École de solidarité Ben Linder

2. History of Latin American Revolutions

This class provides an overview of revolutions across Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S. imperialism and media warfare, and the leaked document RAIN that describes the U.S.’s latest plans for a coup against Daniel Ortega. This context is vital for understanding the current popular resistance and anti-imperialist movements in Nicaragua and other countries of the global south.

This class is facilitated by:
Fausto Torrez, Operational Secretariat of the CLOC/Via Campesina, International Secretary of the ATC

Study materials – RAIN and suggested reading on RAIN

English powerpoint

Spanish powerpoint

English session: https://youtu.be/DlzGXtJBIws

Spanish session: https://youtu.be/uyHhvMprU9Q

Original recording: https://youtu.be/twNRfbkaq7U

3. History of Nicaragua

This class covers the history of Nicaragua dating back to U.S. imperialist William Walker, the struggle of Augusto Sandino, the Sandinista Revolution of 1979, as well as the historical program of the Sandinista People’s Revolution.

This class is facilitated by:
Elías Chévez, Militant of the FSLN

English Study materials – FSLN Historic Program, Nicaragua history handouts, & Emerita Vega testimony

Spanish Study materials: FSLN Historic Program, Nicaragua history handouts, & Emerita Vega testimony

English session: https://youtu.be/vGq6fIvyTgI

Spanish session: https://youtu.be/l4ZM6q8hs7Q

Original recording: https://youtu.be/e6zW2ogZHao

4. Second Phase of the Sandinista People’s Revolution

This class facilitated by Jorge Capelan highlights the achievements of the Sandinista government since Daniel Ortega’s re-election in 2006. The government has invested in public services such as water, electricity, health, and education to make the things necessary for life accessible to all. The struggle, as much about nation-building as about people-empowerment, continues today.

This class is facilitated by:

Jorge Capelán,
Nicaraguan journalist of
Uruguayan origin

Study materials: Suggested readings

English session: https://youtu.be/LHReE9nP1oA

Spanish session: https://youtu.be/6nVl5_4pck8

Original recording: https://youtu.be/7r_AVL1hbO0

5. Indigenous Cosmovision and Indigenous peoples of Nicaragua

This lecture covers some of the history of Spanish and British colonialism in Nicaragua and the relations between the revolutionary government of the Pacific coast and the original peoples and Afro-descendants of the Caribbean coast. The creation of the Caribbean Autonomous Zones and laws protecting indigenous rights was a part of the Sandinista People’s Revolution’s program to build a multicultural nation.

This class is facilitated by:
Victor del Cid, Ph.D., Guatemalan anthropologist living in Nicaragua and professor at the UNAN

Study Materials: Nicaragua: Building a Multicultural Nation

English session: https://youtu.be/QiFKZNryayM

Spanish session: https://youtu.be/Tq-CNW-PBB8

2. History of Latin American Revolutions

Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group in Mexico details the unprecedented consolidation of our food systems by transnational corporations, including technology corporations like Apple and Google. Consolidation and digitization of our food systems creates illness in people and our land. She debunks the myth that we need transnational corporations to feed the world – in fact, 70% of the world’s population is fed by networks of small scale producers. Supporting small scale producers by giving them land is one of the best ways to restore healthier and more diverse food systems. Much of this information is shared within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This class is facilitated by:
Silvia Ribeiro,
ETC Group, Mexico

Study Materials: Who Will Feed Us? (English)

Study Materials: Who Will Feed Us? (Spanish)

English session: https://youtu.be/a0Spj1rbrtg

Spanish session: https://youtu.be/38o81_CDpT8

1. Peasant Women’s Experiences

Three peasant women leaders of the ATC share their life experiences as agricultural workers, organizing laborers, how joining the ATC has strengthened them, and how the FSLN government has benefitted them as women. Each of these women joined the ATC and received political education at a very young age, going on to organize laborers in Matagalpa and Jinotega in coffee production.. They now serve as leaders for workers’ rights and women’s rights and empowerment against domestic violence. Including women and youth in the ATC’s organizing model has strengthened the leadership of peasant women in their communities.

This class is facilitated by:
Lola Esquivel, co-founder of Gloria Quintanilla Women’s Cooperative
Esperanza Ruiz, General Secretary of ATC Matagalpa
Rosalpina Gutierrez, General Secretary of ATC Jinotega

Study Materials: Eloisa Garcia’s testimony ; Testimonio de Eloisa Garcia

English Session: https://youtu.be/XAos8QjM4XI

Spanish Session: https://youtu.be/tlv_kaJn93E

Original recording: https://youtu.be/P2XIcLKlITs

2. CLOC/LVC

La Via Campesina (LVC) is the international peasant social movement, representing about 200 million small producers in over 180 organizations in 81 countries; the Latin American Coordinator of Rural Organizations (CLOC) coordinates the movement in Latin America. La Via Campesina is an autonomous and multicultural movement made up of small producers, indigenous peoples, family farmers, fisher folk, rural youth, and rural women. Its main objectives are building solidarity among peasants, challenging patriarchy to construct gender democracy, preserving land, water, seeds, and other natural resources, and more significantly, defending food sovereignty. United in the fight against detrimental neoliberal policies and agribusiness, peasants globally are defending food sovereignty, a central concept developed by LVC.

This class is facilitated by:
Nury Martinez, Fensuagro Colombia and coordinator of La Via Campesina the Americas & Paula Gioia, AbL Germany and coordinator of La Via Campesina Europe

Study Materials: Globalize Hope, documentary about La Via Campesina

English PowerPoint La Via Campesina

Spanish PowerPoint CLOC

English Session: https://youtu.be/GG9dov_sUh4

Spanish Session: https://youtu.be/l4ZM6q8hs7Q

Original recording: https://youtu.be/LZjPMU-VMoU

3. IALAs

The Latin American Institute of Agroecology (IALA) Ixem Ulew is in Nicaragua, and is one of the nine IALAs constructed by LVC/CLOC across Latin America and the Caribbean. Marlen Sanchez talks about how IALA trains young peasants in agroecology along with the political education necessary for social transformation and to build food sovereignty. Each student represents a different rural organization from their home country and returns to their community after a cycle of learning to share their knowledge and put what they have learned into practice. This is part of the Pedagogy of Alternation.

This class is facilitated by:
Marlen Sanchez, Agroecologist from Venezuela IALA Paulo Freire and Director of the IALA Ixim Ulew, Nicaragua
Yesenia Betsabe Castro, Agroecologist from 1st cohort IALA Ixim Ulew, El Salvador

Study Materials: IALA testimonies (English)

Study Materials: IALA testimonies (Spanish)

English Session: https://youtu.be/uMRimzrTsrU

Spanish Session: https://youtu.be/MySu1k4-X_s

Original recording: https://youtu.be/bDrTMNGFpOk

1. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants

Diego Montón tells the story of the drafting and adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas by the United Nations. The international movement against neoliberalism begun by the Latin American Coordinator of Rural Organizations (CLOC) and later La Via Campesina led to the issuance of this important Declaration. Throughout the process, many individuals and organizations from the Pope to indigenous fisherfolk came out in support of the Declaration. When the Declaration came to a vote during a plenary session, 8 states voted against: the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, New Zealand, Hungary, Guatemala, Sweden, and Australia. Diego also discusses a handful of the articles and the continuing importance and implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants.

This class is facilitated by:
Diego Montón, leader from MNCI Somos Tierra Argentina

Study Materials: Declaration on Peasant Rights

English Session: https://youtu.be/PatvJfJeFpk

Spanish Session: https://youtu.be/6nVl5_4pck8

2. Solidarity with Nicaragua

In this class, Peter Rosset shares his experiences in Nicaragua in the 1980s followed by a documentary style video of US citizens in Nicaragua from that period. While spirits were high among both the citizens and visitors to Nicaragua during that stage of the revolution, the US was threatening to invade the country under the guise of protecting US citizens within the country. After the video, Peter shares that he and many other students were not in danger in Nicaragua but were concerned about being used by the Reagan administration as a pretext for a US invasion. The class discusses their experiences both in Nicaragua and their native countries relative to Nicaragua in the 1980s and the excitement of the revolutionary spirit in Nicaragua during that time.

This class is facilitated by:

Peter Rosset, Professor in the Department of Agriculture, Society & Environment at the Ecosur Advanced Studies Institute in Chiapas, Mexico, and former long-time staff member of La Via Campesina

Study Materials: Ask someone about their time in Nicaragua in the 1980s

English Session: https://youtu.be/pS1evR_IP2A

Spanish Session: https://youtu.be/G_zkPHoGJIc

3. International Cooperation with Social Movements

Saulo Araujo shares inspiring messages about the power of people in movements. Starting with a contextual analysis of social movements and neoliberalism within the global north, Saulo moves on to describe internationalism as a practice. Global social movements provide the infrastructure for deeper social transformation. He also describes la organicidad (organization or movement building) as it relates to social movements, and distinguishes social movements from non-profits or other more loosely connected groups. He closes his presentation with a call to continue learning, listening, practicing, and sharing to do the work to deconstruct neoliberalism. A spirited conversation among Paulo and the students of the class follows.

This class is facilitated by:
Saulo Araujo, Global Movements Program Director of WhyHunger, Brazilian resident of the USA

Study Materials: Through Her Eyes: The Struggle for Food Sovereignty, publication by WhyHunger

English Session: https://youtu.be/Usq2z1kWp2k

Spanish Session: https://youtu.be/blowCO3I-KI