ARTICLE: Postcards from Quito – the context of the First Social Forum of the Americas

ANALYSIS: Elections in Chiapas, who won?

SIPAZ Activities (July – September, 2004)

30/09/2004

In August we participated in an observation caravan in the Montes Azules Biosphere (Jungle region).
Also in August, we attended the first anniversary party of the Caracoles in Oventik.
In September we went to northern Zone to visit and interview leaders in the region.
We followed up on the prevailing situation in the municipality of Zinacantan after the violence in April through interviews with organizations that work in the area and a visit to some of the affected communities.
We met with Juan Esponda from the state Commission for Reconciliation of divided communities to discuss the situation in the Highlands, Northern and Jungle regions.

We received visits, delegations, students and journalists (mostly from the United States and Europe) and informed them of the situation in Chiapas and the work of SIPAZ.
We organized a delegation with the North American organization Global Exchange that came to Chiapas for one week in August.
We interviewed specific people from the State Commission of Human Rights and wrote an Urgent Action about this case.
We interviewed several top leaders in Oaxaca, Guerrero and Mexico City in order to exchange information regarding the prevailing situation in these regions, as well as, in a general sense, on the national level.
In August, we attended the colloquium “Chiapas Ten Years After,” which was designed to analyze the transformations that have occurred in the state since the neo-Zapatista armed uprising.
In September, we participated in a series of conferences that took place in the framework of the inauguration of the “Immanuel Wallerstein Center of Studies, Information and Documentation at the University of la Tierra/Ciepas and the Indigenous Center of Integral Training (CIDECI).

We continue to participate in the Network for Peace, a space of action and reflection that seeks to support peace processes at the organizational and community levels in Chiapas.
We continue to hold workshops on the Culture of Peace and Human Rights with the youth of the Center of Community Development (CEDECO) of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
In August, a puppet troupe named “Diversity” presented shows on the value of diversity and reconciliation in various communities along the border zone.

We held meetings and interviews with religious leaders from Chenalho and San Cristobal de Las Casas.
We attended the 10th Latin American Congress “Religion and Ethnicity” on religious pluralism and social transformations held in San Cristobal de Las Casas on July 5-19.
In August, we facilitated a workshop on Conflict Transformation with a delegation of pastors from the United Church of Christ of Wisconsin at INESIN (Institute of Social and Intercultural Studies) in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

At the beginning of July, we presented our work in Chiapas at an international meeting of Forces for Non-Violent Peace in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos.
In July we attended the Mesoamerican Forums that took place in El Salvador, including the 5^th Mesoamerican Forum against the Plan Puebla Panama and for the Self-determination of Peoples, the 3^rd Mesoamerican Forum against Repression, the 4^th Week of Biological and Cultural Diversity, and the First Mesoamerican Meeting for Women in resistance for a dignified life.
At the end of July, we participated in the 2^nd Continental Summit of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala (Latin America) and the Social Forum of the Americas in Quito, Ecuador. We participated as presenters in a panel on “Threats to Peace in Latin America”.
We participated in the 1st National Forum of Autonomy “Many hands and a heart to fight,” convened by the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and organized by the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca “Ricardo Flores Magon” (CIPO-RFM) held on the 21^st and 22^ndof August 2004 in Oaxaca.