[act-ma] 11/3 On the Edge of Reason: Border dynamics and the spread of violence, encuentro 5 Thursday @ 7:30

[Suren Moodliar]

 The Mexico-US Solidarity Network presents
"On the Edge of Reason: Border dynamics and the spread of violence"
featuring Macrina Cárdenas de Alarcón of Tijuana's Casa del Migrante

More than just bloody turf wars between competing cartels, the current
conflict in Mexico is shaped by free trade agreements, the rise and fall of
political parties, massive amounts of US military funding and a voracious
appetite for drugs north of the border. Macrina will draw on her
experience, formerly as the Legislative Coordinator of the Mexico
Solidarity Network and currently with the Casa del Migrante in Tijuana,
Mexico, to unpack this complex situation.

Border towns such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez are caught between a rock
and a hard place. On one hand, decades of maquiladorization have left
border towns heavily invested in boom-and-bust industry that can all too
easily move across the world in search of cheaper labor. Left without jobs
in Mexico or in a depressed US economy, migrants arrive in Tijuana to find
their "American Dream" has died before it ever started. Meanwhile, youth
turn to cartels as the only remaining option.

On the other hand, via the 1.4 billion-dollar Mérida Initiative US
taxpayers are supporting a Mexican military fraught with corruption and
human rights abuses, while also undermining the same military by allowing
cartels full access to US-made arms and by cutting deals with high-level
narcotraffickers. As Macrina explains, people in the US may feel this is
"Mexico's problem," but taxpayer money and demand for drugs place Americans
squarely within the scope of this conflict.

Join Macrina Cárdenas de Alarcón and Mexico Solidarity Network
representative Lindsey Hoemann for an in-depth discussion of the current
situation, one that weaves together a political analysis of the conflict,
an appreciation for social movements' acts of resistance and solidarity,
and Macrina's firsthand stories from life in Tijuana.

encuentro 5 is located at 33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor, Boston, MA 02111 see
http://www.encuentro5.org for directions.
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