(Please
forward widely)
Our hearts are grieving for the hundreds of thousands
of victims of the December 26 tsunami, which may
be the worst natural disaster in human memory.
The scope of the tragedy is hard to imagine. Most
of us have lost someone dear to us in the course
of our lives. We know the anguish, the grief,
the confusion and disorientation that comes with
major loss—the sense of having become in
some ways a different person. But with personal
loss, we can generally turn to our families, our
friends, our communities for support and comfort.
What must it be like to suffer the loss of half
the community, of every means of livelihood, of
whole families and whole, ancient ways of life,
all at the same time?
The global community is the only place the survivors
can turn for help. But how do we help in a way
that empowers communities and does not strengthen
the grip of the international institutions of
power?
Politically, we can continue to pressure the US
and other governments to provide aid, and to call
for a moratorium or better yet, outright cancellation,
of the World Bank and IMF loan repayments owed
by affected countries.
Personally, we can donate to groups that are working
close to the ground, that have longstanding ties
to communities, and that share the values of sustainability
and justice. ;If you don’t have money, consider
some sort of fundraising effort or benefit. Immediate
needs are great—but the need will continue
long after the headlines shift to a new topic.
So think about making a long term commitment to
one of the organizations below. Here are four
suggestions. Thanks for your generosity, Starhawk
South India:
Prithvi Prithvi works with the CARE Trust in Tamil
Nadu, the state in south India that was hardest
hit by the tsunami. He is a personal friend of
mine, a graduate of our very first Earth Activist
Training who works with rural communities of farmers
and fisherfolk to develop sustainability and local
resources. A warm and compassionate man with a
beautiful smile, he told me at our first meeting
that his name literally means ‘Earth’,
and that in his culture, people never enter the
fields with shoes on, but always barefoot, out
of respect for the earth. The CARE Trust is administering
aid to five affected fishing villages, with 2500
families. Their immediate goal is to safeguard
the lives and health of the survivors. The long
term goal is to restore the livelihoods and self-sufficiency
of the villagers by rebuilding houses and providing
new catamarans , nets and fishing boats. To keep
a family alive for a month costs $72. To repair
a catamaran: $355. A new catamaran costs $1667
and a new vallam (fishing boat) with engine and
net costs $2778.
A donation to Prithvi’s organization will
go directly to help empower and support these
communities. To support the CARE Trust:
Collect the money in the name of CARE TRUST,
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
Tsunami Relief Fund
and transfer the money to their sister organization
in
Kanyakumari :
Stephen Charitable Trust
Current Account No 830
Swift code soinin55
South Indian Bank
Nagercoil Branch
St.Assisi Building
Nagercoil-1
Kanyakumari District
Tamilnadu
India
ALSO: send a parallel e-mail to prithvi14@yahoo.com
when sending donations. Privthi can then update
donors with relief news can send thanks. He reminds
all that even a small sum will make a big difference
to Tsunami victims.
Sri Lanka:
The Nonviolent Peaceforce has been working in
Sri Lanka, attempting to be a neutral, nonviolent
presence in the ongoing civil war. They suggest
donating to Sarvodaya, one of their partner organizations,
which will be providing relief in one of the most
devastated countries.
To donate to Sarvodaya online by credit card you
may donate
through the Nonviolent Peaceforce:
http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/english/help/donatetosarvodaya.asp
http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/english/help/donation.asp
Go directly to the Sarvodaya donation page. 100%
of the money we
collect at this site will go to Sarvodaya.
To donate via post within the USA, please send
a tax-deductible
check made out to:
Sarvodaya USA
5716 Manchester Avenue #3,
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Please note that the check is for the Tsunami
disaster and sent via
the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
To donate to Sarvodaya directly in Sri Lanka using
a wire transfer
here is the information you will need for foreign
remittance:
Sarvodaya Inc.
Acct. No 159000 8015
Commercial Bank of Ceylon Limited.- Moratuwa branch
Swift Code CCEYLKLX.
Sarvodaya info in Sri Lanka:
http://www.sarvodaya.lk/
Aceh—Indonesia
Nonviolence International has been working in
Aceh for five years. The Peace Education Program
has been working with religious leader, teachers
and youth to build the capacity for peacebuilding
and nonviolent resolution of conflicts in Aceh,
where a civil war has been raging for years. At
last report, three of their staff members were
missing. Their library of books and manuals on
peacebuilding, computers, financial records, curricula,
and works in progress are all gone. One of their
surviving staff members has lost his parents and
a sister.Nonviolence International-USA has established
a relief fund for the victims and survivors of
the earthquakes and tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia.
According to Chairman, Dr. Mubarak Awad, donations
to the Aceh Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund will
be distributed directly to Acehnese humanitarian
aid agencies.
Funds can be sent via the website at:
www.nonviolenceinternational.net,
or checks can be made out to:
Nonviolence International, PO Box 39127,
Friendship Station, Washington, DC 20016, USA.
All Over:
Via Campesina, the global organization of farm
workers, has set up a relief fund with the specific
intention of empowering local civic society and
communities. Here is their message:
Via Campesina (http://www.viacampesina.org>http://www.viacampesina.org)
- the global alliance of peasant, family farmer,
farm worker, indigenous and landless peoples organizations,
and other rural movements - calls for solidarity
with the millions of people affected by the tsunami
disaster and is launching a global fundraising
campaign to channel assistance to affected communities
of fisherfolk and peasants, for their own relief
and reconstruction efforts, through grassroots
organizations. We ask for your donation for direct
emergency support to provide basic needs of food,
clean drinking water, shelter and health care
to affected fisherfolk and peasant families, as
well as to help us initiate the long term work
of reconstructing our own communities and rebuilding
our livelihoods.
Make a secure on-line credit card donation now
by clicking on:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=4589
[SEE BELOW IF YOU PREFER TO GIVE BY MAIL OR BY
WIRE TRANSFER]
The relief philosophy of Via Campesina is that
our communities should participate actively and
be the key actors in the re-construction process,
and that our fisherfolk and peasant organizations
should play a key mobilizing and supporting role.Via
Campesina wants to give our communities and organizations
the political support they need in this process,
and to help get the funds we need for reconstruction.
The funds raised in this campaign will be used
to strengthen local communities as the key actors
in this process.
The success of local, self-organized, civil society
disaster relief efforts in previous disasters
in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, contrasted
with government inefficiency and top-down, demobilizing
programs, has often marked a key stage in the
empowerment and growth of large, popular, grassroots,
civil society social movements by which previously
marginalized people take control of their own
lives. Let us work together at this time, and
let us do so in ways that help build self-sufficiency,
grassroots organization, and peoples power for
the future.
In addition to the millions who have been displaced
or affected, many tens of thousands have lost
their homes and fishing equipment or farming tools.
Fisherfolk have lost their boats, and the land
of peasant families has been contaminated, their
crops destroyed and their farm animals lost.Your
donation will help us get back on our feet.
Examples of actions already underway:
- In Indonesia, the National
Federation of Indonesian Peasant Organizations
(FSPI), a member of Via Campesina, together with
a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
has created a civil society relief team that is
now working in Aceh (with an estimated 25,000
dead and many times more missing and/or homeless)
and in North Sumatra (5,000 dead) provinces to
distribute supplies, and to carry out search and
rescue missions for missing people. The situation
in dramatic, and at the moment (30 Dec) there
is no direct communication with many areas.
- In Sri Lanka, perhaps
the country worst hit by the tsunamis, the National
Organization of Fisherfolk (NAFSO) has sent 5
teams to affected areas for relief work and help
communities start the task of reconstruction.
They have organized fact finding missions and
are now defining how to cope with the urgent relief
needs while communities plan and begin to carry
the medium term work of rehabilitation.
Make a secure on-line credit card donation now
by clicking on:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=4589
or
SEE BELOW FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO GIVE BY MAIL
OR BY WIRE TRANSFER.
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO GIVE BY MAIL OR BY WIRE
TRANSFER
1. If you are in Europe, you
can deposit funds in the following account:
Account number: 3035 0022 4202 2005 5606
Beneficiary: Via Campesina-Honduras
IBAN code: ES23 3035 0022 4202 2005
5606
BIC/SWIFT code: CLPEES2M
Bank: Caja Laboral
Bank address:Calle 8 de enero, Guernika, Pais
Basco (Basque Country)
Tel: +34 94 625 0098
Fax: +34 94 625 6662
Please send an email alerting us of your donation
to:
nico.verhagen@att-online.de
2. If you are in the United States
(and/or have US dollar denominated
checks or money orders), and want to donate by
mail:
Please make your check out to "Via Campesina/CENSA"
and mail it to:
CENSA/Via Campesina
2288 Fulton Street, suite 103
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
3. If you want to make a bank
wire transfer for the relief campaign, you
can wire funds to:
NOTE: the funds must be transferred to the First
Union Bank in the
USA, where the Banco Grupo El Ahorro Hondureño
(BGA) has an account. In the communication with
the transfer you have to put in the data of the
final beneficiary.
a. Data of the final Beneficiary Bank
- Bank: Banco Grupo El Ahorro
Hondureño (BGA)
- Name of Beneficiary: Pedro
Rafael Alegria, Maria Concepción Betanco,
Via Campesina
- Account Number at BGA: 107 108 6292
- Telephone: (
504 ) 235-9915 and 239-4679
- Country and City: Honduras,
Tegucigalpa M.D.C.
b. Data of the Bank in the USA
- Bank: First Union Bank
(now called Wachovia)
- ABA Code 026005092
- Swift Code B/C: PNBP US 3N
NYC
- Account Number: 2000192001436
- Name: Banco Grupo
El Ahorro Hondureño (BGA)
Please send an email alerting
us of your donation to:
viacampesina@multivisionhn.net
4. If you want to make a bank
wire transfer for relief specifically in Indonesia,
you can wire funds to:
Bank: Standard Chartered Bank
Swift Bank Code: SCB LIDJ XAXXX
Address of Bank: Jl. Imam Bonjol No. 17
North Sumatera,
Indonesia. Account number : 047-1-005467-2
Name of Payee: Sintesa (Yayasan Sinar Tani Indonesia)
Please send an email to alert us of your donation
to:
ilubis@cbn.net.id
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY,
Via Campesina (http://www.viacampesina.org)