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Border Witness & Fair Trade Delegations | Trade Policy | Cross-border Solidarity | Order our book | Links
NOTE: NO DELEGATIONS ARE SCHEDULED FOR 2012
International Project |
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NOTE: NO DELEGATIONS ARE SCHEDULED FOR 2012
People-to -people exchanges
The mission of the International Project of the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State is to build the global solidarity that both religious and labor traditions have long valued and encouraged.
At the Project's core are two kinds of people-to-people exchanges. In addition to Border Witness delegations described below, the Coalition began offering Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegations in 2009. In conjunction with the LRC Fair Trade Project, Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegations invite participants to learn about an economic model that replaces exploitation with justice. Delegations to Dominican Republic and Nicaragua are being planned for 2012.
Labor-Religion Border Witness Delegations have brought New Yorkers to speak with Mexican workers, some of whom work in the maquiladoras (factories where clothing and computers and consumer goods are assembled for export) of northern Mexico. Free trade zones were established along the Mexican border in the mid-1960s, multiplying after NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) was implemented in 1994.
Many communities in New York State had seen factories close and move to Mexico to take advantage of unjust wages and un-enforced environmental laws. The Labor-Religion Coalition believes it is important to bring these workers together--those who lost jobs and those who gained them--to analyze the economic system that is devastating individuals and communities on its "race to the bottom." This learning provides a microscopic experience by which the present corporate model of the global trade system can be examined as a whole.
The strategy chosen is to organize delegations of about a dozen New Yorkers to travel to communities in northern Mexico for five days of intensive interaction with community leaders and workers. With deep regret, we have decided to suspend our Border Witness delegations to the El Paso region and to the Mexican community of Palomas. The delegation scheduled for October 28- November 3, 2010 has been cancelled. Please view a September 2010 message from International Project Coordinator Maureen Casey about this decision. Two groups participated in Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegations in 2011.
As of June 2008, 333 persons have traveled on 23 very special “border witness” journeys. Participants return home to educate others about their experience and continue building cross-border partnerships.
Youth changed for life
Youth began traveling on these Labor-Religion trips in 2001. One-hundred-six students, from middle-school through college, have become “border witnesses,” frequently returning “changed for life.”
Last Updated:12/06/2011
© Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
