CoDev’s International Solidarity Conference is back after four years!
At CoDev’s 6th International Solidarity Conference: Connecting Activists for Global Justice, on May 4th, 2024, unions and international solidarity activists will share, exchange, and strategize around movement-building, organizing, and international solidarity for local and global liberation.
Lunch and refreshments included.
SAVE THE DATE AND JOIN US!
When: Saturday, May 4th, 2024, 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM (registration starts at 8:30 am)
Where: BCGEU Lower Mainland Area Office 2920 Virtual Way #130, Vancouver
Registration Fee: $60, including catered lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Registration deadline: Sunday, April 28, 2024, 11:59 PM PT
Registration Contact: Jeffrey Cramer, CoDevelopment Canada, jcramer@codev.org, 604-708-1495, ext. 5
special guest
Neydi Yassmine Juracán Morales
National Coordinator of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) in Guatemala
Neydi is a Kakchiquel Maya woman and the National Coordinator of Guatemala's Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA), representing over 50,000 campesino (small farming) families. Neydi is the CCDA’s coffee program coordinator and the CCDA’s representative on the International Land Coalition, a global alliance of farmers and indigenous organizations.
Neydi and her ancestors originate from the Altiplano (Highlands) of Guatemala. A participant of the Political Training School of the CCDA, Neydi has trained Indigenous youth in the Guatemalan departments of Quiche and Coban. In 2010, Neydi and her family fled Guatemala amidst death threats targeting her family for their political activism and temporarily resided in Vancouver, Canada. While in Canada, Neydi engaged in public outreach to raise consciousness around Guatemala's political and social realities. Neydi has participated in a Small Farmer to Small Farmer Exchange, where she exchanged with other small farmers from around the world on food sovereignty and the defence and recovery of territory. More recently, Neydi participated as an alternative voice at COP28, where she centred the experiences of Indigenous Peoples and campesinos waging a struggle for food sovereignty and land defence and recovery.
Neydi is a youth activist who plays a central role in Guatemala's Indigenous-led struggle for land defence, recuperation, and food sovereignty. Through her ongoing efforts to amplify the work, knowledge, and vision of the CCDA and of Indigenous-led social movements, more broadly, Neydi has demonstrated the capacity and commitment to building spaces and opportunities for learning, teaching, and exchange, as well as solidarity-based relationships between allied popular struggles across the globe. Neydi is a strong, informed, and engaging speaker and activist with a profile and expertise that resonates with land and water defenders, climate justice activists, food knowledge keepers, international solidarity activists, community organizers, cultivators of international cooperation, and those interested in lending to the struggle for social, economic, and environmental justice.
Just after midnight on January 15, 2024, Guatemala’s new anti-corruption president was inaugurated despite months of relentless political oppression preceded by almost five years of attacks waged against democratic institutions. The CCDA was one of many Indigenous-led organizations and governments that formed the frontline of the pro-democracy movement that pressed the outgoing administration to respect the vote of the people and Peoples and organized and mobilized to build international pressure to amplify the calls for a peaceful democratic transition.
About ISC 2024: Connecting Activists for Social Justice
We believe that international solidarity should be a core component of any union’s strategic plan to make the world a better place for workers.
Join other union members and representatives from local, provincial, and national union international solidarity and global justice committees to share experiences and practices and discuss new strategies for international solidarity work.
ISC 2024 will include interactive workshops, small-group discussions, keynote presentation, and panel around important themes, such as how to make international solidarity meaningful to your members and central to your union’s vision, engaging youth, planning action-oriented campaigns, and identifying where solidarity committees from different unions can collaborate.
ISC 2024 provides a space for more-experienced solidarity activists to share experiences and insight and continue learning, and for emerging solidarity activists to learn and share their perspectives and the ways in which they are advancing international solidarity work. Practical in scope, ISC 2024 is designed to equip participants with proven tools and concrete ideas for building international solidarity in their unions.
CoDev works to strengthen the community of union-based international solidarity activists in B.C. Please encourage your members and staff to participate in this exciting opportunity to acquire concrete tools for action. We look forward to seeing you there!
Event Programme:
8:30am Registration
9am Event Opening
Group Activity
Panel: Building International Solidarity in the Labour Movement
Moderator: Larry Kuehn, former Director of International Solidarity and former President of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation
Panelist: Andrea Duncan, Co-Chair, International Solidarity Committee, B.C. General Employees’ Union
Panelist: Luc Allaire, Director of International Relations, Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) [Quebec Labour Congress]
Panelist: Trevor Davies, Secretary Treasurer, Canadian Union of Public Employees - B.C. (CUPE BC)
Small Group Discussions, Activity
Break
Keynote: Neydi Juracan of the CCDA
Discussion
Catered Lunch and Networking
Workshop: Unionists as Internationalists: How to Build Class Consciousness in the Union for International Solidarity , facilitated by
Nadia Santoro, Organizer, Health Sciences Association of BC
Nadia Revelo, Director of Human and Labour Rights Program, CoDevelopment Canada
Break
Workshop: Building Union Structures and Practices for Engaging Union Members Around International Solidarity, facilitated by
Annie Ohana, International Solidarity Committee member, B.C. Teachers’ Federation
Karen Andrews, International Solidarity Committee member, B.C. Teachers’ Federation
Report back, campaign action, and next steps
4:30pm Event Conclusion
*Detailed programme will be posted online and emailed to registrants in mid-April 2024