News from the Field---July 2011

On Monday, July 11th, a small group of dedicated people met in front of the White House to call for an end to the free trade model and specifically to stop the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. Speakers from the labor, environmental, human rights and faith communities both in the US and Colombia, gathered by our friends, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, spoke opposing the Colombia FTA which promises to be devastating for union workers, displaced persons, Afro-Colombians, indigenous people, farmers, and the environment. Ellen McGill, an WFP activist from Rhode Island, sent these photos of those who were arrested (4 people, one a Colombian woman). Ellen reports, “As usual, I found that the people actually experiencing the oppression were the most impressive. Despite a weak PA system, the union leader from Sinaltrainal (a man) and an Afro-Colombian man, (a minister as I recall), grabbed the audience's attention with their passionate views on the effects of the proposed FTA with Colombia."

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