Attorney Diego Cardenas Cordillo will lead a lecture and discussion tonight at the University Center about human right violations in Chiapas, Mexico.
The event is sponsored by Amnesty International, the Tennessee Anti-Sweatshop Coalition and the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network.
The lecture will describe the experiences of Gordillo, a grassroots lawyer who represents the communities and indigenous peoples of Amador Hernandez and Taniperlas in their struggle against the military occupation in their villages.
According to Alexander Parks, campus coordinator for Amnesty International, the lecture will give students the chance to hear for themselves how people’s rights are being taken away everyday and be exposed to the opinions of those who do not have a voice to express opposition.
It seems like we are all out to search for the common good’ in humanity, but that doesn’t mean anything, Parks said. We all tend to be selfish and not think of those who are not in our direct path.
Gordillo will bring to campus a voice of a person working diligently to ensure that he people of Chiapas, Mexico who cannot afford legal aid or who don’t know where else to turn can find justice. It will also be a way for UT students to expand our world view firsthand.
What is occurring in Chiapas affects the American community (campus included) on several levels, Parks said.
A lot of what is wrong with the world is a result of U.S. intervention and the global economy, so this directly affects us, Parks said. It also affects us as humans. Our fellow humans are suffering in Chiapas, and we have the opportunity to hear about that and hopefully to take some action on how to work to correct that.
Gordillo and his interpreter Tom Hansen, the director of the Mexico Solidarity Network, also spoke Monday night about international law in Chiapas in a discussion sponsored by the College of Law and the International Law Society.
The Mexico Solidarity Network is a national coalition of 90 community-based organizations that support Mexico-U.S. struggles for social and economic justice, as well as dignity and democratization in both countries.
The network’s fall 2000 human rights/militarization campaign is a national mobilization to end militarization, defend human rights and open space for democratization in poor and indigenous communities in Mexico.
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the UC Crest Room.
