ALBUQUERQUE

Fair Trade Day in Albuquerque. People are gathering at University for talks, music, food and "peacecrafts". Mary Vigil does the introduction, Mary Bellman of the Coalition for a sweatshop-free Albuquerque speaks about the necessity to work locally together against the exploitation that is happening next door. Diane Mull, who has been working with farmworkers population and organizations for more than 20 years, gives an overview about the worst forms of child labor at the international, national and local levels. She gives multiple examples of child labor in the US, shows slides of the faces of children at work on the fields and also knows of several cases of work related death of kids that happened this year.

Asif Rasheed refers to the situation of child labor in his own country Pakistan. On the one side laws on child labor are made, he says, but on the other side economy is ruled in a way that the poverty of people is rising. As long as this is the case the situation for kids won't change. And also women in his country are without shelter, even if they are in work. Women working in clothing manufactures don't earn enough money to wear these clothes.

Some more of us speak, including Michael Charder about the resistance in his country Great Britain, how it started, how it became globally through Peoples' Global Action, and how the link of resistance against roads and against free trade is getting even more important in Europe, since a truck corridor - called TransEuropean Network - is planned from the UK down to Turkey. That this obviously relates to the Cross Israel Highway he only got to know through Rony, Hagit and Sagi from Israel on the caravan. (AUDI0)

Later that afternoon we do another performance of our street theater play, and in the afternoon we meet with more local people in a potluck at the Peace and Justice Center. Again and again it's exciting to get to know all these people in their struggles. And they feel the same: "I guess we always thought we exist', says Hildegard, who's working at the Center. "But now we are sure. And each of us represents so many more!"

 

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