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Migrants Represent Global Movement
of the Poor
by Tim Shenk
Migrants ride on the tops of trains north through Mexico, hundreds at a time. In addition to extreme weather and the dangers of falling from the train, they face increasingly organized networks of criminals - sometimes in collusion with state agencies - who prey on their vulnerability.
Mexican official Miguel Osorio Chong estimated that 200,000 adults, families and a rising number of unaccompanied children made the often months-long journey from their homes in Central America through Mexico toward the United States in 2012. Somehow, this journey is preferable to staying home.
The above photo reflects the global reality that more and more people are on the move: 214 million people worldwide are living outside of their country of origin, double the figure from 30 years ago.
Migration is a global phenomenon that has been greatly accelerated by global economic and humanitarian crises. Shifting economic priorities, technological advances, war, state and gang violence, and continued incursion of transnational corporations into rural life have contributed to massive displacement of people. Not just another identity group, migrants represent the global movement of the poor and dispossessed.
The Committee on US/Latin American Relations (CUSLAR), a CTA Project Partner, is committed to upholding the human rights of all people. Part of that is contributing to global solutions to situations in which individuals and families find themselves forced to migrate in order to pursue a decent life.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that "the prescription for the cure rests with the accurate diagnosis of the disease." That is, in order to work toward viable solutions, it's necessary to understand the economic and political elements triggering migration and be able to critically examine arguments being made on all sides of the debate. For example, not all proponents of U.S. immigration reform have migrants' rights and interests in mind.
In two study/work groups--the Migrations Group and the Paulo Freire Study Group--CUSLAR is concentrating its educational work on migrations and land rights, and attempting to connect issues that are often dealt with separately.
The Migrations group has analyzed many ways immigration is talked about: as a problem of national security, as a question of assimilation, and as an issue of fundamental human rights.The Freire Study Group has focused this year on issues of land, food sovereignty and peasants' rights in the Southern Cone, especially on the Landless Workers' Movement of Brazil, and seeking justice after the 2012 Marina Kue massacre in Paraguay.
Each group is looking at particular ways people in the Americas are affected by the way the global economy works. Over the past two decades and especially since the 2008 crisis, investors have poured significant capital into buying land to control natural resources and biodiversity and to develop agribusiness. In 2011 the World Bank reported "a 12-fold increase in the amount of agricultural land acquired by foreign investors," notes Philip McMichael, who adds that "with rising energy and food prices, land has become the object of speculative investment."
The globalization of food production and the move from peasant production to agribusiness has caused the displacement of two million people in rural Mexico in the 20 years since NAFTA's implementation. In Brazil and Paraguay, industrial soy production for export is more profitable than growing food for local markets. Rural workers made superfluous by monocropping and heavy machinery are obligated to join the waves of migrants seeking to make a living in cities or abroad.
At CUSLAR, we're asking: Can the rights of displaced people truly be guaranteed in today's global economy? Can we imagine a world in which migration could be a choice, not a requirement to survive? We've heard about the right to adequate food, education and health care. But what about, as David Bacon suggests, the right to stay home?
Tim Shenk serves as CUSLAR Coordinator. This editorial from CUSLAR's upcoming May Newsletter was reprinted and amended with permission. To learn more about CUSLAR, visit their website.
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A New American farmer with Burlington, Vermont's
New Farms for New Americans
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New Americans, New Farmers:
How immigrants and refugees are enriching the landscape
Farms run by New Americans are thriving all over the United States. Fueled primarily by federal and state funding, New American agriculture programs offer immigrants and refugees opportunities to prosper from their agricultural skills while gaining valuable English language, marketing, and management experience.
New Americans often worked as farmers in their native countries and thus possess a great deal of agricultural knowledge; however, after arriving in the United States, New Americans may lack the capital necessary to purchase land or manage a farm business. Agricultural programming for New Americans extends the benefits of the local food and farming movement to these populations, merging public interest in the development of vibrant regional food economies with New Americans' expertise and needs. Vermont, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Idaho, as well as many other states, host notable New Americans agriculture programs, many of which are funded by the Refugee Agriculture Partnership Program and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Farmers from nations including Somalia, Cambodia, Bhutan, Burundi, Liberia, and Vietnam have thrived on American soil and started successful small farm businesses. Nonprofit organizations assist New Americans in learning the intricacies of the fickle North American climate, identifying prospective marketing channels, managing a farm business, and obtaining land, tools, and seeds.
New Farms for New Americans, a highly successful refugee and immigrant agriculture enterprise in Burlington, Vermont, provides New Americans with small plots of land in a communal field, and assists more ambitious clients with finding additional acreage. Fresh Start Farms in Portland, Maine, is a collective of New Americans who manage individual farms. Through Fresh Start Farms, the participants receive trainings and consultations on growing produce in the unfamiliar Maine climate.
Participants in such programs sell their produce or value-added products at neighborhood market stands, to restaurants, CSAs, and supermarkets, earning income while providing their communities with organic, locally grown produce. New Americans often grow crops native to their home countries, such as lemongrass and snake gourds, and use diverse growing techniques, such as trellising cucumbers.
In the Southern Tier region of NYS, the Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming, a CTA Project, is working to make land and other resources more available to New Americans interested in farming. Groundswell offers foreign-born and children of foreign-born Americans, refugees, and immigrants tailored farm business management, production, and marketing training; mentoring from experienced farmers and business advisors; and affordable access to land at EcoVillage in Ithaca, NY. Funding for this effort comes from a generous grant by the Appalachian Regional Commission, and is made possible by the "New Americans Initiative" recently launched by the NYS Department of State Office for New Americans.
By embarking upon this initiative, Groundswell hopes to help New Americans, including refugees and immigrants, participate in economic and entrepreneurial opportunities afforded by the growing local foods movement. Our goal is to increase the number of New American farmers in Central New York in order to enhance the cultural diversity of our farms and communities, which will also keep agricultural land and infrastructure in production.
To learn more about what Groundswell can offer, visit their website.
Susannah Spero helps Groundswell connect with New Americans in Ithaca. This article was reprinted with permission from Groundswell's March Newsletter.
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Salsa Night! CUSLAR Fundraiser and Newsletter Launch
Join CUSLAR for dinner at AGAVA and salsa dancing afterward! Donate, participate in the silent auction and the CUSLAR Newsletter launch, and celebrate CUSLAR's graduating seniors!
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
AGAVA, 381 Pine Tree Road, near East Hill Plaza, in Ithaca
With Palante Ithaca's DJ Michael Luis
Dinner and drinks: 8-10 pm
Brief presentation: 8:30 pm
Free salsa instruction: 10:00 pm
Dancing starts 11:00 pm
Tickets $5
A portion of every ticket supports CUSLAR's student internship program.
Dorothy Cotton Institute
Special Matinee Screening of Voices Across the Divide
Sunday, May 4, 2:00-4:00pm
Cinemapolis
120 East Green Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
The Dorothy Cotton Institute is sponsoring a showing of Voices Across the Divide, a powerful documentary and oral history project exploring the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, followed by a discussion with our friend, filmmaker Dr. Alice Rothchild.
Alice Rothchild is a physician, author of Our Bodies, Ourselves, and Broken Promises, Broken Dreams, and has led several delegations and medical missions to Palestine. Alice traveled with the DCI's 2012 Delegation to the West Bank.
Vitamin L
Come eat at Waffle Frolic on Friday May 2 from 4:00 - 8:00 and raise funds for Vitamin L in this easy way. Sandwiches and entrees are also available, and 25% of food sales during those hours will be donated to the Vitamin L Project.
Vitamin L will perform a concert on Saturday May 3 at the Walk a Mile in my Shoes walk for suicide prevention in Elmira at Eldridge Park in Elmira at 10:15 am. Vitamin L will also have a team walking a mile after the performance to help raise funds for this cause. Last year there were about 1,700 walkers at this event. To donate to Vitamin L's team, contact Vitamin L director Janice Nigro at (607) 273-4175.
Say hi to Vitamin L as they walk in the Ithaca Festival Parade on Thursday May 29 in honor of 25 years of Vitamin L!
See them perform at the Ithaca Festival on Saturday, May 31 from 12:00 - 12:45 at the Dewitt Park Stage.
It's audition season for Vitamin L for youth who are currently in 5th - 10th grade. This is an outstanding opportunity for kids who like to perform and sing, which working for social justice and peace at the same time. For audition info, go to http://vitaminl.org/ or call project director Janice Nigro at (607) 273-4175.
Sustainability Center
The People's Salon Series: Conversations that Matter for Your Future
"Can business and technology save us?"
May 8th, 7:00pm
Every day, the planet reports in with another example of a climate in disarray. Yet, we seem strangely paralyzed in responding appropriately to the threat. We need to develop a better understanding of why we are so slow to respond, how the structure of our economy both creates the problem and offers solutions, and what (exactly) are we, the people, going to do about protecting our shared future.
The conversation salons will begin with brief sketches by thoughtful citizens of some of the main perspectives on each topic before we open up the discussion to all salon attendees. Come prepared to listen, to be challenged, and to make your voice heard.
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Youth for a Sustainable Future
May 14, 6:30-8:30pm
The Tompkins County Youth Action Network and the Sustainability Center are teaming up to spotlight local youth activity involved in creating a bright, sustainable future for Tompkins County! Hear from a diverse panel of young people as they share their stories about creating a community that meets the needs of all. Enjoy light refreshments provided by GreenStar and Ithaca Bakery.
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Bike to Work--Breakfast Station
May 16, 7:30-9:30am
May is National Bike Month, and Tompkins County is "geared" up with several events to celebrate cycling to work, school, and beyond. Stop by the Sustainability Center, one of 9 local breakfast stations and mingle with our riders on your way to work or school. Enjoy breakfast pastries and fruit provided by LaTourelle, and explore our gallery while you are here!
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Engaging Rural Audiences on Climate Change: The Weird Weather Exhibit
May 22, 6:30-8:00pm
Hosted by Ingrid Zabel of the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI). PRI has created "Weird Weather," a traveling exhibit informed by a survey on perceptions of climate change from residents of rural communities in Upstate New York. The exhibit personalizes the growing effects of climate change within the region, and connects scientific data to significant societal issues. In this presentation, we will show results of the survey and discuss our motivations behind the exhibit and people's reactions to it.
More details for all these events can be found at the Sustainability Center's website.
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 The Center for Transformative Action (CTA) helps to create communities that work for everyone. We do this by providing fiscal sponsorship to innovative social change agents in New York State, as well as financial, human resources, and grants management services. CTA is an educational non-profit organization affiliated with Cornell University.
Our Vision
We envision change makers everywhere engaging and strengthening the power of the heart to remake the world.
Our Mission
We are an alliance of individuals and organizations inspired by principles of nonviolence and committed to bold action for justice, sustainability, and peace. CTA supports change makers with the tools to build thriving, inclusive communities that work for everyone. We serve our projects, the public, and Cornell University by offering educational programs and strategic organizational resources.
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CTA Staff
| Anke Wessels, Ph.D. Executive Director
117 Anabel Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-5027
Della Herden
Director of Operations
119 Anabel Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-6202
Email
Lisa Marsella Assistant to the Director of Operations
119 Anabel Taylor hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
607-255-6202
Email |
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