The Dignity Vigils: 63 Weeks and Counting

Dignity Vigils began in February of 2017 in response to Bellingham City Council ignoring community members who asked for a real Sanctuary City ordinance to be passed. Instead, on February 13, 2017 Bellingham Council passed an ordinance that does nothing to protect affected communities. Every Monday, community members come together to stand in solidarity with undocumented and immigrant families and people. In addition, we come together to stand against law enforcement and federal immigration collaboration which leads to deportation. You can find more information on Keep Bellingham Families Working here. The following post was written by Dena Louise in response to the 63rd Dignity Vigil.

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and Bellingham City Council Member Dan Hammill was present for his 3rd out of those 63.

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and the Bellingham City Council has still not strengthened the ordinance that shoved aside the Keep Bellingham Families Working Ordinance that had been created to effectively protect our immigrant and undocumented community members from persecution. 

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and there is still no citizen oversight to help ensure that no collaboration between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) occurs that can result in the persecution of immigrants who are our community members and neighbors, persecution that can include repeated and ongoing: general harrassment, investigation, court dates, apprehension, separation from family members, indefinite incarceration, abuse within immigration prisons, and/or deportation. 

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and Google searches on ICE yield pages upon pages of fresh news everyday about ICE destroying lives of immigrants and their friends and families and community members all across the nation. 

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and Council Member Hammill wants to know what vigil attendees want, after all the comments and petitions and letters and face to face input that Council Members have received since November 2016 (that included many which directly addressed specific changes sought to the Council's ordinance that the Council voted to approve on February 13, 2017) and have continued to receive for the weeks and weeks and weeks after the Council voted to adopt their ordinance.

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and Council Member Hammill says he is attending both as a public citizen and as a City Council Member and wants to know what we want without offering any indication he is attending Dignity Vigils with the intent to take action upon his constituents' needs.

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and fresh in our memories is Council Member Murphy walking by vigil attendees two weeks earlier and angrily blowing off the offer to give her a flyer about issues effecting farm workers. 

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and fresh in our memories is Council Member Lilliquist walking by on the 62nd week of Dignity Vigils, passing by the assemblage of community members, passing by the altar to honor Cesar Chavez on the anniversary of his death, passing by with no words or actions of his own to show respect for this great defender of immigrants and farm workers. 

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and fresh in our memories is the absolute absence, week after week, of Whatcom County Council action to adopt an ordinance to protect members of their community who are immigrants and undocumented, a refusal to act which has been especially memorable after we community members approached them in the summer of 2017 asking them to propose an effectively protective ordinance.

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and, yes, still fresh in the memories of we community members who came to meet with City Council Members and present the Keep Bellingham Families Working Ordinance, is the work group meeting 61 weeks ago where our ordinance was shoved aside in favor of one proposed by the Council, the workgroup where assurances were made that a forwarded copy of the Council's draft ordinance would be sent for we community members to review before the Council presented their ordinance for a vote, that draft copy finally arriving at 3 p.m on the day that Council Members voted unanimously to approve the Council-created ordinance that shoved aside our ordinance. 

63 weeks of Dignity Vigils and fresh in our memories is the people's condemnation of Bellingham City Hall on the 53rd week of Dignity Vigils, the week of Dignity Vigils where we said:

"Community to Community Development and the Whatcom Civil Rights Project have been, for years, bringing complaints, bringing evidence, talking to the Whatcom County Sheriff and the City Council and other Council Members, telling them that there was continuous, ongoing racial profiling happening. And from this racial profiling, other exploitations grew. And it was ongoing, and it was institutionalized, and we were volunteering and offering our support to change this. 

"And it built up, and built up, until the moment when we had enough support to write and present an ordinance, a legal document that was the beginning of a possible dynamic change within this government to protect these communities in the right way, in the proper way, in the dignified way, as the way our country is supposed to function. These democratic systems are supposed to function to represent us! 

"The City Council and the County Council are not clubs. They're not social groups. They are not bureaucratic mechanisms to implement bureaucracy already written into city governance. They are not administrators. They are not like county clerks. They're not supposed to be a submissive agent of the Mayor or the County Executive or the County Prosecutor - handing them a document and they say, 'this document is written this way, implement it.' No! They are elected leaders from different districts, elected by voters to represent, to bring to the city government the issues that matter to their constituents, and even possible solutions to what is happening in the neighborhoods and in the different districts of the city."

And we said:
"Kelli Linville..., we talked to her and said that the Bellingham Police Department, that there are officers in the Bellingham Police Department that are racially profiling people, and she immediately jumped and said, 'No! There is no racial profiling in the Bellingham Police Department.' And we said we have people that have suffered that racial profiling based on color, especially brown people who are immediately identified as undocumented and ICE is called. She said, 'No, that does not happen in my Police Department.'"

And we said:
"We stand by our belief in our position because we see it happening, that this is a white supremacist government. We don't believe that every single person in this building, working in this building is a white supremacist or racist, but the leadership has developed an institutionalized, a culture that dehumanizes the most vulnerable in our community. At the core of everything is a dignity of every single person in this city and the respect that we demand when we bring our complaints, and the dignity within the solutions they give us, not the disdain that we have been shown."

Community Voz Radio: "No Way to Treat a Guest" series

Community Voz is C2C's ecofeminist radio show, coming to you from the Deep North in the Pacific Northwest, presenting the grassroots work that local people are doing across intersecting movements. Our radio shows are engaging conversations about issues and news you probably won't hear anywhere else, including white supremacy, racism, settler colonialism, and patriarchy. We believe in community radio and alternative media, which highlights the character, beauty, and courage of the voices of people on the ground that need to be shared with everybody. As the organizers and activists on our show come from impacted communities, you will hear multiple, varying voices each week. Community Voz is facilitated by Junga Subedar, co-founder of the Racial Justice Coalition (RJC) and is often joined by Rosalinda Guillen (Community to Community), Michelle Vendiola (Red Line Salish Sea, RJC), and Maru Mora Villalpando (Latino Advocacy, NorthWest Detention Center Resistance). Thank you for tuning in!

The April 4th Community Voz radio discussion, Part 3 of the "No Way to Treat a Guest" series, centered around a number of dates significant to the labor movement in our country, which include the birth and death of Cesar Chavez, along with the 50th anniversary - on the day of the broadcast - of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Guests discussed their reflections on the contributions of these men, the reasons they were under attack while they were alive, and where the labor movement is at today in terms of protections for immigrant workers.

The show was hosted by Junga Subedar; featured guests were Rosalinda Guillen, Executive Director of Community to Community Development, Michele Stelovich, President of the Northwest WA Central Labor Council, and David Bacon, a renowned photo journalist and immigrants-rights advocate. 

The seemingly impossible struggles of brown and black workers to obtain safer working conditions and reasonable pay prompted Chavez and King to be on the frontlines in their defense. King's support of striking black sanitation workers in Memphis, leading up to and including the day of his assassination, occurred during the same period that Cesar Chavez was immersed in organizing and empowering the strike by Filipino and Mexican farmworkers against grape growers in California.

Thanks to those like King and Chavez who put their lives on the line, and brave workers who stepped forward to join together for their rights, much was accomplished to protect workers' safety and rights. Today, most Mexican farmworkers in Washington state are completely unrepresented by any union or bargaining organization, which leaves their destiny almost exclusively controlled by whatever corporate farms they are employed by. In the last few years, under the H-2A visa program, the importing of workers from Mexico has increased dramatically. As these workers are so overwhelmingly isolated from the surrounding community on the sole farm they can work for while they are in this country, they are at much greater risk for abuse than other farmworkers.

Learn more by listening to the show here.

YES on I-1631: Protect Washington Act campaign launch tonight!

The YES on I-1631: Bellingham Launch is tonight, Thursday April 19, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at BUF!

For the last three years, C2C, as part of Front and Centered, alongside labor unions, business, and environment, health, and faith organizations, has been building the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy—the most diverse and inclusive coalition in Washington State working on climate justice legislation. The result of this collaboration is I-1631, the Protect Washington Act.

Rosalinda Guillen and Ander Russell, the Clean Water program manager for RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, recently co-authored an Op-Ed in Cascadia Weekly describing how local impacts of climate change are driving community support for this initiative. Read the full text below:

Support clean air, clean energy and healthier communities.

The work of protecting people and the planet is a roller coaster of wins and losses. Lately, we are playing a lot of defense against local, state and national groups seeking to undo decades of social and environmental progress. Washington voters will soon have an opportunity to stand up for the health of our communities, economy and climate. Will you join us in our endeavor to create a cleaner future for Washington, building healthier communities for everyone in our state?

Northwest Washington has seen the consequences of a changing climate: Last summer, wildfire smoke choked the region, while salmon died in shallowing rivers. Even so, our state’s legislature failed to pass meaningful climate legislation this year. As the federal government turns its back on the reality of climate change, the real-life consequences jeopardize the health of people and the economy.

That’s why the people of Washington are moving forward with Initiative 1631, the Protect Washington Act. This initiative will create living-wage jobs by investing in clean energy, healthy forests and clean water. With funds from a fee paid by the state’s largest polluters, we can increase the resiliency of our communities to the impacts of climate change.

For decades, corporate polluters have put profits over people while dirtying our land, air and water. Many of us already contribute to cleaning up and preventing pollution. I-1631 gives us the tools to do the job right, getting the largest polluters to fund investments in clean energy infrastructure like wind and solar, and creating lasting, well-paying, local jobs.

I-1631 is backed by diverse constituencies across the state representing working families, communities of color, environmental and clean energy advocates, health professionals, businesses, and faith organizations all committed to building our state’s economy, improving the health of our residents and leading the fight against climate change. We came together to find solutions that work for all of us—especially those from the most impacted communities, who have historically been excluded from decisions about the environment and economy, Farmworkers, labor organizers, environmental advocates, health professionals, and more came together around the same table to create a policy that reflects our shared values. Every single person wants a healthy environment and a vibrant economy that works for everyone.

Here in Whatcom County, local backers of this policy include Community to Community, RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, the NW Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO), Riveters Collective, 350 Bellingham, Stand.earth, Safeguard the Southfork, Jobs with Justice, and Mt Baker Group Sierra Club.

Climate change is happening now. We can’t wait for action any longer. Yet we must ensure that solutions to climate change are fair and equitable. In crafting this initiative, our coalition put justice and equity at the forefront. That means listening to the voices of those who are impacted and ensuring indigenous rights and tribal sovereignty are respected and upheld, all while ensuring protections for workers in all industries—from refineries to farms.

What will I-1631 invest in? Expanding renewable power generation from wind and solar. Restoring and protecting water sources, estuaries, fisheries, and marine shorelines, reducing flood risk, improving infrastructure for treating stormwater, preparing for sea-level rise and addressing ocean acidification. We’ll improve forest health and enhance preparedness for wildfires. Dedicated funds will assist low-income residents to ensure affordable energy, and support workers that may be displaced by the transition from fossil fuels to energy independence. All this means thousands of family-wage jobs across our state. Our policy also ensures public oversight and accountability for making good investments.

Sovereign indigenous nations have also expressed meaningful support for this initiative. Funds will aid climate adaptation and clean energy for native communities, and tribal governments must be consulted on projects directly impacting their land and resources.

Washingtonians have never been afraid to lead or create something new. Through people’s ballot initiatives, Washington voters have forged the way for other states on numerous policies. Now, we’re setting the course for equitable climate policy in the United States. That’s why we need your help to qualify for the ballot and to win in November.

You can join our movement today! To learn more about our policy, the coalition, or to join our campaign, visit: yeson1631.org

Attend Bellingham’s campaign kickoff at 6:30pm April 19 at Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship (1207 Ellsworth St.) to get involved in signature gathering.

MLK Day 2018 Statement: Why Daily Commitment to Racial Justice Beats an Annual Show

Third Year in a Row Community Members Voice Concerns about City’s MLK Celebration

 Dear Bellingham Community Members:

We, Community to Community Development, Racial Justice Coalition, Latino Advocacy, Familias Unidas Por La Justicia, and the Red Line Salish Sea, wish to provide some perspective on our discontent with the Bellingham MLK event.

For the last two years, impacted people and grassroots groups held space for a counter event, protesting the city’s annual MLK celebration. The counter event was intended to expose the city’s misuse of Dr. King’s birthday and messaging for their own benefit. The counter event was intended to protest the city’s abuse of power in policy-making which has detrimentally impacted the poor and people of color. The city’s actions are antithetical to Dr. King’s values, and one wonders if their MLK Jr. event is even ethical.

Before and since the first day we stood outside city hall and everyday with everything that we do, we honor Dr. King’s legacy through the actions and work of grassroots movements. Dr. King fought for Black people, people of color and the poor. He fought against capitalism, U.S. militarism and racism. Dr. King did these things by taking to the streets and marching, using direct action and civil disobedience, implementing boycotts, and demanding accountability from unjust and racist institutions. He inconvenienced people when it was called for, and ultimately sacrificed himself for the movement. We continue his work and the work of so many other social justice warriors of our past. We stand on the shoulders of our social movement leaders, we honor their memory and we will not stand by when their efforts are co-opted by the systems of power they worked to dismantle.

This past year, people of color in Whatcom County have faced many corrupt policies and attacks from local government, elected state officials and law enforcement that seem to take their lead from the trump administration. For example, law enforcement officials have bullied social movement leaders, attempting to criminalize their work, and corrupt officials have trampled free speech, one of the highest constitutional rights of our democracy. There have been continued unchecked racial profiling by law enforcement, furthering the agenda on the war on immigrants and people of color  today. Additionally, the city voted to uphold racist landmarks and refused houseless people their basic human needs and shelter, just to name a few.

Despite all the attacks, we will continue fighting for liberation and we will persevere. Nonetheless, it takes everyone’s commitment to see the pressing issues, solutions and voices to be heard. We believe that no work can happen without impacted communities leading the work. Nothing about us without us.

Grassroots efforts are working to redefine power and decision-making. We are inviting the community to attend the People’s Movement Assembly (PMA) that exemplifies participatory democracy on Sunday, January 21st. We will collectively answer, what issues we face, what the solutions are, and what actions we are taking. The PMA will take place from 9 am-5 pm at the Bellingham High School. So join us and the movement for people.

The solutions and power are in the grassroots movements of today. We stand on the shoulders of Dr. King’s legacy on his commemorative 89th birthday. We feel his spirit and take guidance, even today, from him and many of our social justice leaders. Our historical mentors live in our spaces, vigils, demonstrations, boycotts, and actions. Our community will continue to fight for Indigenous people, people of color, immigrants, the poor, and the most marginalized in our community, as Dr. King and other leaders of the past have done for us.

In closing, we ask you to critically examine the current political environment and the city’s actions, and please consider not attending the city’s MLK event.

In Peace & Solidarity,

Community to Community

Familias Unidas por la Justicia

Latino Advocacy

Racial Justice Coalition

Red Line Salish Sea

 

Kali Akuno on the Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-determination Amid Rise in White Supremacy

C2C is working to become a self-governing solidarity economy center fostering political movements that define their own agenda towards the creation of a local solidarity economy.

This is a video of Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi. This is a great interview that explains Cooperation Jackson’s work and political positions. For C2C the most inspiring part is at the 23 minute mark, when he focuses the discussion on the solidarity economy and how they envision building it in Jackson. Cooperation Jackson is one of several sister organizations to C2C. We also envision a solidarity economy in the North West!

An Economy that Centers Mother Earth

At C2C we propose that instead of replicating an economy that is built and centered around individualism and competition, we need an economy that centers Mother Earth, cooperation, and solidarity. An economy that is responsive, plural and sustainable for all. We call it the Solidarity Economy. The Solidarity Economy model works, it is real, we have seen it function for working people in Brazil. The Landless People's Movement in Brazil has shown us that it is possible for workers to control the resources and wealth their labor creates, protect Mother Earth and share with those in need. 

Capitalism continues to fail our communities. A recent article in The Guardian clearly depicts the reality of over 40 million people in the US and the untold masses from around the world that are struggling to live a dignified life under neoliberal capitalism. It is important to point out neoliberalism because it is the strain of the capitalist economy that now rules the majority of the world, where everything is a commodity. As Farm workers and eco-feminists we believe there are no disposable humans in our communities, we all are deserving of basic human dignity and Mother Earth needs our stewardship. Capitalism has defined who we are as a people by telling us who is worthy of a decent income, housing, food, wage, etc. This is just wrong!

Action Alert: De-escalate WA

C2C HAS ENDORSED I-940!

Initiative 940 is an initiative to the Legislature on law enforcement training and community safety.  Specifically, it - 

• Requires training for violence de-escalation, mental health, and first aid.
• Provides that police should render first aid at the scene.
• Applies a good faith standard for use of deadly force and removes the de facto immunity.  
• Requires completely independent investigations of use of deadly force when there is injury or death.
• Brings diverse community stakeholders to the table for the development of standards and curriculum.
• Includes Tribal governments in investigations where a tribal person was injured or killed.

WHAT WE ARE ASKING YOU TO DO

1. SIGN:  Washington registered voters need to sign the petition and return the petition to De-Escalate Washington.                                          
2. VOLUNTEER: All of us need to gather signatures from registered voters.  Anyone is eligible to gather, even kids!

HOW: The petition is a legal document and is not on-line. The paper petition must be signed, and returned to the campaign. Each petition has space for 20 signatures. You can mail a petition back with just one signature, or you can ask other Washington registered voters to sign.

We have petitions available or you can request a petition by texting Request to 1.206.202.0461. Or fill out a form online: http://www.deescalatewa.org/request and a petition will be mailed to you.

WHEN: Do this now! The petitions should be returned as soon as possible. The campaign has seven weeks left to gather the required signatures.  It is going to be tight and every signature you gather is important.

RETURNING THE PETITIONS: There is an address printed on the back of each petition.  Fold the petitions in half, and thirds, stamp them, and drop in the mail.

The address is:

De-Escalate WA I-940
PO Box 99490
Seattle, WA  98139-0490

BACKGROUND:

The situation

Washington State law on use of deadly force by police is the worst in the nation.  We are the only state that has a de facto immunity in the law that is a barrier to prosecution.  Our law has a complete defense so that law enforcement are not held accountable for unlawful deadly force. Since the law was passed in 1986 there have been zero convictions for unlawful use of force by police.  Last year in Washington State police killed 29 people. This year, 34 people have been killed so far.  About one-third of all persons killed by police are experiencing some sort of mental health crisis.

What is Initiative 940?

Initiative 940 is an initiative to the legislature.  If enough signatures are collected it will go to the legislature.  The legislature can pass it, do nothing, or propose an alternative.  If the do nothing, it goes on the ballot in the general election in November 2018.  If they propose an alternative both I-940 and the alternative go on the ballot. We need to get 259,000 signatures of valid registered voters by December 29, 2017.  We are aiming for over 300,000 for a margin of error.

What does I-940 do?

Initiative 940 removes the de facto immunity; it requires violence de-escalation and mental health training; it requires that first aid be rendered on the scene; it requires completely independent
investigations; it requires that Tribes be notified of and be included in investigations when a tribal member is injured or killed; and it requires that community stakeholders be included in policy making.  The initiative specifically requires input from organizations advocating for: Persons with disabilities; members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community; persons of color; immigrants; non-citizens; native Americans; youth; and formerly incarcerated persons.

You can read more about the Initiative here:
http://www.deescalatewa.org/

And you can follow the campaign on Facebook.  @deescalatewashington

Action Alert: #Defund Hate WA

In the 2018 proposed budget, Trump has requested a lot more money to fund the detention and deportation of immigrants, including: 

• funds to hire new ICE and Border Patrol agents to terrorize our communities
• more local police to focus on immigration enforcement
• a massive increase in immigrant detention—the equivalent of locking up the entire population of New Orleans over the course of a year
• $1.6 billion to build a southern border wall, and further border militarization including aircraft and surveillance technology

Washington is home to one of the biggest detention centers in the country (Northwest Detention Center) and a border state. For these reasons, the increases to immigration enforcement funding that Trump's administration is pushing for will undoubtedly harm immigrants in our communities. The ending of DACA and the recent national “Operation Safe City” through which ICE detained more than 450 people, including 27 of our Washington residents, are yet more examples of why we must oppose any increase in immigration enforcement funding.

Community to Community has signed onto DefundHate WA's organizational
sign-on letter. We ask that our allies and partner organizations join us and sign on! 

SIGN ON HERE
The deadline to sign on is TOMORROW! November 8th. Tomorrow is also the national call-in day.

1) If you haven't done so already, please share the call-in day Facebook event on your organization's page to remind people to call their members of congress about this issue: https://www.facebook.com/events/395139404238892/

2) Alternatively, you can send an email to your organization's email list including the following:

We are asking everyone to call Senator Murray (206) 553-5545 as well as the person in your congressional district on 11/8 in order to pressure them to defund the hateful and oppressive detention and deportation machine. Here is a sample call-script:

"Hello, my name is [ ] and I'm a constituent of [state/congressional district]. I'm calling as part of the Defund Hate campaign. We're calling on [Senator/MoC] to oppose funding for the detention and deportation machine. This funding fuels agencies like ICE and CBP which have a long track record of lying, hiding information and retaliating against those who speak out against them. We need to use public funds for needed resources like healthcare, education and housing, instead of funding this inhumane
immigration enforcement system. We demand that [Senator/MoC] publicly call for significant cuts to ICE and CBP and be a voice within [chamber, caucus, with leadership] to Defund Hate and oppose funding for the detention and deportation machine."

Find your representative here:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

And then find their phone number here:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/#state_wa"

3) Finally, sign up for the November 8th Thunderclap:

Please take 30 seconds to join our Thunderclap: http://thndr.me/xAB1uJ 

On November 8th, Detention Watch Network will do national call-in day coordinated with a Thunderclap.

What is a Thunderclap? Thunderclap allows a single message to be mass-shared, so it rises above the noise of your social networks. By boosting the signal at the same time, Thunderclap makes a significant impact on the social media landscape.

Thank you all for participating and feel free to contact the local organizer
Jose Manuel Carrillo for Detention Watch Network if you have any questions!

Jose-Manuel Carrillo: carrilj2@gmail.com

C2C Congratulates FUJ on their Historic Union Contract

Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ) members turned out Thursday night to overwhelmingly ratify the tentative collective bargaining agreement presented by their negotiations committee. After an overview of the contract the Mixteco and Triqui hand harvesters, men and women, lined up to cast their ballots. Official vote counters Jeff Johnson President of the WA State Labor Council and Steve Garey former President of the Steelworkers Local 12-591 tallied the vote and announced it was over 85% in favor of ratifying the tentative agreement.

(C) Copyright DAVID BACON

Sakuma Bros Berry Farm and Familias Unidas por la Justicia’s representatives signed the collective bargaining agreement Thursday afternoon making it official as of today. 

The harvesting season will begin soon with contractual benefits for members of FUJ hand harvesting the berries. Among the benefits union members will receive is an average $15 an hour wage. Ramon Torres FUJ President said,

"This is a historic victory for all our members that harvest berries, they are happy to be working at Sakuma Farms with a union contract, everybody is ready to get to work, there will soon be union berries in the marketplace!"

 

C2C would like to thank all our supporters, volunteers and members who enabled us to walk in solidarity with FUJ over these last four years. Because of you we are one step closer to a food system that is fair, just, and healthy for all people. 

To read a summary of the historic contract, visit Familias Unidas por La Justicia's website: familiasunidasjusticia.org

Jardin de Tierra y Libertad (Land and Liberty Garden)

In January, the Bellingham Food Co-op’s Member Affairs Committee presented Community to Community Development (C2C) with a $400 grant. Since then, C2C member farmworkers have been busy putting that grant money to excellent use.

Farmworkers gathered in early spring to prune and care for the perennial crops planted last year, build a fence, and prepare the garden beds to start planting vegetable and additional blueberry bushes.

The garden is five years old and has been tended by farmworker youth and their parents.

The new Farming Cooperative, Tierra y Libertad, is creating a training space to teach others about agroecology and traditional farming practices from Oaxaca, Mexico.

The food grown there will be eaten at the tables of the farmworker families working the land. The excess will be shared with other families who, for whatever reason, cannot grow their own or do not have access to organic produce. Depending on the quantity of produce, some of it may be sold to help pay for garden expenses.

To support the garden and get involved contatct C2C!

Through Her Eyes: The Struggle for Food Soveriegnty

Just in time for International Women’s Day, WhyHunger released its newest publication "Through Her Eyes: The Struggle for Food Sovereignty." We know that women are responsible for 60-80% of food production in the Global South and represent 50% of food chain workers in the U.S. Yet, women and girls are disproportionally affected by hunger.  This publication honors and amplifies the voices of women around the world who are fighting for food sovereignty and creating just, sustainable communities that benefit all. In Through Her Eyes, women from Florida to New Jersey and Puerto Rico to Mozambique share their opinions, stories and experiences on topics including agrochemicals, fishing practices, food stamps, GMOs, farmworkers and more.

Read the report here.

Unbroken Connection to the Land

David Bacon and Rosalinda Guillen | 2.8.17

Repost from Food First

The following is the eighth installment in Food First's Dismantling Racism in the Food System series, and is abridged from 2017’s forthcoming book Land Justice: Re-imagining Land, Food, and the Commons. This brief is based on an interview by David Bacon with farmworker activist Rosalinda Guillen. The transcript has been abridged and edited for clarity by Erik Hazard.

Click here to download this Backgrounder, view in full below, or read the interview in its entirety in Food First’s upcoming book Land Justice: Re-imagining Land, Food, and the Commons in the United States. 

Large tracts of agricultural land offer farmers the opportunity for increased production and profit—but not without a cost. While soy, corn, and other grain farmers barely afford it by using expensive, labor-saving machinery, genetically tailored seeds, fertilizers, and chemical inputs, that is not the case for other types of farmers. Farmers of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and livestock rely on human labor and skill. Most often, farmers find such labor in migrant and immigrant farmworkers.

The same market economy that compels the intensification and consolidation of agricultural land in the United States has also pushed farmers off their land, depressed local economies, and driven mass migration across Latin America. For generations, displaced peasant farmers have come to the United States seeking work. They often find it on farms, where they bring extensive knowledge and appreciation for growing food. However, what they often find here are dangerous working conditions and appallingly low wages.

This interview with Rosalinda Guillen highlights the interlocking destinies of farmers and farmworkers and the ways in which the land and its people can resist the exploitation and discrimination of migrant farm work while offering a deep, restorative land ethic. It reminds us that the knowledge and skills that farmworkers have gained over lifetimes and generations of farming is a precious resource essential for a new food system.

Click here to download this Backgrounder, view in first page below, or read the interview in its entirety in Food First’s upcoming book Land Justice: Re-imagining Land, Food, and the Commons in the United States. 

Keep Bellingham Working Ordinance + Keep WA Working Act

Big News! C2C has helped introduce two important pieces of legislation on the local and state level to provide security, protection, and rights for vulnerable communities. 

Read Keep Washington Working Act (SB-5689)

Read Keep Bellingham Families Working Ordinance

Keep Bellingham Working Ordinance

With local and statewide collaboration of grassroots organizations led by people of color and undocumented activists in Whatcom County, C2C, The Racial Justice Coalition, Latino Advocacy and the WWU-Blue Group, have written and introduced an ordinance we know will provide security, protection, and rights for all vulnerable people in Bellingham. The Bellingham City Council is now considering a vote on the ordinance. We need your support now more than ever. 

Please e-mail the Bellingham City Council and encourage them to vote yes on the Keep Bellingham Families Working ordinance.

Keep Washington Working Act

Our bill SB-5689, The Keep Washington Working Act, was introduced on Thursday, Feb. 2nd in the Senate and referred to the Commerce, Labor and Sports Committee! We are not only thrilled because we have an amazing bill drafted by grassroots leaders from C2C, Whatcom Civil Rights Project, Latino Advocacy, and Latino Civic Alliance; but also because it was kept in our preferred committee as was our goal. This is a historic moment. Not only do we have a bill we can champion because it is written by us and for us to clearly protect our communities; but because this is happening during the fascist attacks from the new presidential administration.

English Talking Points for SB-5689

Puntos Para Discusión SB-5689

Please distribute far and wide. It is time to start building support and educating communities about what undocumented people really want in policy. We will let you know as soon as we have a hearing date, so we can plan our turn-out and support for the bill.

You can follow the bill here. 

Call Commerce Committee members to voice your support. Contact information for the committee members here.

Christmas Tamales Sold Out!

Tamales are sold out. If you submitted an order form you can pick up your tamales anytime after 6pm on Saturday, December 17th at Bellingham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (1207 Ellsworth St, Bellingham, WA 98225)

6 Reasons to Vote No on 1-732

Photo Credit: Front and Centered

#DontBeNeutral l www.dontbeneutral.org

1.     It Won’t Work
A slowly rising carbon price may have worked in 1986 -- but in 2016 now need we need massive investments in clean energy and strong communities. In British Columbia, the model for I-732, a ‘revenue-neutral’ carbon tax has been around for eight years, and greenhouse gas emissions have gone up.

2.     It Squanders Resources Needed to Fight Climate Change
Clean energy investments are essential to transitioning away from fossil fuels, but I-732 is ‘revenue-neutral’ opting for tax cuts over climate infrastructure. Our legislature is already failing to fund basic education, we won’t get another shot.

3.     It is a Corporate Giveaway
Instead of climate investments, I-732 gives tax cuts to big corporations, Boeing alone could get $50 million a year in tax giveaways. In British Columbia, two thirds of carbon revenues go to corporate pockets.

4.     It Robs the State Budget, Hurting People Most in Need.
The Initiative was poorly drafted and would result in a $797 million budget hole in the first six fiscal years -- despite proponents attempts to downplay the bad news -- which would impact people with lower incomes and communities of color the hardest.

5.     Environmentalists, Progressives, Workers, and Communities of Color Say Vote No
Washington Conservation Voters, the Progressive Voters Guide, Washington State Labor Council, and Front and Centered, among many others committed to climate action, urge you to vote no.

6.     There is a Better Way
Right now in California more than one billion dollars of polluter pays money each year is invested in transit, solar power, and affordable housing near jobs -- and California is on track to meet its its climate targets unlike British Columbia where the revenue-neutral model is in place. A broad coalition is moving forward on an approach that centers investment.

Institutional food purchasing the target of upcoming forum

Reposted article by Stephanie Danahue of The Northern Light

It’s one thing to convince a friend or family member to purchase healthy food, but it’s another to make it a viable option for public institutions tasked with feeding the masses.

On Thursday, November 17, stakeholder groups focused on transforming the way public institutions purchase food, as well as interested members of the public, are invited to attend Whatcom Food Network’s fall forum. The session, which features a series of presentations and networking opportunities, lasts from 1 to 5 p.m. in the Garden Room at Whatcom County Public Works facility, located at 322 N. Commercial Street in Bellingham.

The Whatcom Food Network has hosted the forum twice a year since 2012 to provide a place for advocacy groups to network and stay up to date on the latest initiatives to improve the way food is purchased, consumed and disposed of. The forum acts as a valuable resource for the public to learn more on the topic and to connect with organizations promoting the cause.

This year, familiar faces from the Bellingham-based Opportunity Council, Community to Community, the Community Food Co-op and Sustainable Connections plan to attend, said Whatcom Food Network assistant Diana Meeks.

The Center for Good Food Purchasing associate director Colleen McKinney will lead a presentation about values-based food purchasing for public institutions. To guide them in this effort, the organization carries the five following core values: to improve local economies, maintain health, boost the local workforce, protect animal welfare and increase environmental sustainability.

The organization continues to lead the effort in health conscious and locally based food purchasing for public institutions such as schools, hospitals and government agencies. Staff with the organization credit their work with the Los Angeles School District as being one of their greatest successes. With their help, the school district now serves locally sourced and healthy meals.

Maintaining a sustainable and local food source “makes a really big impact on local and regional food systems,” Meeks said.

Guest speaker Mark Peterson from Bellingham-based Sustainable Connections will also make an appearance to discuss organic food waste in Whatcom County and the associated challenges.

Participants will have the chance to take part in an open discussion about local food systems and will have additional opportunities to network with the slew of interest groups already on the docket to attend.

The event is free and requires an RSVP.

To learn more call 360/647-7093 or visit their website at whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/foodnetwork.

No More False Solutions. We Need a Just Transition Now.

Blog Post by Edgar Franks, Formacion Civica Coordinator.

Coming out of the COP21 in Paris last December, we on the front lines knew that the agreement was not a real solution to our climate crisis. It was apparent that this was a world wide market scheme that didn't do much for the people who are already dealing with the consequences of global warming and rising sea levels. Effected communities called for an end to fracking, to leave fossil fuels in the ground, and to keep global temperatures from rising past the 1.5 Celsius degree threshold. The overarching demand was to end false solutions and techno fixes to the climate crises. such as the carbon market.

The COP21 heard arguments from indigenous people from across the globe and also from peasant farmers and fisherfolk who reject the false promises of market-based solutions. Unfortunately their pleas were not listened to. The people we claim are our heroes, the ones that are resisting mega extractive projects like pipelines, mining, coal ports, and industrial agriculture, were left out of the climate talks. The loss of the their voices at the table resulted was the loss of a human rights and indigenous rights framework for our future. 

Among the groups at the table were established "civil" society groups, the ones who claim to be experts and work with the grassroots communities. They usually get their funding from governments and corporations with a specific agenda: to make minimal reforms without changing the structures or systems that are causing harm to Mother Earth; the systems that keep money flowing to the polluters while the rest of the world burns.

We left the COP more motivated than ever to make sure that these false solutions didn't take hold in our local communities. Here in Washington we are at a critical time. Even though we are blessed with an abundance of natural resources and beauty, we are not immune to the effects of climate change. Just last year the Olympic forest caught fire for the first time in recorded history. Our waters are warming so fast that we are in danger of losing salmon and shellfish. We experienced an unprecedented drought that we still haven't recovered from. All this is the new normal. We can only expect things to get worse unless we act and begin to put forth bold ideas and action.

In order for this to happen we must listen to the voices of those on the ground who have to deal with the daily consequences of climate change and environmental damage. Who are these people in our own backyard? They are those who live in poverty who are exposed to higher levels of toxics and pollutants (like farm workers who, in order to make a living, have to work under the increasingly hot summer sun for over 12 hours in pesticide and agrochemical covered fields). They are the people in the cities who breathe in the pollutants from traffic and other industries. They are the native people who are at risk of losing their livelihood, salmon and water that they fought to preserve for generations. They are the workers who are in refineries but want to transition to a new fossil fuel free economy. These people feel the impact of climate change and they deserve a seat at the table when it comes to proposing solutions, especially because these decisions impact their lives culturally and economically.

We have seen this cycle of "experts", think tanks, and non-profits try to say that they represent us. And just like at the COP21 they only speak for their own interests. If we get mentioned it's only in a paternalistic and tokenized way. But we are no longer willing to play that game because we ourselves have the solutions. Carbon markets and capitalism have proven to be disastrous and the reason why we are at this critical point of no return in climate crisis. Ask the people in the gulf coast and in Haiti who are now dealing with yet another crisis, and the people in Standing Rock who are fighting against the pipelines, wether they think a climate tax will save them.

We propose to have a bold vision and just transition where a new economy is based on justice and sustainably and not on profits and extraction.

The Revolution is Community

Guest Blog post from Naim Edwards, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network.

The “world hunger” discussion – certainly in the media – focuses on the overdeveloped nations and wealthy individuals figuring out how to help and provide resources for less industrialized nations to feed themselves. Whether it’s the G8, Monsanto, the Gates Foundation, or any other corporate entity, their answer to solving world hunger includes economic growth and some new agriculture technology. Both of those solutions are misinformed and unnecessary. The solution is actually quite simple; the people experiencing hunger probably know the answer better than most. World hunger will cease to be an issue when all people have the right to produce and share food as they see fit.

When examined from a political lens, world hunger is fundamentally a power issue. Governments have co-opted the power of their people in order to join the rat race of capitalism; corporations also deceive governments and people with false promises of a better quality of life once they’re given permission to establish themselves. The creation of world hunger probably began with the onslaught of colonialism and continues with the perpetuation of neoliberalism through trade agreements and more militarized foreign affairs. In both cases, stable populations of people are coerced into divesting of power, which leads to increased dependence on global forces.

 Local people power can neither be measured by weapons technology nor GDP.  Rather, the power of a community can be qualified by the health of individuals and their bonds with one another. When a group of people is healthy and has strong relationships built on trust, it possesses resilience. Food production gives people the power to sustain themselves. Moreover, a society that supports agriculture that is healing to the Earth and its people is arguably the fundamental building block of civilization. Regarding world hunger, it is clear that widespread starvation is the result of taking a population and individuals’ ability to feed themselves.

With this understanding, it is encouraging to know the solution to hunger is clear; give the power back. Stated differently, countries and corporations must acknowledge and allow populations of people to have food sovereignty. Via Campesina, the world’s strongest grassroots organization fighting for food sovereignty defines it as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” As simple as it sounds, there is strong opposition to the food sovereignty movement. Such a model does not play into and benefit the profit driven model so many countries and companies adhere to.

Nonetheless, the movement has been named and defined and people all over the world are pursuing it. More importantly, groups of people are organizing collectively, and one organization doing that in the United States is the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA). The USFSA is dedicated to ending poverty and bringing forth more democratic control over the food system locally, nationally, and globally. The alliance also hosts the Food Sovereignty Prize, an annual event that honors organizations leading the food sovereignty movement.

 This years honorees are the Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF) and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). Both organizations are challenging systems of oppression through organizing people experiencing injustice in the food system. They also practice principles of agroecology, which seek to incorporate culture, activism, and ecologically sound practices into food production. Thanks to the efforts of AFSA and FWAF world hunger is not simply being addressed by feeding people or making them conform to foreign food production techniques. These grassroots organizations are building resilient communities and recognizing the power and dignity of the people they serve.

Naim Edwards, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

Important Message from FUJ

Dear Supporters,

As of today, Sept. 4, 2016 Sakuma Brothers Farms and Familias Unidas por La Justicia have mutually agreed to conduct a secret ballot election within the next 8 days. The election will determine if the employees want to be represented by Familias Unidas por La Justicia in collective bargaining with Sakuma Farms. Thanks to your tireless efforts we are entering into this next phase of our union’s development with hope and determination. At this time we are calling for an end of the boycott, and all boycott activities. Out of respect for the process and our memorandum of understanding with the company please do not contact past, present or potential customers, purchasers, sellers or users of products coming from Sakuma Bros Berry Farm to convey criticism of any and all aspects of Sakuma’s business and operations.

Please stay tuned at the Familias Unidas por La Justicia Facebook page for updates.

Gracias,

Ramon Torres
Felimon Pineda
FUJ

#FUJsolidaridad #FUJsolidarity

Eighth Annual Food Sovereignty Prize Honors Grassroots Organizations Calling Big Ag’s Bluff

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                        

 Media Contacts:                                                    

Heather Day, Executive Director, Community Alliance for Global Justice                                                                                         Heather@cagj.org |206.724.224

Colette Cosner, Communications Coordinator, Community to Community Development                                                                     Colettecosner@gmail.com | 206.250.2680

International Allies Challenge Corporate Control of the Food System and False Solutions of Biotechnology

Eighth Annual Food Sovereignty Prize Honors Grassroots Organizations Calling Big Ag’s Bluff  

 

SEATTLE, WA, August, 31 2016 ­– The US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA) is pleased to announce the honorees of the eighth annual Food Sovereignty Prize:  the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and the Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF). The honorees were selected for their success in promoting food sovereignty, agroecology and social justice to ensure that all people have access to fresh, nutritious food produced in harmony with the planet.

Lauded as an alternative to the World Food Prize, the Food Sovereignty Prize champions real solutions to hunger and is recognized by social movements, activists and community-based organizations around the world. The 2016 honorees are strident in their resistance to the corporate control of our food system, including false solutions of biotechnology that damage the planet while exacerbating poverty and hunger. Their programs and policies support small-scale farmers and communities, build unified networks, and prioritize the leadership of food providers, including women, farmworkers, peasants, indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities within the system.

“Hunger is not a technical problem, it’s a political problem,” said John Peck, Executive Director of Family Farm Defenders and US Food Sovereignty Alliance member.  “Small farmers have had the solution to hunger for millennia in agroecology and food sovereignty.”

“The Borlaug and Gates Foundations and multinational corporations like Monsanto promote biotechnology because they profit from it. Ask the millions of farmworkers, family farmers and family fishermen feeding their communities what they need and they will tell you:  access to land, clean water and their own seeds,” noted Diana Robinson, Campaign and Education Coordinator at the Food Chain Workers Alliance and US Food Sovereignty Alliance member.

About the Honorees

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) was founded in 2008 by a group of activist networks and launched in Durban, South Africa, during the 2011 alternative people's climate summit, organized to counter the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference Of the Parties 17 talks (COP17). AFSA brings together organizations representing smallholder farmers, pastoralists and hunter/gatherers; indigenous peoples; youth, women and consumer networks; people of faith; and environmental activists from across Africa. Together they advocate for community rights and family farming, promote traditional knowledge systems, and protect natural resources. In the face of increased corporate agribusiness interests threatening their food systems, including massive land and water grabs, the criminalization of seed-saving practices, and false solutions to climate change such as so-called "Climate-Smart Agriculture", AFSA unites the people most impacted by these injustices to advance food sovereignty through agroecological practices, policy work and movement-building efforts.

Bern Guri, The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa’s chairperson, noted, “Africa has a myriad of ways to feed her people and to keep her environment safe. However, a few international corporations from the global North have generated approaches strictly for their own profit by misleading our leaders and our people, stealing our seeds and culture, and destroying our environment.”

For AFSA it is clear that the way forward will allow food producers, supported by consumers, to take control of production systems and markets to provide healthy and nutritious food. Facing the many ecological, economic and social challenges in today’s world requires an urgent transition to agroecology to establish the ecologically sustainable, socially just and nutritious food systems of the future, and it can be done through the collective, inclusive and democratic co-generation of the knowledge held by farmers, consumers, researchers and African governments, who are meant to serve the interests of their (farming) populations.

The Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF), founded in 1986, has a long-standing mission to build power among farmworker and rural low-income communities to gain control over the social, political, workplace, economic, health and environmental justice issues affecting their lives. Their guiding vision is a social environment in which farmworkers are treated as equals, not exploited and deprived based on race, ethnicity, immigrant status, or socioeconomic status. As members of the world’s largest social movement, La Via Campesina, FWAF is building collective power and a unified force for providing better living and working conditions, as well as equity and justice for farmworker families and communities.  This includes building leadership and activist skills among communities of color who are disproportionately affected by pesticide exposure/health problems, environmental contamination, racism, exploitation and political under-representation while lifting up women’s wisdom and leadership.

"Farmworker families pay the greatest price in the corporate food system of today.  They work in fields of poison and exploitation so that people can easily access cheap foods,” explained Elvira Carvajal, Farmworker Association of Florida's lead organizer in Homestead, Florida. “We have a vision to bring together the community around the art of healing with good food and herbs, which is part of our culture.  We practice agroecology in the community by sharing the knowledge we bring from our grandparents, our mothers, our families, our ancestors.  The meeting of cultures that happens in the gardens, where we grow our own food without chemicals, and sharing plants and traditions and knowledge across generations is a beautiful thing.  I am proud of our own people practicing food and seed sovereignty."

US Food Sovereignty Alliance members Community to Community Development and Community Alliance for Global Justice will host the prize for the first time in the Northwest, welcoming the 2016 Honorees and Alliance partners from across the country to Seattle and Bellingham for several days of activities and actions. The prize ceremony will take place on Saturday, October 15th at 6pm at Town Hall  at Eighth and Seneca in Seattle.

For event updates and more information on the prize and this year’s winners visit www.foodsovereigntyprize.org, follow the Food Sovereignty Prize at facebook.com/FoodSovereigntyPrize and join the conversation on Twitter (#foodsovprize).

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About US Food Sovereignty Alliance

The US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA) is a US-based alliance of food justice, anti-hunger, labor, environmental, faith-based and food producer groups that upholds the right to food as a basic human right and works to connect our local and national struggles to the international movement for food sovereignty. The Alliance works to end poverty, rebuild local food economies and assert democratic control over the food system, believing that all people have the right to healthy, culturally appropriate food produced in an ecologically sound manner. Learn more at usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org.