Last night, Civic House welcomed humanitarian rights activists Santiago Obispo, Salete Carollo, Antonio Valenzuela and Cheri Honkala as they presented their respective organizations to the Penn community and discussed their opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas treaty.
This treaty is an international business deal that allows companies to bypass the environmental and labor rights laws in favor of corporate power.
The four panelists were invited to Penn because of their expertise on American free trade and on the damages that they claim this policy is causing to indigenous groups in the American continent.
"Penn has a unique environment -- it houses many strategic constituencies, has Latinos from all over Latin America... and many activists opposing the U.S.-dominated globalization," College senior Lincoln Ellis said.
In front of a small but very engaged audience, the panelists presented their views on the current situation in their countries.
Obispo -- a native Venezuelan who organizes groups of Amazon farmers to present their collective voice to the country's government -- spoke about the struggles facing rural populations because of deforestation and of the battles his organization is fighting to preserve the rights of local indigenous tribes.
"We want a Venezuela for Venezuelanos, including those who live in the jungle and in remote regions," he said in his concluding remarks.
Carollo -- a veteran activist and organizer of a Brazilian political movement that advocates for the homeless -- professed her movement's opposition to the FTAA, which she claims is favoring privatization and causing an escalation of poverty in the country.
Valenzuela -- a member of a Mexican movement in favor of indigenous tribes -- denounced corporate policy that drives local tribes out of their land in order to use the territory for free trade activities. He also stressed his movement's commitment to non-violence and cultural preservation.
Lastly, Honkala -- director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union-- presented her movement's fight against the FTAA as a way to connect with poor residents of other countries and to denounce the invisibility of impoverished U.S. residents in the American media.
The evening ended with the words of College junior Aaron Searson, "We have all these activists from other countries while we ourselves have much poverty, and this issue needs to be addressed."
