Across the Americas

Second Annual Conference on Colombia

"NATURAL RESOURCE EXPLOITATION AND
THE SURVIVAL OF AFRO-COLOMBIANS"
The Effects of Transnational Development on the Earth
And Her People Living in Colombia's Pacific Coast Region


April 25-26, 2003
DePaul University, Lincoln Park Campus
Schmitt Academic Center, Room 154
2320 North Kenmore Avenue, Chicago


This conference highlighted the social, economic and
ecological impacts resulting from emerging neo-liberal
policies that encourage and support the exploitation
of Colombia's rich natural resource base.


Friday, April 25, 2003
Opening Keynote Address
6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Accompanyng Afro-Colombian Communities
Ruth Goring


Saturday, April 26, 2003
Workshops & Speakers
8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Introductory Remarks
U.S.Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

Workshop I -- Squeezing the Social and Ecological Life Out of Colombia
Luis Guilberto Murillo, Former Governor of Chocó
Brendan O'Neill, Action for Social and Ecological Justice

Workshop II -- Logging and the African Palm -Who Wins, Who Loses?
Dr. Kiran Asher, Assistant Professor of International Development, Clark University of Massachusetts

Workshop III -- Linking Afro-Colombians and Afro-Americans
Dr. Joseph Jordan, Director of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, University of North Carolina
Dr. Norma Jackson, Director of International Programs, St. Benedict University, Columbia, South Carolina

Workshop IV -- Quest for Energy - Impacts to Our Earth And Her People
Dr. Douglass Cassel, Director, Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern University
Dr. Jeff Vogt, Assistant General Counsel for the International Labor Rights Fund

Workshop V -- US Drug War and Environmental Implications
Dr. Jeremy Bigwood, Mycotoxicologist
Jess Hunter, Former Witness for Peace Colombia Team

Workshop VI -- Political Reality in Colombia and the Afro-Colombian Struggle for Life & Land
Marino Cordoba, Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians
Juan Diego Castrillon, Visiting Fellow, Northwestern University School of Law


We are grateful to the following
organizations and individuals which so
generously helped with this conference...


CO-SPONSORS

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Loyola University Chicago Jesuit Community
American Friends Service Committee, Great Lakes Region
Minnesota Franciscans, Rochester
8th Day Center for Justice
Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, Chicago
Office for Peace & Justice of the Archdiocese of Chicago
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN)
Illinois School of the Americas Watch
Jubilee Economic Ministries
DePaul's Amnesty International Chapter
Sarah and Fred Flossi, Chicago


ENDORSERS

Lutheran World Relief
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Fellowship of Reconcilitation, Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean
Witness for Peace, Great Lakes Region
Action for Community and Ecology in the Regions of Central America (ACERCA)
The Global Justice Committee of Chicago Jobs With Justice
Beans & Barley Cafe, Milwaukee


FRIENDS