Category Archives: Central American Solidarity Movement

Anti-Contra Aid action from 1986 in Grand Rapids

Posted on August 2, 2018 by

As we have mentioned in numerous postings before, there was an active Central American Solidarity Movement in the 1980s, resisting the US wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and the US funding of the Contra War in Nicaragua. US aid to … Continue reading →

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“We learned solidarity from those who thanked us for staying in the country when other North Americans had left”: An Interview with Bill Van Lopik on doing Solidarity work in El Salvador in the 1980s and 90s

Posted on January 7, 2016 by

This interview is with Bill Van Lopik, who, along with his wife, spent years doing justice work in El Salvador while calling Grand Rapids home. Bill is one of the hundreds of people from Grand Rapids who were part of … Continue reading →

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1990 Flyer makes the link between US militarism and Housing Justice in the US

Posted on October 22, 2015 by

Over the past week we have posted some archival flyers that were used by Central American Solidarity activists in Grand Rapids, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. One flyer dealt with the connection between the Columbia legacy and the … Continue reading →

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1989 Flyer on the US Invasion of Panama that was distributed in Grand Rapids

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

Last week we posted a flyer that was created by the Latin America Working group at the Institute for Global Education on the Guatemalan Genocide and the Columbian Legacy. We discovered another flyer that was developed in response to the … Continue reading →

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GR Central American Solidarity flyer connects Guatemalan Genocide to Columbus Legacy

Posted on October 16, 2015 by

We came across a flyer the other day that was produced in 1990 by the Latin American Working Group from the Institute for Global Education.  The flyer talks about the Columbian legacy and the genocidal policies in Guatemala during the … Continue reading →

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Reversing the Missionary Position: Documentary recounts the experience of GR activist involved in the Central American Solidarity Movement

Posted on October 7, 2015 by

(Disclosure: This documentary is based upon a book written by the same person who hosts the Grand Rapids People’s History Project, Jeff Smith) In 2003, I wrote a book about my experiences doing Central American Solidarity work, Sembramos, Comemos, Sembramos: … Continue reading →

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Our history tells us to speak up and current events motivate us to act up – An Interview with Barb Lester

Posted on October 5, 2015 by

When did you first get involved in the Nuclear Freeze Campaign and what motivated you to get involved? I remember the exact moment I became involved in Nuclear Freeze Campaign.  In the spring of 1982 I saw a photo on … Continue reading →

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