History: Spring 2007 Programming
For Winter 2007, CALA's programming focused on Trade. Those of us following current events Latin America find that trade policies are fundamental to many other issues: immigration is rooted in lack of economic opportunity exacerbated by trade policy, agricultural trade policy is harming farmers worldwide, intellectual property rules within trade agreements are threatening food security, etc. So this semester we are taking a cross-disciplinary approach to Latin American issues, using the lense of trade.
Here is our current plan, subject to change. Email us to confirm the schedule at info at calamadison.org
Tuesday, January 23: Mexico's Coming Oil Crisis, a presentation and discussion with Larry Walker about the challenges Mexico faces as it's main oil fields dry up. Their constitution does not allow foreign investment for exploration. How will Mexico respond, and how will the US replace this important source of oil? 7pm, UW Memorial Union, check the listings at the entrance for the specific room number
Tuesday, January 30th: 24 Hours on Trade. Together with the Madison Fair Trade Action Alliance, CALA hosts Mary Bottari of Global Trade Watch and Nino Amato of Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition. They will provide a groundwork for understanding global trade issues such as the World Trade Organization, Fast Track, Free Trade Agreements, and why we should be concerned about their undemocratic practices both in Latin America and the United States. 7pm, tentatively planned for UW Humanities Building. Check back for exact location.
Wednesday, January 31st: Day Two of 24 Hours on Trade. From noon to 4pm, check out our informational tables in the Memorial Union. Join us after 4pm for lobbying on Free Trade. At 7pm, there will be a panel discussion on how global trade effects farmers and workers here and abroad, and we'll look at the alternatives to destructive trade practices which we can all participate in right now!7pm, panel tentatively planned for UW Humanities Building. Check back for exact location.
Tuesday, February 13: What is the Fair Trade University? Find out more about the growing partnership among Madison's Just Coffee, Guatemala's Santa Anita Cooperative, and the Madison Fair Trade Action Alliance, to create the Fair Trade University, a 1-week intensive educational program scheduled for spring break 2007 in Guatemala. 7pm at Rainbow Bookstore, 426 West Gilman, just off State.
Tuesday, February 27: Venezuela's Approach to Trade. Sergio Sanchez is an advisor to Venezuela's National Institute for Educational Cooperation, which forms part of the Ministry of Popular Economy. He will speak about the Bolivarian Revolution as an economic force in Latin America. Venezuela's economic goals include increased partnerships between Latin American countries, to the exclusion of US investment. 7pm at Rainbow Bookstore, 426 West Gilman, just off State.
Tuesday, March 13: Student Activism for Trade Justice. In the 1980s, Latin American activism focused largely on civil wars and US military intervention. A new generation of young activists concerned about Latin America will share their experiences in organizing around trade, which some say is the new war on Latin America. Come and be inspired by the next generation of Latin American activists! 7pm at Rainbow Bookstore, 426 West Gilman, just off State.
Tuesday, March 27:There Is No Mexico Without Corn. Author John Ross has been writing on Mexico for over a decade. For this talk, he focuses on the threat to Mexico's corn farmers posed by globalization and imports of genetically modified corn, and he outlines the resistance of indigenous peoples to this invasion from the north. Corn encapsulates the Mexican identity much as olives do in Palestine, date palms in Iraq, and coca in Peru and Bolivia. Join this exploration of how global trade threatens food sovereignty and traditional cultures in Latin America. 7pm at Rainbow Bookstore, 426 West Gilman, just off State.
Tuesday, April 10: The Globalized Farmer-to-Farmer Movement. We've invited John Kinsman of Family Farm Defenders to highlight the efforts of farmers to make partnerships across borders as a response to global trade issues. John has travelled in Latin America and globally with the message that farmers the world over (and their crops) are threatened by the corporatization of agriculture. 7pm at Rainbow Bookstore, 426 West Gilman, just off State.
Tuesday, April 24: US Immigration Policies, Sending Country Realities: A View from Mexico.
Come learn more about the impacts of recent US
immigration policies on migrants and migrant-sending
communities in Mexico. Awareness about the
challenges and injustices faced by immigrants living
in the United States is rising. Less is known about
the conditions prevailing in sending countries that
lead people to migrate in the first place, and about
the positive and negative impacts of migration on the
development and social fabric of migrant-sending
communities. This talk aims to link US immigration
policies to migrant-sending country realities, with a
focus on Mexico. The discussion will be led by Jessa
and Brent Valentine, who recently spent a year
working in various migrant-sending communities in the
Oaxacan countryside. 7pm at Rainbow Bookstore, 426 West Gilman, just off State.
Sunday, May 6: Listen to CALA's Marc Becker and Christian Hainds from Hands Off Venezuela interview Eva Golinger on Venezuela for WORT radio's Third World View program (MP3 Real Audio file, 7Mb, streaming)
Tuesday, May 8:
The National Endowment for Democracy: U.S. Tax Dollars and Regime Change in Venezuela. Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan-American lawyer and author of The Chavez Code, which exposed US government involvement in the April 2002 military coup that briefly ousted left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, before he was reinstated by a popular uprising. Golinger is a determined campaigner against Washington's attacks on Venezuela. Her latest book, published in late 2006 in Spanish, is titled Bush vs. Chavez: Washington's War Against Venezuela. The books are based on extensive research of declassified US government documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Co-sponsored by Community Action on Latin America, the UW Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program, the UW Global Studies Program, Rainbow Bookstore, and Hands Off Venezuela. Listen to streaming audio of her talk (MP3 Real Audio file, 28mb, 2 hours).