Jesse Freeston writes: Five years ago today I received one of the most important phone calls of my life. I was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, co-mourning what appeared to many of us to be the tragic end to the most beautiful social movement I had ever witnessed, the Honduran Resistance to the 2009 coup détat. Ignoring five months of daily protests against the coup regime and ample evidence of fraud, Western governments accepted a coup-washing election that could only be described as a farce. RING! RING! (I cant remember what my actual ringtone was) The friend on the other line explained that MUCA (a group of 2,000 families of landless farmers) had taken control of 10,000 acres of palm oil plantations of Miguel Facussé, arguably the most powerful man in the country and a massive player in the coup. Exactly five years later and the farmers are still in control of that land, some of the most fertile in the hemisphere, building up their cooperatively managed communities with the revenue of the palm oil sales. But their vision doesnt end there. One of the members told me today “5 years down, 495 left to go to undo this madness”. Facussé tried to green-smeare their anniversary today with this pathetic press release about how his company saved Cristina the tapir from extinction. I love tapirs almost as much as anyone, but the release makes no mention of Facussés efforts to push the Honduran farmer into extinction. His death squads are held responsible by MUCA for the killings of more than 50 of their members...this post honours both those that gave their lives and those continuing MUCAs victorious struggle. Personally, I have dozens of amazing people in my life today that I met as a direct result of covering this movement. Either members of the movement itself or fellow outsiders inspired by MUCAs success. Weve seen MUCA build their new homes, set up their own water system, shut down the Pan-American highway to demand free education, find a market for their palm oil, repair their bicycles, and work to get media recognition for it all, ultimately building their own radio station and TV program. All in the face of a more dedicated, powerful and violent opposition than any Ive ever seen. Lets say I dont get as fazed by the obstacles my life presents as I did 6-7 years ago. Its a movement made up of people, so its not perfect by any means, but theyre collective audacity, solidarity, humor, ideological integrity and endurance are all values I want to imitate. And I think others should too, so Im stoked to announce that the feature documentary Resitencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley Ive been working on for years is all done. Thanks to the help of an enormous list of amazing collaborators, crowdfunders and supporters. Now to figure out how to get it seen by as many people as possible. Adelante. youtube/watch?v=8C1sTrY_JdQ
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 11:52:46 +0000