August, 2005

On the weekend of July 15-17, SHARE joined forces with CRIPDES, Salv-Aide, and Sister Cities to put on the International Solidarity and Sistering Conference “Monsignor Romero Lives” at the University of El Salvador. At this event, nearly 150 people from Spain, Canada, The United States, Guatemala, and El Salvador came together to celebrate their solidarity efforts over the past two and a half decades and to work together to confront new challenges. In the legacy of Monsignor Romero and all the martyrs of El Salvador, the group proudly announced that as poverty and repression boulder through Latin America, international solidarity will always be a strong force that stands in their way. Emboldened by faith in a spirituality of commitment and struggle, this conference and all of its participants represented a web of strength that holds together the hope of our time: an alternative and brighter future for us all.

SHARE scholarship student next to poster: “What does solidarity mean?”

Throughout the conference, it was said that this was a time when those of us working for a better future are walking through a desert, without a road mapped out for us, and we must forge our own way. In this context, the attendants at the conference were like a construction crew going to work, drawing on the knowledge they have gained along the path thus far, and elaborating new highways toward human development. The weekend started with a talent show in which youth from the CRIPDES regions of Chalatenango and La Libertad performed dramatic representations of “The Life of Romero” and “The Effects of Immigration”. Their touching depictions of these two topics that deeply affect Salvadoran life were so impressive that friend of SHARE Teresa Aley exclaimed, “I don’t know how the weekend could get any better!”

But that was only the first evening. The next day featured speakers on the Current National Context and Challenges to Sistering. After a lively discussion on these presentations, the group split up into five different working tables to develop approaches to vital issues like: Construction of Popular Movements, Immigration and Poverty, Art and Creativity in the Struggle for Social Justice, Food Sovereignty and Fair Trade, and Spirituality and Struggle. Later, the fruit of this labor was shared in a plenary session.

The agreement of those present was that as people organized for a more sustainable and egalitarian world, we are obliged to seek alternatives to global trends that:

Silence the voice of the people,

Pit the poor against the poor in a fight for survival,
Suffocate historical and cultural memory in exchange for materialism,
Inhibit our ability to purchase products produced under fair working conditions,
And create a culture of consumption.

In order to overcome these trends, the conference agreed that we must pave the road ahead with actions such as:

Opening political spaces and training citizens to be aware of their rights.
Strengthening community between immigrants and their home communities.
Fostering theater, art, song, and dance which build historical memory and pride.
Emphasize locally made fair trade products by encouraging community gardens and farm markets and stopping government subsidies to large agribusinesses.
Providing faith-building workshops in all communities that challenge participants to look outside themselves and into the eyes of society’s victims in a spirit of compassion.

All in all, this conference made it clear that international solidarity is just as vital today as it has always been. It is the human face that urges a spirit of cooperation and humility. This is a creative force that will construct a superhighway towards a just and sustainable world paved with the hard work of all of those who dare to live in solidarity.

Thank you for your participation in this struggle!

Sincerely,

Elly Jordan

SHARE El Salvador Office

International Sistering and Solidarity Conference: “Romero Lives”
Pictured here with the Solidarity mural created in honor of the event.