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Semana Por La Paz: Resources

 

Videos:

  • The 60 Minutes Good Intentions. Bad Results is a hard-hitting piece on the devastating effects of US-sponsored aerial fumigation in Colombia. Available for $29.98 online in the video section of the CBS Store www.cbs.com The show aired January 13, 2002.
  • Footprints That Cannot Be Erased - The Shameful Trail to Bogotá (7 minutes)Produced by Lutheran World Relief partner CODHES in Colombia, 2003 Translated and distributed by Give Peace A Place: A LWR Campaign forColombia. This video mingles statistics on internal displacement in Colombia with the voices and faces of Colombians who are dealing with the crisis of internal displacement themselves. The journey begins in the rich fields of Colombia and ends in the capital city of Bogotá where communities of displaced people are working to reestablish their lives. This is an excellent short video to use with discussion on the humanitarian crisis facing Colombia and the role of U.S. policy in the conflict. Available free of charge, send request to kanderson@lwr.org or call 202.626.7949.
  • SPEAKING OUT - Displaced Colombians Silent No More (21 minutes) Produced by U.S. Committee for Refugees, September 2000. This video focuses on the causes of displacement in Colombia, conditions for the displaced, the U.S. response, and displaced persons' efforts to organize and make their voices heard. It features powerful interviews with children, grandmothers, women and others who have witnessed terrible violence, lost loved ones, and have been forced to flee their homes. Available for purchase online from www.refugeesusaa.org/store for $7.99
  • Colombia: The Next Vietnam?(40 Minutes) Provides photographs, analysis, and commentary from the historic 100-person WFP delegation to Colombia in March 2001. The 40-minute account includes interviews with human rights workers, military personnel, farmers, labor organizers, religious leaders, Afro-Colombians, and the US Embassy. A good introductory resource. Available for $15 from Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, POB 271, Nyack, NY 10960.)
  • Bojayá: A Crime of War. (30 min.) Produced by the Diocese of Quibdó’s Commission for Life Justice and Peace, tells the story of the May 2, 2002 Bojayá massacre, in which 120 civilians were killed, when a guerrilla-paramilitary confrontation concluded with the launching of a gas cylinder bomb against the Church of Bellavista, Bojayá. The documentary portrays how all the armed actors, including the Colombian armed forces were to blame for this tragedy. The video also provides a strong testimony of the Church, AfroColombian and indigenous’ commitment to each other and their insistence that the armed actors respect their human rights and the conventions of international humanitarian law. Contact Carlos Sanchez at csanchez@catholicerlief.org for copies.
  • The New Patriots, Contains a good section on the US Army School of the Americas' role in counterinsurgency in Colombia. The video features military veterans critiquing US military policy in a post 9/11 world. Available from www.soaw.org.


Documents for study groups:

  • The Blueprint for a New Colombia Policy, a recent publication by the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, the Washington Office on Latin America, and the Center for International Policy, details the effect of U.S. policy toward Colombia. It gives recommendations for policy change and is an excellent tool for activists lobbying Congress.
  • Rethinking Plan Colombia: a compilation of memos sent to Congress in June 2005 by members of the LAWG coalition.
  • Building from the Inside Out: Peace Intiatives in War-Torn Colombia (pdf)
    This joing publication from the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a way for ordinary U.S. citizens to meet ordinary Colombians taking extraordinary actions to resist war and oppression, and create a dignified alternative to violence.

Other important websites for information: