CISPES fall tour featuring Josefina Lazo -- "We're Not Terrorists, We're Organizers!"

Friends in solidarity --

SAVE THE DATE for the 2007 CISPES Fall Tour
Thursday, November 1 at 7:00 pm
Josefina Lazo, Leader in the Salvadoran National CD/DVD Vendors Movement
The Women's Building, San Francisco

From the frontlines of the Salvadoran resistance to US intervention and police brutality --- Josefina Lazo will speak about the newly formed Street Vendors Union in response to violent police raids in El Salvador, endorsed by the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security.

After a tumultuous summer challenging the Salvadoran government's efforts to implement the Bush Administration-inspired "anti-terrorism" law, Bay Area CISPES went full force into a successful Week of Action in October.

Our October 9 protest was part of a national mobilization to drop all charges against the 13 water-privatization protesters who are being tried as terrorists. We made so much noise at the Salvadoran consulate that they sent the State Department down to find out who was causing all the trouble. See video coverage of the San Francisco protest at http://www.cispes.org or http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/10/10/18453235.php (thanks, Bill!)


In the wake of those actions, Bay Area CISPES welcomes Josefina Lazo on her national grassroots tour of the U.S. this month. Josefina Lazo , a leader of the National Vendors Movement, will criss-cross the country this fall as part of the "We are NOT Terrorists – Organizing is Democracy!" tour. CISPES is proud to host this amazing social movement leader, and you can find out more about her on our webpage at http://www.cispes.org.

Josefina will conclude her tour in Ft. Benning, Georgia, where she will speak at the gates of the School of the Americas about the effort to close the new International Law Enforcement Academy in El Salvador (more info about the SOA vigil here, and about the ILEA here.)

Josefina will be speaking about how police repression in El Salvador is being used against incredible social movement organizing, especially in the informal sector, and the critical role of international solidarity.

Please join us on Thursday, November 1 at 7:00pm at the Women's Building in San Francisco (3543 18th Street, at Valencia). Sliding scale $5-$25, all are welcome regardless of ability to pay. Funds from this event will go directly to the frontlines of resistance to free trade and privatization in El Salvador.

Come out and support vibrant Latin American social movements as they continue the tide of change in the continent, towards a more just and humane world. Si se puede!


Bay Area CISPES, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador

http://www.cispes.org