Border Social Forum Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico (Across El Paso, TX) May 1-6, 2006

Otro barrio, Otra frontera, Otro mundo, es necesario y Contigo es Posible!

Invitation:

Your organization is invited to be a part of organizing the Border Social Forum to take place in Cd Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico on May 1-7, 2006. Your presence, support and solidarity is needed to make it possible.

Site:

The Border Social Forum is planned for May 1-7, 2006. The dates came into being because May 1 is International Workers Day, a holiday (except US) in Mexico enabling many people to participate, and ?Cinco de Mayo? (May 5^th) is also a national Mexican holiday. ?Cinco de Mayo? represents the defeat of French imperialist forces that invaded Mexico in 1850?s forcing Don Benito Juarez to exile in Cd Juarez, Chihuahua. Don Benito Juarez, the first Indigenous President in Mexico will celebrate 200 years since his birth in March 21. The common meeting ground for the Border Social Forum will be Cd Juarez, Chihuahua (across El Paso, TX) also the scene of a femicide where more than 500 young women have been brutally assassinated and their bodies dumped in the desert sands. Idea:

The Border Social Forum came out of an agreement between global south & global north social movement organizations and in particular from a discussion to develop a movement to ?Tear Down the Wall of Death? that Bush is pushing to complete and thus seal the US-Mexico border physically. Social movements from Mexico and the south will mobilize north to Cd. Juarez and groups from the US and Canada will go south to converge in Cd. Juarez. The goal of the Border Social Forum is to create a space for the ?integration? of the social movements from the border binational region and to connect the social movements of the global north and global south.

Campaign:

The mobilizing and the campaign to ?tear down the wall of death? will kick-off or launch on March 21, 2006 to co-celebrate Don Benito Juarez, Indigenous president of Mexico whose slogan was ?as in people and nations, peace is respect for the right of others?. (Proposed program) May 1 (Monday)

International Day of Workers/Organize ?TEAR DOWN THE WALL OF DEATH? action, mobilization, press conference and defend human rights of border communities, Indigenous communities and migrant workers. May 2: (Tuesday) Border Tour

Travel day to Cd Juarez Chihuahua, Mx Fly to El Paso, Texas and take cab or City bus to the International bridge (Libre) Hotel Colonial Border Social Forum May 3: Social Forum opens May 4: Social Forum

May 5: Social Forum (Cinco de Mayo) May 6 (Saturday)

Action at Border wall of death (Anapra & Sunland Park, NM) Close of Border Social Forum May 7: (Sunday)

Mass for the martyrs and migrants Martyrs:

The social justice movement consider the victims as ?martyrs? of the struggle against the repression, oppression, exploitation and violence brought on by US immigration policy and law, border patrol, vigilantes, law enforcement, Homeland Security, and their declared war on migrant workers crossing the US-Mexico borders. These migrant worker and Indigenous people are martyrs of the global justice struggle also die under the repressive forces of the Mexican government in the Southern border with Central America. The repression and death of thousands in the last ten years has raised the question that the Mexican government is acting at the direction of the US government to stop the migrants at the southern border.

Registration:

Registration will be done through Cipriana Jurado Herrera at CISO (Centro de Investigacion & Solidaridad Obrera) who is our logistical support person native to Cd Juarez. e mail at: cisoorg prodigy.net. CIPRIANA JURADO HERRERA O ROSA IDALIA ROBLEDO AL TELEFONO 01152656 624 49 93 MARCANDO DE USA AL TELEFONO 01152656 624 53 12 MARCANDO DE USA Hotel: HOTEL ES COLONIAL LAS FUENTES AV. LINCON ( CRUZANDO POR EL PUENTE LIBRE QUEDA MUY CERCA)

Cd Juarez, Chihuahua? PERSONA CON QUIEN COMUNICARSE EN EL HOTEL SUSIE BURCIAGA EVENTOS Y RELACIONES PUBLICAS TEL 01152656 613 5154 EXT 625

Enodorsing Social Movement Organizations & Networks: ADELAS (Torreon, Coahuila, MX) Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) Bay Area California Benjamin E. Mays Center (Atlanta, Georgia) Black Workers for Justice (North Carolina)

Centro de Investigacion & Solidaridad Obrera (CISO) (Cd Juarez, Chihuahua Mx) Centro De Apoya a Trabajadoras/es de la Maquila (Torreon, Coahuila MX) COMPA Norte (US) (National) Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) (Florida) Coalition for Peoples? Agenda (Atlanta, Georgia)

Colectivo Juan de Arco (Torreon, Coahuila, MX) Concilio para el Desarrollo de las Colonias (Las Cruces, New Mexico) Comite Pro Mejoramiento del Agro Nacional (Cd,. Juarez Chihuahua Mx) Congreso Regional de Colonias (Texas-New Mexico)) Fuerza Unida (FU) (San Antonio, Texas) FEDECO (Chihuahua, Chihuahua Mx) Georgia Kids Against Pollution (Atlanta, Georgia) Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJA) (National) Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) (International) Just Transition Alliance (JTA) (National)

Mujeres por Juarez Madres en Busca de Justicia (Cd Juarez, Chihuahua MX) National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR) (National)

People?s Insitute for Survivval & Beyond (New Orleans, LA) Project South (Atlanta, Georgia)

SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Southwest Workers’ Union (SWU) (San Antonio, Texas) Southwest Network for Environmental & Economic Justice (SNEEJ) (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Union of Electrical Workers & Radio, Machine Operators (UE) (US)

Union Popular Independiente (UPI) (Torreon, Coahuila MX) Union de Trabajadores Agricolas Fronterizas (UTAF) (El Paso, Tx.) United States Human Rights Network (USHRN) (National) (Atlanta, GA)

Vanguardia Popular (Toerreon, Coahuila MX) Vermont Workers Center (Vermont) Get involved!

1. Endorse the Border Social Forum 2. Attend the coordinating meeting on Feb. 18 in Cd. Juarez let me know 3. If you can not make the coordination meeting on Feb 18 but want to be a part of the ?Organizing Committee?. Please Notify Ruben Solis Southwest Workers’ Union San Antonio, TX 210 222 1704 OFICINA grulla igc.org

www.swunion.org