Articles

Third Encuentro

Community activists struggle against gentrification in Harlem
Originally from Free Speech Radio News.

For the past six years in New York, a group made up mostly of Mexican immigrants has been challenging slumlord conditions and gentrification in East Harlem. The group is called Movement for Justice in El Barrio and part of their grassroots organizing has been to connect with communities across the globe who are struggling with the same issues of displacement. The group recently brought together community activists from across the city who are fighting gentrification. Participants from South Africa, Mexico and Haiti also joined the gathering.

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Here Comes the Neighborhood
By Michael Gould-Wartofsky. Originally from Huffington Post.

Here, amid the glittering ruins of globalized gentrification's gilded age, a kind of glocal tenants' movement is taking shape, at once locally rooted and globally connective.

On April 6, 2008, a gathering of global dimensions was afoot on the steps of New York's City Hall. You may have missed it at the time. You may have been hard-pressed to find it on the news.

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A Convergence of Dreams: The Third Encuentro for Dignity and Against Displacement
By RJ Maccani. Originally from Desinformemonos magazine.

April 2, 2010

The invitation reads, “We propose a coming together, a convergence, to which we can all bring: our histories, what makes us difference, and our dreams.”

Over 40 organizations were represented at the Encuentro in East Harlem, New York – Photo DR 2010 RJ Maccani

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Zapatista-Inspired Rally Held in New York City; Aims to Fight Gentrification
By Paola Reyes. Originally from Latin America News Dispatch.

NEW YORK – Over 120 people and 40 organizations participated in the Third Encounter for Dignity and Against Gentrification hosted by the Movement for Justice in el Barrio this past Sunday in East Harlem, New York. The meeting, referred to by the Spanish term encuentro, brought together activists from places as far as California, Puerto Rico, and Maryland.

“The objective of this third encuentro was to connect our struggle. Our struggle doesn’t have boundaries,” said Filiberto Hernandez, a member of the Movement for Justice in el Barrio.

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El Barrio is Everywhere
By Richard Vallejo. Originally from The Nor'easter.

On Feb. 28, more than 200 people, representing over 40 organizations, gathered in the basement of a community center on E. 116 St. in East Harlem. From throughout East Harlem, across New York City, and as far away as Los Angeles and Puerto Rico, they came together to share and unite their struggles against a common enemy: neoliberal global capitalism and its displacement of the poor, the invisible. The message was clear: “Our land, our homes are not for sale.” The event was called the Third NYC Encuentro for Dignity and Against Displacement, hosted by Movement for Justice in El Barrio.

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