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JANUARY 2011 - IN THIS ISSUE
1) KAIROS Companions & Communities
2) South Sudan's historic self-determination referendum
3) The Land, Our Life: Campaign Update … And a Look Ahead!
FEATURE RESOURCE
"KAIROS is <NOT> going away" T-shirts
FEATURE PARTNER
Javier Balderas: Director, Tepeyac Human Rights Centre, Oaxaca, Mexico
KAIROS COMMUNITY
Oakville-Mississauga
REFLECTION
Endena Cogasi, A Woman of Courage
KAIROS invites you to become part of Companions & Communities!
We journey together as "companions" and build "communities" that seek to promote our vision of a more just and sustainable world. Looking back, we can reflect on an ecumenical movement that has in many ways been strengthened by struggle and hope. By building on existing strengths, we hope that Companions and Communities will help strengthen the connections between our strong grassroots network. There is no cost to becoming a KAIROS Companion and/or Community, although donations are always welcome!
As a KAIROS Companion, you will continue to receive the KAIROS Times, and will also receive electronic versions of resources and campaign materials, theological reflections, invitations to KAIROS events in your region and suggestions for ways you can support or be involved in KAIROS campaigns.
While 'Companions' are individuals, 'Communities' are churches or local groups, who will also receive a print package once a year. If you are already actively involved please register so that we have updated information.
Join KAIROS as a Companion and/or Community in a faithful movement for ecological justice and human rights.
This is your movement – you belong!
Click here for the Companions & Communities FAQ and to register >>
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For more information please contact:
connect@kairoscanada.org
1-877-403-8933 ext 221. |
The Land, Our Life: Campaign Update … And a Look Ahead!
Things have been busy in the KAIROS Education and Action campaign! As you know, Canada endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on November 12. This was a key part of our campaign, and while it has been achieved, we need to keep moving forward and insist that our government work in full collaboration with Indigenous peoples to implement the declaration. We’ve revise dour materials, including the petition and the UNDRIPardy quiz show, to reflect this. Please make sure you download the new materials from our website. |
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On December 5th, approximately 40 churches and communities participated in our drumming activity to raise awareness of the Declaration and the issues that Indigenous peoples were bringing forward at the UN Climate Change conference in Cancun, Mexico. You can visit the KAIROS homepage to see a slideshow of those events. If you have photos to share, please send them to Julie Graham at jgraham@kairoscanada.org.
As the New Year begins, we are preparing for our cross-Canada action that can involve you all, and will culminate in Ottawa on June 20. Recalling the Jubilee Initiative’s ‘Blanket Train’ of 2001 (in which we called on the government to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal peoples), ROLL WITH THE DECLARATION is another train ride to Ottawa! This time we’re asking you to bring banners indicating your church or community’s support for the Declaration. We will carry the banners to Ottawa as a way of urging our government to get to work on implementing this historic international agreement. You can join us on the train or in Ottawa. You can meet us at the station with your banner, or mail them in. Either way, your church’s voice will be heard. Web materials will be available soon! For more information, contact Education and Campaigns Coordinator Sara Stratton at sstratton@kairoscanada.org or 1-877-403-8933 x 241.
South Sudan's historic self-determination referendum
| An historic self-determination referendum (January 9-15) is taking place in both South Sudan and around the world in the South Sudanese diaspora, including Canada. This referendum, on whether South Sudan will become an independant state, has been scheduled since the inception of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the 20 year civil war between the predominately Arab and Muslim North and the predominately Christian and animist black African South. The war took the lives of some 2.5 million and displaced many more. Oil, 80% of which is in the South but is currently piped through the North, has greatly complicated matters. For the referendum to be valid, at least 60% of the 3.8 million registered voters must take part. The week long voting is logistically challenging in an area the size of Spain and Portugal combined, but with little infrastructure. |
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KAIROS and its predecessor organizations and members have been engaged with Sudan for over 20 years, particularly with the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC). The SCC, the All Africa Conference of Churches (another KAIROS partner) and the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa (FECCLAHA) requested that KAIROS monitor the referendum in both South Sudan and Canada. John Lewis, KAIROS International Human Rights Coordinator, accredited by the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), is currently observing the referendum in South Sudan. Follow John's blog by following this link.
In Canada, Jim Davis, KAIROS Africa Partnerships Coordinator, has also been accredited as a domestic observer by the SSRC through the International Organization for Migration's Southern Sudan Out-of-Country Voting (IOM/SOCV) office and is observing at the Toronto Referendum Centre. Some 2,300 of the South Sudanese diaspora have registered in Canada to vote in Calgary and Toronto. With the support of KAIROS, two buses carrying 100 South Sudanese arrived from the Kitchener-Waterloo area on Sunday, January 9th and were part of the approximately 700 of over 900 who voted in Toronto. Child care for the voters supported by KAIROS was graciously hosted by Trinity United Church in Kitchener.
KAIROS joins South Sudanese and ecumenical colleagues in East Africa in praying for a peaceful and constructive referendum and post-referendum period amidst the myriad challenges of birthing a new nation.
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For more information contact:
Jim Davis
Africa Partnerships Coordinator
jdavis@kairoscanada.org
416-463-5312 ext. 238
KAIROS Community: Oakville-Mississauga
The Oakville-Mississauga KAIROS committee was formed in 2004 when Joy Warner from the Hamilton-Burlington KAIROS group brought together a few people from the area who had expressed interest in KAIROS. Over the years, there have been anywhere from 6 to 8 active members meeting regularly, along with 20 additional members who receive information on meetings and events. Currently, the active members represent 5 of the denominations that are part of KAIROS. Over the years they have networked at various events, and have developed a contact list of 80 people who receive periodic updates on activities and publicity about upcoming KAIROS events.
For the last 5 years, the group has set up annual displays at the Oakville World Day of Prayer services and the Halton Eco Festival. It has co-sponsored a water forum in Oakville (2006), and with the Hamilton-Burlington KAIROS group, coordinated the 2007 Great Lakes St. Lawrence KAIROS regional conference. It organized public meetings about the Tar Sands and Canada’s energy policy in April 2008, and about transportation featuring a speaker from Metrolinx (a regional public transit agency) in April 2009. The group set up a KAIROS display at Harbourside Organic Farmers’ Market in Oakville in August 2009, and provided support to the Pedal for the Planet bike riders in September 2009.
Over the last year, the group sent member delegations to MPs in Oakville and Mississauga regarding the cut of KAIROS’ CIDA program, and organized a public meeting about Bill C-300 featuring the Honourable John McKay, M.P. It organized a climate change workshop March 2010 and a G8 event with a panel of speakers in Oakville to coincide with the cross-Canada KAIROS tour.
In addition, the group’s members have individually promoted the KAIROS action campaigns in their own churches. The chair has given presentations about KAIROS to a United Church congregation and to a community group and will be presenting a workshop about KAIROS at a Halton United Church Presbytery Networking Day in February 2011.
The group is planning the second of two fundraisers for KAIROS titled “A Sweet Dream: An Evening of English Art Songs.” The event will take place at Westdale United Church in Hamilton on Sunday, January 30th at 7:30 pm. It will feature performances by Alison Colosimo (soprano), Andrei Streliaev (piano), Mervyn Russell (tenor), and Don Gillies (accompanist). The performers are welcoming invitations to perform at churches in the Greater Toronto Area. If you are in the area for the upcoming concert, all are welcome! Tickets can be purchased at the door. If it is anything like the previous concert in November, it will be a huge success!
For information about joining or forming a KAIROS local group or about local fundraising efforts, please contact:
Caroline Foster
Partners & Network Associate
416-463-5312 x221
1-877-403-8933 x221
cfoster@kairoscanada.org
Endena Cogasi, A Woman of Courage
Presented by Vernie Yocogan-Diano, on behalf of Innabuyog, an alliance of Indigenous women’s organizations in the Cordillera, Philippines, on 9 December 2010 during the Gawad Tanggol Karapatan or Awards for Cordillera human rights defenders by the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance in observance of the International Human Rights Day. Ina (mother) or Alapo (grandmother) Endena Cogasi was one of the awardees
She is a woman of courage.
She raised a family on her own in her far village of Sabiyan, Agawa in Besao Mountain Province.
She is a woman of courage. She lived a simple life to serve her own community and people.
She is a woman of courage.
She did not yield to military harassment even when she was asked to walk to the military station with a gun pointed at her back. Without fear, she demanded the soldiers to put away their gun and return her bolo that they stole!
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She is a woman of courage.
She joined delegations to dialogue with the military like the 702nd Brigade where at that time Major Palparan was one of the commanders. Former Sen. Jovito Salonga even acknowledged her courage in one of the peace rallies in Mountain Province against the 702nd Brigade in December 1991.
She is a woman of courage.
Along with other Cordillera elders, women and the youth faced with strong will the state’s security forces during a rally of Indigenous peoples at the general headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in observance of the World’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day in August 2004.
She is a woman of courage.
She was one of the strong leaders and advisers along with Mother Petra Macliing, Leticia Bulaat and others of Innabuyog and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance.
She is a woman of courage.
She inspired a number of Cordillera women, young and old, to follow her footsteps of courage and dedication to serve the women and people.
She is a woman of courage. Amidst age and ailment, she continues to be with us. At this time of her weakening, let us give her the best support we can.
Even if she is not here with us physically, let us all receive this award for her. Indeed, she is an invincible icon of defending the human rights of poor Indigenous peoples and women. This award will not commensurate her dedication and indefatigable service to the women and people of her community in Sabiyan, tribe in Agawa and the Cordillera region who continue to struggle for justice. But this is our collective recognition that indeed Ina or Alapo Endena Cogasi, was part of the history of struggle in the Cordillera.
Dayaw mi na ken sik-a, Ina ya Alapo’y Endena (We hail you, Mother or Grandmother Endena)!
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Make a statement!
Purchase a t-shirt to support KAIROS and be fashionable!
Shirts are available short or long sleeved with the text “KAIROS is (NOT) going away”. The logo is displayed on the reverse.
Short sleeved - $20
Long sleeved - $25
Available in a variety of sizes.
Bulk discounts are available.
T-shirts are produced and manufactured by Me to We style and are sweatshop free and eco-friendly.
To order please contact:
Caroline Foster
Partners & Network Associate
416-463-5312 x221
1-877-403-8933 x221
cfoster@kairoscanada.org
FEATURE PARTNER
JAVIER BALDERAS,
Director,
Tepeyac Human Rights Centre, Oaxaca, Mexico
Javier Balderas is an Indigenous lawyer, human rights defender and environmental activist from Oaxaca, Mexico. More precisely, he is from Tehuantepec on the isthmus, the narrowest part of the Mexico, an area that is rich in natural resources (minerals, petroleum, biodiversity, water and now wind) and that has attracted developers for centuries because of its geography and its natural resources. Javier’s analysis and activism is rooted in the Indigenous communities of the Isthmus where is from and where he works as the director of Tepeyac Human Rights centre.
At the recent UN Climate Change meetings in Cancun, Javier talked to KAIROS staff person John Dillon about the impacts of climate change on communities in Oaxaca and his analysis of the agenda of these international meetings, based on the experiences of the Indigenous communities. John Dillon’s reflections on this meeting can be found in his blog.
Tepeyac has been an important partner in helping us understand the impacts of climate change on the food security and livelihoods of Indigenous communities in Mexico. This experience and analysis has been essential in informing our policy and advocacy positions on climate change.
Tepeyac Human Rights Centre has monitored, documented and denounced human rights violations of the Indigenous peoples in the region since its foundation in 1992. Tepeyac was formed as a program of the Diocese of Tehuantepec. It has since become independent, but the former Bishop of Tehuantepec, Don Arturo Lona Reyes, continues to be the president.
The Indigenous communities where Tepeyac works represent some of the most vulnerable groups in Mexico with a poverty index 4.5 times the rest of Mexico. The last few years have seen a further concentration of wealth and a deepening of the poverty gap between north and south Mexico. Partners refer to a triad of vulnerability defined by geography, ethnicity and gender, making Indigenous women in Oaxaca and Chiapas, where our partners work, the most vulnerable sector in Mexico. Furthermore, Oaxaca is a particularly dangerous state to be a human rights defender. Indigenous and environmental activists face increased risks because of their profile and critical work denouncing human rights abuses related to resource extraction and climate change.
In 2006, state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz cracked down on social movements, unions and human rights defenders. The number of people who were killed and disappeared at this time is still unknown. It is hoped that with the recent change in governor (Gabino Cue Monteagudo), the human rights situation in Oaxaca will improve and impunity surrounding these deaths and disappearances will be addressed.
KAIROS has worked in partnership with Tepeyac since 2001. We have accompanied and supported their work in defense of human rights, education, documentation and community accompaniment. Over the last ten years, Tepeyac has built the capacity of 45 Indigenous communities and 8 Indigenous peoples of the Isthmus to defend and protect their rights, including the right to land territory and free, prior and informed consent. An integral part of this work has been the defense of the rights on Indigenous women and the formation of Indigenous leaders. In a recent letter, Javier noted that all these impacts are undermined and at risk as a result of the Canadian government’s decision not to fund KAIROS’ partnerships program.
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