Aug 2024

Garifuna performing a cleansing ritual in front of riot police guarding the attorney general's office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio)

We took a break from our regular newsletter cycle and are now back. This time we’ve decided to transition from a quarterly to a monthly newsletter format. So you can expect to see more from us in the months ahead.

 In this issue we take a look at the fight for survival happening in Black communities in Honduras as Garifuna communities fight to hold onto their collective land in the face of forced displacement. Keep scrolling for the newest news and resources across the global Black solidarity economy, and the latest on what we’re up to at Collective Diaspora.

 Please share with others and reply to let us know what you think.

Maroon Dispatches

News from across the global Black solidarity economy

Garifuna Community Land Defenders Tour US to raise awareness of Black collective land titles under attack in Honduras (Honduras/US)

 

 

Black communities in Honduras are under attack. Among the Garifuna in Honduras, land is held collectively, in territories that Garifuna have held since their ancestors escaped enslavement in the Caribbean and established free Black & Indigenous communities along the Atlantic Coast of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Belize. In Honduras today, Garifuna territories are highly sought after among multinational agribusinesses, luxury real estate developers, and drug traffickers.

 

A 2009 right-wing military coup quietly backed by the US government opened the floodgates for widespread privatization, violence, repression, and a mass migrant exodus. There are now 250,000 Garifuna in New York City, more than there are in Honduras, with the largest concentration to be found in the South Bronx. The displacement of Garifuna from their traditional and collectively managed lands has largely been financed by the world’s leading financial institutions in the region, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Inter American Development Bank.

 

Over the years, the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña or OFRANEH) ) has been leading the fight to defend Garifuna lives and land, under constant threat of violence. The Honduran government has engaged directly in violence against Garifuna leaders in order to displace the community. Even the Inter American Court of Human Rights has declared that the actions of the Honduran government violate the human rights of Garifuna communities. Yet the court’s rulings have been ignored and the violence continues. OFRANEH is now taking their case to the Honduran government’s benefactors, the US government. And along the way is reaching out to Garifuna communities that have been forced to flee because of the violence.

 

Collective Diaspora and AfroResistance recently supported OFRANEH in organizing a town hall meeting in the Bronx for local Garifuna on June 8th at the offices of South Bronx Unite, a community-based environmental justice organization. The meeting, which alternated between the Garifuna language and Spanish, served to update the Garifuna community in the Bronx on OFRANEH’s efforts to get lawmakers in Washington DC to exert pressure on the Honduran government. Thanks to OFRANEH’s work, Representative Cori Bush recently introduced HR 1278, a bill condemning human rights violations against Garifuna communities in Honduras, and requiring the US government to engage the Honduran government to comply with international court rulings for reparations for Garifuna communities. It also demands the US government use its vote in multilateral development banks to reject financing for projects that displace Garifuna communities. The bill is co-sponsored by Representatives Ilhan Omar, AOC, Jamaal Bowman, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, and Janice Schakowsky.

 

If you’re living in the US, reach out to your congressmember and urge them to support HR 1278! If you’re not sure who that is, find your representative here.

 

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Beat the Drum

Calls for Support

  • Call to Action - Now that you’ve read the above article on the fight to protect Garifuna lives and land from political assassinations and forced displacement, take a moment to share your support for Garifuna communities on social media. If you live in the US, reach out to your congressional representative  and urge them to support HR 1278! If you’re not sure who that is, find your representative here.

  • Call for Partners - Collective Diaspora steering committee member The Cross Atlantic Chocolate Collective is a global south and women-led marketing cooperative of Black cocoa growers and chocolate makers from Africa, the Caribbean and North America. They’re on a mission to decolonize the chocolate industry by building an integrated Pan African network for chocolate production, manufacturing and distribution. Part of their model involves cooperatives of Black chocolatiers in the US completing the final steps of the chocolate making process for local markets. As such, they’re looking for aspiring Black chocolate makers eager to join their cooperative, as well as US-based Black co-op incubators willing to help identify and nurture local Black cooperative chocolatiers. Partners must be committed to the responsibilities of being part of a mutual aid self-help network and acting in solidarity with other members of the cooperative. CACC will provide technical training for those interested. For more info reach out to Gillian Goddard (gilliangoddard@yahoo.com).

     

  • Call for Investors/Donors - Join Repaired Nations (Oakland, CA) and AbibiKwantuo (Accra, Ghana) in transforming the One Africa Resort & Restaurant on the coast of Elmina, just outside of Accra, Ghana into a cooperatively owned resort. One Africa Resort & Restaurant has been a well known stopping point for Black travelers from across the African diaspora for decades, hosting thousands of travelers visiting the nearby slave dungeons. They're out to raise $50,000 to fund the necessary renovations to complete this Pan African cooperative conversion. Help make this vision a reality. Learn more and contribute.

     

  • Call for Donors - The Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions is supporting recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl that severely affected the islands of Tobago, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica. To support the recovery efforts, donate.

     

  • Call for Donors - Members of The Deep Grocery Cooperative in East Oakland will soon be traveling to Togo and Benin to learn about co-ops and traditional dancing and ceremonial practices for healing. Learn more and donate to help them make the journey.

     

 

Collective Diaspora News

Black Arts Co-ops Represent!

Our Black Co-ops for Change webinar series continued over the spring and summer as we profiled two inspiring Black artists cooperatives, each committed to ensuring that wealth created by Black artists and artisans stays in Black communities.

 

Members of Zeal, based in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Accra, shared stories of how they’ve created unapologetically Black spaces in the visual arts both within, and outside of, predominantly white art worlds. Meanwhile, members of Keep It In The Culture Co-op inspired us with their journey as traditional bearers of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras culture committed to keeping the Black cultural traditions of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, and the wealth it generates, in the hands of Black New Orleanians. And all with support from the Black-led co-op accelerator Cooperation New Orleans. You can watch the recordings of these and other Black Co-ops for Change webinars here.

Nurturing Space for Black Cooperators in the US

It was a true joy to participate at this year’s Conference on Black Cooperative Agenda held this past June 13-15 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The annual conference featured a keynote address by St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III and brought together Black cooperators from across the US seeking to build community with each other, grow Black co-ops and build a movement for a Black solidarity economy.

Collective Diaspora’s coordinator, Omar Freilla served as a moderator and panelist for two of the conference’s sessions: Building Community Wealth Through Cooperative Ownership and Navigating Structure and Governance: Transparent Decision-Making for All Cooperatives.  This year’s conference was co-organized by the Network for Developing Conscious Communities and Collective Diaspora steering committee member Nexus Community Partners.

Global Black Solidarity Economy in the News

News articles/essays/press covering any aspect of the Black solidarity economy

Resource Library: Podcasts & Videos

 

Digging Deeper

Websites, Books, Journal Articles, Reports, and More

    • Solidarity Economy Funding Library (website)

      A US based resource from the New Economy Coalition for those engaged in social justice organizing to find funding, investing, and fiscal sponsorship opportunities, as well as detail relationships between movement organizations and funders. It contains information on US based foundations, fiscal sponsors, government agencies, Investors, banks, and financial services organizations.

    • Black Farmer Fund Resource Page (website)

      This new webpage from the Black Farmer Fund houses resources such as webinars, grants, legal aid and more, to support Black food businesses and the Black food justice organizing community throughout the Northeast.

    • Reclaiming Our Own Time (ROOT) Sabbatical Fund (grant opportunity)

      This program will support fellows to take three continuous months off to focus on rest and reflection for those who create and nurture community change, and identify as a part of the Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color (BIPOC) in Minnesota.

    • Custom Collaborative’s 2023 Annual Report (annual report)

Faith Ringgold’s story quilt, “Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles” (1991), paying tribute to Black women pioneers of change (from left to right) Madame CJ Walker, Sojourner Truth, Ida B Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Mary McLoud Bethune, and Ella Baker, with Vincent Van Gogh in the background bringing them flowers.

Upcoming Events

Art by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, a founding member of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party - Prison Chapter currently imprisoned at Greensville Correctional Center, Virginia.

 

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