Supporting Resistance to Corporate Globalization & Building Popular Power

(download Material Aid Flyer here)

2014 marks the beginning of the next five-year term of El Salvador’s progressive government, the first administration to be headed by a leader of the of the FMLN party. The organized social movement will be critical in defending the new government’s work to for dignity, participatory democracy and economic justice against destabilizing attacks from the domestic right-wing and the onslaught of damaging neoliberal policies pushed by the United States. Join us in fulfilling our commitment to our allies in support of women-led, worker-led, youth-led and community-based organizing! MAKE A DONATION TO OUR MATERIAL AID DOCKET HERE (write Material Aid in the Designation Code field).

FMLN WOMEN’S SECRETARIAT: Women form the majority of the population in El Salvador and are hit hardest by socioeconomic exclusion, violence and marginalization. The FMLN Women’s Secretariat develops strategies and policies to promote women’s leadership on these issues. They work to promote women’s political participation and empower women to assert their rights at home, in their communities and in society. Funds will support a series of leadership trainings and local assemblies that serve to build class and gender consciousness rooted in participants’ own experiences.  

SALVADORAN SOCIAL & UNION FRONT: The Frente Sindical y Social Salvadoreño (FSSS) is a coalition of more than 80 unions and community groups, founded in 2005 as “the working class’ instrument for struggle.” Funds will support trainings for new union organizers to learn about El Salvador’s labor history and gain leadership, organizing and collective bargaining skills. CISPES’s support is particularly crucial as the FSSS mobilizes to fight US-backed projects like the Public-Private Partnership Law and defend the FMLN administration from destabilization attempts by the economic elite. 

FMLN YOUTH SECRETARIAT: It is an urgent priority to re-integrate youth, who’ve suffered decades of marginalization and violence, into political and social organizing. With these funds, the FMLN Youth Secretariat will mobilize volunteers for the National Literacy Program, an initiative inspired by the model used to eliminate illiteracy in Cuba. These volunteers will lead literacy classes in their communities to strengthen inter-generational community ties, build organizing and leadership skills, and empower many more with reading, writing, basic math and critical thinking skills.

ROQUE DALTON UNIVERSITY FRONT: Student organizations have a long and radical history in the Salvadoran popular struggle. The Frente Universitario Roque Dalton (FURD) is a student group at the National University that provides political education, organizes artistic and cultural activities in honor of important moments in revolutionary history, and serves as a voice of youth in advocating for public and university policy. Funds will support the annual march and vigil that commemorates the 1975 massacre of university students who marched peacefully in protest of the military dictatorship. 

SALVADORAN STUDENT FEDERATION: The Coordinadora Estudiantil Salvadoreña (CES) is a new federation of student groups at the National University that was founded to unite students in the struggle to change the higher education system and join the Salvadoran revolutionary movement. The CES is fighting for university reform, an increased university budget, and free tuition for low-income students. Funds will be used for trainings and workshops to encourage student political involvement, while strengthening the grassroots bases of its member organizations.

STRATEGIC ORGANIZING FUND: This Fund is a mobilizing resource for the grassroots organizations that will lead the struggle against the implementation of US-backed neoliberal policies such as the Public-Private Partnership Law, the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the so-called ‘development’ projects planned by the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Funds will pay for materials, transport, permits, etc. should the need arise for mass mobilization to defend wages, land, resources and workers from the continued economic onslaught by the US government, Salvadoran Big Business and transnational corporations.