Project Partner Spotlight: 

Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations (CUSLAR)

by Liz Field, CTA Communications Manager

In a few weeks' time, from August 17-19, the Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations (CUSLAR) will host the eleventh annual "Spanish for Activists Camp" at the Foundation of Light in Ithaca, NY. The camp is co-organized with the New York CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) office, and every year about 200 people come to enjoy Spanish classes, workshops and panels on current social and political issues on Latin America and U.S. policy, as well as music, dancing and food. The camp is family-friendly; a couple of years ago they began offering activities for kids of all ages. According to Tim Shenk, director of CUSLAR, "The weekend is a regional gathering for building a network of social justice organizations and solidarity groups in the region."

Spanish for Activists Camp participant Adele Rolider prepares for a presentation of Mercedes Sosa's song, "Gracias a la vida," an assignment of the Intermediate Spanish class, July 2011

In addition to learning Spanish or English in a fun and friendly atmosphere, the camp seeks to strengthen networks around the following themes:

• Immigration and immigrant rights as human rights, in the face of new state and federal legislation, deportations and militarization of northern and southern borders;
• Analysis of U.S. economic policy with a focus on opposition to free trade agreements, which destroy local agriculture and self-sufficiency in the U.S. and throughout the hemisphere;
• Eco-justice in the Americas, connecting struggles to defend land, water and natural resources throughout Latin America, to the efforts to block gas drilling in New York and Pennsylvania.

These themes fit in with the overall goals of CUSLAR, which include studying the root causes of migration; U.S. militarization of Latin America; and resource extraction in Latin America. For the latter, CUSLAR focuses on comparisons between mining and other resource extraction in Latin America and hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," in the U.S. and what activists, particularly in New York, can learn from the sustained movements against resource extraction south of the border.

CUSLAR is one of our oldest project partners. The organization actually started in 1965 before the Center for Transformative Action even began, and joined CTA (at the time we were called CRESP) in 1975. In the past forty-seven years, CUSLAR has fought for the rights of the people of Latin America and educated thousands of U.S. citizens about the impacts of U.S. militarization on the Latin American population.

Read the whole article here.

For more information, go to the CUSLAR homepage.

To learn more or to register for Spanish camp, sign up here.

Parenting from the Heart. Our children are so important to us, yet sometimes we struggle to parent in ways we feel truly good about. Please join Judy Burrill and CTA for an eight-week class that will help parents and caregivers explore how to: 

• Understand the needs behind your children's behavior.
• Parent effectively without relying on the threat of punishments or promise of rewards.
• Transform power struggles into opportunities for building connection and trust.
• Discover a quality of connection that will sustain your family through life's challenges.
• Contribute to peace by raising children who can make peace.

Click here for more information. 

Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming, part of the Ecovillage Center for Sustainability Education, is offering the following workshops this summer. These electives are part of their Sustainable Farming Certificate Program and open to the public. 

• Small Fruit Production Basics (August 6) 
• See the whole calendar here. 

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