Jul
Defending Natural Resources
USESSC in solidarity with Stop line 3
The US El Salvador Sister City Network has worked in solidarity with the Salvadoran social movement and CRIPDES, a rural campesino organizing federation, since the mid 1980’s. This relationship was forged in a time of war and has deep roots. We have found that our struggle has often been around the defense of the environment, in particular water. We have come together as water defenders in the struggle to stop toxic mining projects and to prevent the privatization and commodification of water. We understand the critical and leading role indigenous peoples play in the global struggle in defense of water and in addressing climate change.
In the past we worked in solidarity with the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa to stop mining projects in both Wisconsin and El Salvador. Kenia Ortez, a Salvadoran anti-mining organizer, came to Wisconsin and visited Bad River while Aurora Conley of Bad River went to El Salvador. Both shared stories of our common struggle against transnational assaults on our peoples and land. Like the Salvadoran social movement, the Sister Cities network is guided by the principle that only organized people can defeat organized money.
It is in this spirit that we wish to extend a message of solidarity to the Water Defenders in the struggle to stop line 3. We will share this message within our networks and encourage support of the struggle to stop line 3. The understanding that “water is life” is true for all. This struggle for life continues.
In solidarity,
USESSC
