Corporations, Taxes & Gender Inequality
Mar 14th, 2020 2:00 pm
Talk
70 pesos
Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona

What common denominator dictates the hardships faced by many women in both the Global South and the developed North? According to Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona it's the unfair tax structure that permits international corporations to get away with not paying their fair share. Lacking the funds these taxes could provide, governments are forced to introduce austerity programs that disproportionately affect women. Magdalena has often stated that poverty, worldwide, has a woman's face. Her opinions are based on her experience of six years, working as the UN Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty. She is a Chilean lawyer with graduate degrees in International Law and Human Rights Law. Her 20-year career has been focused on the intersection of poverty, development and human rights.

Magdalena's career has bridged research and activism. She has worked as a researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, as a staff attorney at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, as the Co-Director of the Department of International Law and Human Rights of the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica and as a Research Director at the International Council on Human Rights Policy, in Geneva. She has also served as a consultant to several international organizations and worked with a range of NGO's in formal and informal capacities. She has published widely on human rights, poverty, and development and has taught postgraduate courses at several universities in Latin America. She has recently become Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Gl-ESCR) while still serving on the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation. Her talk will help us to understand the forces at work preventing women from achieving gender equality in the workforce as well as in society at large.
Location
Sala Quetzal
La Biblioteca Publica, Rejoj 50A, Centro

Standing Up Against Violence
Mar 15th, 2020 10:30 am
Ser Mujer
Veronica Cruz

Guanajuato is a dangerous place for women. Fifty-nine percent of women in Guanajuato age 15 and older have experienced violence. In 2019, there were 303 murders of women, at least 15 of which were femicides. That’s not acceptable to Veronica Cruz, founder of Las Libres. In 2000, she and other activists founded Las Libres, a feminist organization in Guanajuato, the most conservative state in the country. In 2006 she was the the first Mexican human rights activist to be awarded the Defender of Human Rights award from Human Rights Watch for her work with women's right to access legal and medical services. In 2010, More magazine named her as “the most dangerous woman in the world.”

Cruz has agitated for stronger legislation for sexual violence and insisted that the laws which are in place are enforced. She has pushed authorities to recognize the extent of femicide in Mexico, as well as gender violence, enabled by a culture of impunity for crimes against women. She has inspired, mobilized and led the struggle to secure fundamental rights, including reproductive rights, for marginalized women and girls in the state of Guanajuato and throughout Mexico. Because of the work of Las Libres, legal and social justice has been obtained for every woman murdered in the city of Guanajuato since 2014, with guilty verdicts, prison sentences and access to compensation for the victim’s families.

After a five year cumbersome process, Las Libres was successful this year when an Official Declaration of a Gender Alert was issued in Guanajuato. A gender alert is activated in areas experiencing high levels of violence against women. It obligates authorities to implement measures that protect women’s rights and physical and legal security, conduct in depth investigations into acts of violence against women and take steps to address the problem.

Simultaneous translation will be provided my Maritere Dobarganes.

Even the Rain
Mar 17th, 2020 12:00 pm
Film
70 Pesos

In 1999 the World Bank and IMF required Bolivia to privatize all public utilities in line with their neoliberal agenda. The compliant government of Bolivia then sold the water system of Cochabamba to a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation. Bechtel proceeded to raise the water rates by as much as 200 to 300% --far beyond what the poor Bolivians could pay. The company even forbad the people to collect rain water, claiming ownership of all water. “Even the rain!” protested the people as riots rocked the city.

The documentary film Even the Rain depicts these dramatic events as backdrop for a fictional film that is being shot in Cochabamba at the time. The film is to be about Christopher Columbus’s conquest and supression of indigenous resistance. But the film soon takes on a parallelism with the real events unfolding as the people occupy public spaces in protest and are violently attacked by the government. The message is clear: the conquest continues. To today’s audiences there is also a parallel to the occupy movement in the US and the violent supression of it by local authorities.

Although Even the Rain does not carry its story forward, the Cochabamba water war opened the way to the collapse of the Bolivian government and the eventual election of Evo Morales as that countries first indigenous president. Bolivia along with much of Latin America continues to resist the neoliberalism the US seeks to impose. Michael Moore has called Even the Rain “a brilliant movie. At a time when the poor of the world seem to be rising up, I found myself deeply moved and completely enthralled by this film. I encourage everyone in search of a great movie to go see Even the Rain." The Center for Global Justice is proud to bring this 2010 film that is as relevant today as it was years ago and, indeed, as in 1492.
Location
Teatro Santa Ana
La Biblioteca Publica, Reloj 50A, Centro

Climate Revolution
Mar 18th, 2020 11:00 am
Film & Discussion
70 Pesos
Atahualpa Caldera Sosa & Ana Telma Tovar Márquez

Climate change is the most important threat facing humanity. Almost three decades after the summit of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1992, the planet continues to suffer rapid deterioration from human activities.

Young people are tired of observing the hypocrisy and immobility of some rulers who even deny climate change as is the case of US President Donald Trump. They have started a climate revolution in every corner of the planet inspired by the Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg who has become an icon in the fight against climate change.

On September 20, 2019, citizens of San Miguel de Allende participated in the Global Climate Strike mobilization to raise awareness of the current climatic and environmental emergency.

The day after the climate strike, the Municipal Government launched a project to remodel an avenue that involved the removal of more than 30 trees, which led to a citizen mobilization in defense of trees. After close to a month a 24 hour vigil defending the trees, the government sent the police to repress and imprison a number of activists, which left a deep wound in society and youth.

A young woman, Sofia, reflected on what happened ...
“As in Sweden, Madrid, Mexico City, New York and anywhere in the world, here in San Miguel de Allende, we will not stop defending the present and the future. Young people have the right to life and a better planet ... and as Greta says ... change comes whether they like it or not.”

This documentary, produced by Atahualpa Caldera Sosa and Ana Telma Tovar Márquez, depicts San Miguel's participation in the September 20, 2019 Global Climate Strike and the subsequent protest against the removal of 41 trees by the city. Millions of young people around the world have started a climate revolution in every corner of the planet inspired by the Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg who has become an icon for the fight against climate change.
Location
Teatro Santa Ana
La Biblioteca Publica, Reloj 50A, Centro

Women, Violence & Resistance in Latin America
Mar 18th, 2020 4:00 pm
Ser Mujer
100 pesos
Laura Carlsen

The past years have seen unprecedented movements to eliminate violence against women in our region. From the MeToo movements to denounce abuse and harassment, to Chilean women's viral performance of 'Un violador en tu camino', to demonstrations for the right to choose and now school occupations against violence in Mexico, a new generation of feminists is saying 'Never again!.' We've also seen some advances in legislative and institutional recognition of the problem and responses. But at the same time, violence against women has been rising, and growing conservative movements would strip away some of the historic wins of the past. What gives? Why can't we seem to make progress on the most basic issue of guaranteeing our physical safety? This talk examines recent debates among feminists, different approaches and results, and what can be done.

Laura Carlsen is the director of the Americas program and a consultant on gender issues for international organizations including JASS, the Nobel Women's Initiative and the Global Fund for Women. She has participated in, and reported on, both meetings of Women who Struggle in Zapatista territory and has written extensively on gender violence.
Location
Sala Quetzal
La Biblioteca Publica, Rejoj 50A, Centro

Our Water Crisis
Mar 19th, 2020 11:00 am
Talk
70 pesos
Dylan Terrell

We will see a short documentary, Consuming the Future, which highlights the role of export-agriculture on local water issues. Then, Dylan Terrell, executive director and founder of Caminos de Agua, will speak on the current state of water in our region through technical, social, and political lenses. Why is this happening? Who is impacted? What can we do as individuals and as a collective?

Caminos de Agua's mission is to create access to clean water with communities at risk, and they have been working on both regional and national water issues for nearly a decade. They provide open-source water solutions for communities on our aquifer in Central Mexico, and leverage those solutions for others confronting similar water challenges around the globe. Caminos works in partnership with local communities, leading research institutions, and other diverse actors to innovate and implement water solutions that create adequate access to safe, healthy drinking water supplies. They also act as a “field school” for aspiring, socially-responsible engineers, scientists, and other young professionals and interns looking to make social and environmental impacts in their work.
Location
Sala Quetzal
La Biblioteca Publica, Rejoj 50A, Centro