| Most of you know that the IRC has gone global—or
interhemispheric. The experts associated with the ever-expanding Foreign
Policy In Focus project (a joint effort with the Institute for Policy Studies
in DC) follow U.S. policy to the Congo, Russia, Kosovo, Indonesia—wherever
the U.S. government reaches, which means of course almost everywhere. Do
you want informed analysis about global affairs and want it quick? Then
check the In Focus website (www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org),
where you can click on any part of a world map for policy analysis about
that region.
Latin America, a region where the IRC has had long-term involvement,
is the focus of the project's first Global Affairs Agenda. We are circulating
a draft agenda for comments regarding a new U.S. foreign policy in the
region; we will then use the agenda in national advocacy and organizing
work.
Focus on the Global South (an NGO dedicated to regional and global policy
analysis and advocacy work, located in Bangkok, Thailand) is distributing
all of our In Focus briefs. On the domestic side, the Friends
Committee on National Legislation utilized "Military-Industrial Complex
Revisited: How Weapons Makers are Shaping U.S. Foreign and Military Policies"
(a chapter from our forthcoming book, Global Affairs 2000-2001)
at a national conference in December. Another national group, the East
Timor Action Network, circulated "Indonesia After Suharto" at
their annual conference in November. At the local level, dozens of groups
are using In Focus briefs for education and action. In Albuquerque, the
Sweatshop Free Albuquerque Coalition shared "Child Labor in the Global
Economy" with city counselors in their efforts to stop the purchase
of goods made under sweatshop conditions.
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borderlines
In October 1997, former IRC intern George Kourous took over from Rachel
Hays as borderlines editor. With the arrival of a new editor and
the start-up of a new IRC project (INCITRA), the time seemed ripe for a
serious reconfiguration of borderlines. Each month's issue now
focuses on one specific topic, contains a directory of contacts and other
resources related to the monthly theme (the INCITRA Action Kit), and offers
analysis and writing not only by IRC staff but by knowledgeable border region
activists and actors. We have also launched a supplementary, news-oriented
electronic publication called the borderlines UPDATER, which lets
us track important happenings and developments as they arise.
The changes in the borderlines project have been important steps
in our ongoing effort to facilitate citizen activists engaged in the struggle
for social, environmental, and economic justice on the border. During
the coming months we will be assessing our work and conferring with colleagues
on the border regarding future goals and directions for the project.
INCITRA
The Information for Citizen Transboundary Action (INCITRA) project facilitates
information-sharing about sustainable development on the U.S.-Mexico border.
One way we do this is to serve as an information clearinghouse of materials
dealing with environmental, social, political, cultural, and economic
issues on the border. The information we identify is collected and organized
into an electronic database.
While we provide access to important research being printed in books,
journals, newspapers, and government documents, we also collect information
from NGOs and community-based organizations, state reports, Internet documents,
and other information about sustainable development issues on the border.
The IRC's border information manager, Julie Schneider, plans to upload
the database to the INCITRA website by the time you receive this newsletter.
Our database will be searchable by author, title, or keyword, with full-text
documents available from the IRC.
Every month, border staff mine our database to produce the Action Kit,
a compilation of topic-specific contacts, websites, listservs, and publications.
The Action Kit is published in both the print and web versions of borderlines.
INCITRA also takes a proactive role in identifying those who are struggling
with the environmental, social, and economic problems plaguing the U.S.-Mexico
border area. As part of this outreach, we travel the border and meet with
activists to discuss the problems they are dealing with and the best strategies
for solving those problems. INCITRA's Outreach Coordinator has taken an
integral role in the efforts to stop the placing of low-level radioactive
waste in Sierra Blanca, TX, and in Ward Valley near Needles, CA. Through
the efforts of local citizens, community-based organizations, NGOs, and
others, the plans to place a low-level radioactive waste dump in Sierra
Blanca, TX, were defeated; the struggle to stop the Ward Valley waste
dump continues.
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