Call out endorsed by No One is Illegal Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories, promoted by the grass-roots team of Legacy of Equality,  Leadership and Organizing (LELO) and other organizations from Oregon and the State of Washington (included below), of an action that will take place on 13th and 14th of September in Seattle, Washington.
This Call out is not only for Mexicans but also for Latins who have had their rights violated in Mexico. Those who are interested please email me at karlalottini@hotmail.com or call to 778 251 0768

Are you Mexican, migrant, refugee, temporary worker, or one of the millions of survivors of the eternal socio-economic crisis of Mexico, who have had to leave EVERYTHING to come to Canada to find a safe, free, and peaceful life?

If you are one of us, consider denouncing the Mexican government (publicly or anonymously) before the people’s permanent tribunal on September 13th and 14th in Seattle, Washington, at an international event organized by LELO (founded forty years ago by Latin American field workers, construction workers, and the black cannery workers from Asia and the Pacific Islands who realized that their conditions and struggles were intertwined).

The complaints can be public or anonymous and are based on 5 questions which are presented below based on an interview with Ricardo Ortega, an organizer with LELO, and must be answered by August 20.  For those who want to make a public complaint and come to the event the 13th and 14th of September, it is really important to be signed up on the participant list. Accommodations can be provided by community allies.

Who, when, where, how and why?

1.    What is the People’s Permanent Tribunal? What is its importance at the international level?

The PPT is an international non governmental ethics tribunal, which examines the causes for the fundamental rights violations of the people, it determines if in fact such rights have been violated and denounces publicly the authors of these violations. The tribunal is made up of several well respected people who come from different countries, disciplines and ideologies. Their mission is to promote the universal respect for the fundamental rights of the people, minorities and individuals; and they works towards the creation of laws that protect those rights. Likewise it focuses primarily on the obvious and systematic violations of the rights of the people, minorities and individuals whether they are committed by the state, the authorities or other private groups or organizations. The PPT has backed and supported the struggles of the people against the violation of their fundamental rights, their self determination, and against foreign invasions, new dictatorships, economic slavery and the destruction of the environment.

It is made up of about 130 members of high moral regard, determined by the board of the Leilo Basso International foundation, it’s founder is Leilo Basso, it’s president: Salvatore Senese and its General Secretary Gianni Tognoni. And the guarantors for the Mexican Chapter are: Magdalena Gómez Rivera, Obispo Raúl Vera López, Javier Sicilia, Jorge Fernández Souza, P. Clodomiro Siller Acuña, Gilberto López y Rivas, Andrés Barreda Marín.
2.    What are the accusations against the Mexican government? Why invite to the Mexican community to denounce publicly to their government?

The Mexican government is being accused of misuse of power, which has benefited only 32 families who have 60% of the national wealth. Free trade has been a fundamental tool of neo-liberalism which has determined the political, economic, social and cultural practices of the world, via unequal economic relationships, based on the US’s need to accumulate. Free trade agreements have allowed changes in practices and laws which contradict international agreements, even when these practices and laws are repressive and go against international laws. An example being the situation of migrant workers which allows the free movement of goods and capital but not of people.

In this context what we want to denounce is how this economic process, which is also present in other countries, has been pushed forward in Mexico under unequal situations, producing vulnerability and violence for the working populations of Mexico and Central America, who, being forced to move looking for a better life are exposed to a series of violations of their collective and individual rights, which the Mexican government supports forcing a wave of violence and injustice in the country.

3.    What are the specific questions that Mexicans and Latins interested in denouncing the Mexican government, must consider?
The questions are in 5 steps: 1) Who is making the accusation? 2) What are and were their living and working conditions? 3) What is the fact they want to denounce? 4) What do they want as compensation? 5) Who were the bureaucrats or business people involved?
4.    We’re not just talking about physical violence. What do you mean by this? Also, tell us about forced immigration in the context of this tribunal.
Violence in Mexico is systematic because it happens every day and at all levels. Environmentally: corporations have contaminated 8 out of 10 rivers. Culturally: the government is indifferent to the creation of “narconovelas” which promote the destruction of the social fabric. Labor: Mexico has the second lowest wages  in the world. In my opinion, migration is a result of forced displacement because people no longer have a choice of whether to leave or stay in their country. There is no way to meet basic needs. Mexicans and Latins are forced out of their countries by the conditions created by neo-liberalism.

5.    What exactly is expected of those making these accusations. The accusations will be included in the Mexican Chapter, but what else can we expect?

Participants have to write between three and eight pages answering the previous 5 questions, preferably in Spanish and English (but LELO will be looking for help those who cannot write or translate into English). Those answers will become part of the PPT archive located in Rome, Italy. For those who are utilitarian, we cannot answer concretely what they will get from this process. Throughout history there have been multiple examples of situations where individual rights and the State have been placed at the service of private interests and have been used as tools of oppression. The struggle is up to citizens and individuals to recover their own rights. That’s why we support the PPT. Remember, rights are not asked for they are demanded!

In this way the PPT Mexican Chapter is added to the reconstruction of international justice and the bodies that uphold this international justice. Work  has been upheld by the PPT and the Russell tribunals for the past 50 years, to build a new concept of rights and new bodies to uphold the rights of people. Which is why, for this tribunal, it is not only the final request for justice that matters but also the process for those affected.

CASA Latina, PCUN, El Comité Pro-Reforma Primero de Mayo, Coalición Primero de Mayo, Centro Internacional de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad de Seattle, Colectiva Legal del Pueblo, Padres de Familia Por Una Mejor Educación en Auburn, Fandango Proyect, Grupo de Baile la Guelaguetza, Somos Comunidad, Treamters Local 863 y Colectivo de Estudiantes de por la Justicia Social de Evergreen College, are part of the organizations involved in this effort, also others which participation is being defined.

Please spread the word and share this Call out. Thanks.
Friendly translation made by Magin from Noii, Vancouver.