fortunate to be able to connect with the Women’s Leadership of the Landless People’s Movement (MST) in Sao Paulo Brazil. Little did we know how important these gatherings and misticas with the MST women would be to help sustain us for the difficult times ahead. Being together with experienced ecofeminist leadership helped us to further align ourselves as an organized leadership team and strengthened trust in each other and our beliefs and principles as an organization. While our team was learning about land occupation, participatory democracy and self-determination, news reports from our loved ones back home told of food hoarding, empty shelves, and a growing anxiety in our hometowns. New words entered our lexicon.
We returned to self-quarantine, and held conversations with our communities for quick assessments on what was happening. At the news of the classification of “essential workers” we realized that one thing that would be true is that farmworkers, Immigrants, POC, the houseless and the poor would be helped last (if at all) and impacted the most. It is what we have always experienced. One of our strengths in being led by impacted community leaders is our ability to pivot our energies quickly. We have learned in very real ways the demands heaped on all peoples living under capitalist systems. To produce to maintain profit levels by keeping economies “open” even though it literally could be killing you.
This is a list of some of the actions we have taken:
In January the Whatcom promotoras led the team in defense of a farmworker and his family’s attacks by local law enforcement and Border patrol – a violent action caught on video.
We were honored to have our Annual Farmworker Tribunal space be the Courtroom of the WA State Supreme Court. We had record attendance and compelling testimony from farm workers from across the state. Two Supreme Court Justices opened and closed the Tribunal.
We participated with Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ) in the Agricultural Seasonal Workers Services Committee for months to demand fair and equitable workplace COVID-19 emergency rules to protect farmworkers. The State did not actually implement emergency rules until June, and that was only after 2 lawsuits were filed by FUJ. There were some victories, but a loss in protecting h2a workers in labor camp housing. A heartbreak for us all and showed how deep profit-making is in state agricultural production and its regulatory systems. Emergency rules expire January 8th. We are working with NW Justice Project and FUJ to try to save farmworker lives during this pandemic. We will not give up.
On our return the C2C Promotoras hit the ground running, continuing to reach out to our communities to finish up the US CENSUS outreach. They found an urgent need for information on COVID, worker protections, what it means to be “essential”, direction to resources, access to PPE, especially masks. The promotoras worked with local health departments to ensure they set up mobile Covid testing sites in rural communities. They distributed stimulus surplus relief to over 1500 farmworker and immigrant families; and directed them to resources such as food, medical attention and helped resolve workplace protections complaints. To date we have tripled the number of promotoras in Whatcom and Skagit Counties. The need for outreach and information has doubled and continues to grow, especially now that we are at the peak of this dark COVID winter. We are all working with them to identify resources and provide any type of support needed. Sometimes the biggest need is being present in community and available to listen.
C2C has opened a space for Promotora Outreach and Services in Mt Vernon in Skagit County; staffed by promotoras from local immigrant and farmworker families. They lead and establish culturally appropriate training, educational and outreach services.
The C2C space in Bellingham is being restructured for Whatcom promotoras to provide increased culturally appropriate services.
C2C supported Familias Unidas por la Justicia in the organizing and solidarity work they have been doing non-stop since May 7th in Yakima, WA. Packing shed workers walked out on strike in fear for their lives. These workers spoke truth to power and highlighted how agricultural employers were not following COVID safety protocols in the workplace, which is what we have been hearing from hundreds of workers statewide. They called FUJ leadership; Ramon Torres and Edgar Franks answered the call and immediately departed to Yakima. They established a base of organizing operations and have been in Yakima until their departure yesterday Dec. 31st. C2C ecofeministas provided solidarity on the picket lines with packing shed workers in June and July. Out of all this struggle for their lives and justice the packing shed workers have formed their own independent union, Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. We continue to provide support as needed.
On the home front in Bellingham, after organizing for immigrant justice since 2005 in Whatcom County, after 3 years of ongoing Monday Dignity Vigils in front of City Hall in Bellingham, countless Dignity Dialogues plus direct actions, after community organizing for sanctuary and protections from racial profiling by local law enforcement and their cooperation with ICE, we finally forced the City Council to establish by ordinance an Immigration Advisory Board (IAB). We have Liz Darrow as our representative, as well as Ramon Torres and Jahn Zuniga as impacted community Board members. We began monthly public zoom meetings to evaluate relationships between law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement agents which keep our communities at risk. The IAB is the culmination of many years of interaction with local elected officials and the Whatcom County Sheriff, using our participatory democratic actions listed above. Our goal with the immigration advisory board is to highlight the areas of local policy that endanger community members and to push for policy improvements that address racial disparities and establish equitable processes toward a true sanctuary city.
With a newly formed Coalition to Protect Our Communities with Whatcom DSA, Birchwood Food Desert Fighters and Whatcom Jobs with Justice we took action to protect the vote during the Presidential Election and to be ready with a rapid response team if the roving right wing white supremacists should turn violent against farmworkers, immigrants and POC in Whatcom County. The coalition continue to be ready to respond thanks to over 100 supporters that responded to our call.
At C2C we have effectively infused and fundamentally established into the movement our Mistica spirit with art and artists of all types. Our Movement which requires deep and consistent organizing to create fundamental long term social and cultural change is difficult and cannot be sustained with out the beauty of the world we want to create. We are honored to now have a group of movement artists join us on the path with that beautiful beloved community.
The pandemic has enabled us to find different ways of building our movement and we welcome the C2C Movement Support Team. We are grateful for all the time and skills these folks of all ages provide to our organization. In this moment, they stepped up. This group responds as we respond, as the community responds, as needed.
Cooperativa Tierra y Libertad was resilient in the midst of the pandemic. Production was excellent. Cooperative decision making was tested and the worker owners did the right thing and produced delicious organic raspberries and blueberries on a smaller scale. The Bellingham Food Bank, Mallards Ice Cream and the Bellingham Community Food Co-op stepped up and bought the bulk of the berries produced. Tierra y Libertad provided living wage jobs with dignity to 13 farmworkers in rural Everson. All this during a pandemic. Worker owned cooperatives are a building block towards the creation of building a Solidarity Economy. This is the kind of local economy that can be resilient during crisis.
In this current political moment, ending this pivotal year, we want to thank all of the people that have stood by us, in difficult times and also in times of celebration and community unity. We ask that you continue to stand with us as we make the road by walking. As we walk we are learning about each other. This year we have learned during the COVID lockdowns that we did not know how to be at ease with the that perception we are doing less, even though in reality we are doing more; it is just different. The way capitalism and its systems are in our blood and how we must continually learn how to unpack it and create something more humane and therefore more sustainable. More beautiful and joyous; for everyone. Ultimately, we learned that our vision, our beliefs and principles are good and attainable. What’s more important, many that have heard our vision for 15 years, finally “get it”.
In the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, capitalism was forced to pause, even the innocent creatures were able to come alive, like the pandas that finally made love and in some parts of the world polluted air finally cleared up. ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE! And will not be achieved at the expense of poor people dying to keep the rich and powerful in their comfort level.
Dr. Fauci says the U.S. could return to normal by fall 'If We Diligently Vaccinate'. Fall is a long time off! A whole food growing season. At C2C we do not want to return to the pre-COVID “normal”. For our communities that has always been an exploitative “normal”. Our society was founded on the premise that we are living in a white supremacist, colonialist, capitalist process. We exist to support the liberation of all peoples, and Mother Earth, from the pre-COVID normal. C2C is growing and pivoting with our sister organizations and will continue organizing in our communities to emerge to a post COVID world with a new normal because YES! ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE! YES! BLACK LIVES MATTER!