African-Americans rally around their man

From T-shirts to bake sales, MRG’s Intern Marissa Burik on the importance of this election to US’s African American community.

The polls may be clear, but so are the nerves. Even in a London flat filled with 11 American students (mostly of the Democratic persuasion) the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. We come from diverse backgrounds and an eclectic mix of geographies. The New Yorkers amongst us are incredibly sure of an Obama victory, while the lone Southern Republican is holding out hope for a McCain victory.

As for me….as a pessimist, I refuse to make predictions…but the election of Obama would be very important for the US’s minorities; he would not just be the first African American president but the first US president from any ethnic minority.

Of course, an Obama victory would mark a significant shift in how the US engages with the world. And that does not just include how Obama looks. The policy differences and approaches run deep. As American journalist Nicholas Kristof put it last week, Obama could represent a “rebranding” of the US throughout the world. Or to put it differently, we would switch from having a ‘shoot first, questions later’ mentality to ‘talk first, shoot later’. But looks also matter. If Obama is elected, it will show the progressive nature of US politics. ‘Old’ Europe might like to write the US off as a nation of hillbillies, but when will there be a black presidential candidate in Germany, France or even at the top leadership of my current country of residence, Britain?

But turning back to the home front, not since Martin Luther King Jr. has a single African-American individual had such a broad impact on the entire American populace. Martin Luther King Jr. was able to make us think beyond black and white, and focus on the basic humanity that each and every person deserves. This message had the effect of energizing an otherwise marginalized community, and starting the civil rights movement in 1960s America.

If elected president, Barack Obama could have a similar effect on the African American community. Minority voters (along with the youth) are usually considered by political anoraks to be unreliable. But they have already been turning out in record numbers – at primaries, at rallies, and, yes, queuing to vote early. Whatever the outcome on November 4th, Obama has rewritten the election rule book and one lesson is this: US elections are no longer about old, white middle class people.

I know that in a pre-dominantly African American church in Chicago attended by a co-worker of mine, every Sunday, there is bake sale, selling cookies and home-made treats as well as awesome T-shirts with pictures of Barak Obama, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, alongside the ‘change’ message. Proceeds go to the campaign. It’s just one example of the African American grassroots effort across the US. Although the Obama campaign has been good at pulling in the big donors, they have also capitalised on a new market, of individual donors putting in small sums of money to support the candidate. And unlike the McCain campaign, Obama hasn’t had to hire people to go out and campaign for him….

Yet Obama’s engagement with his own community has been interesting. He’s been unafraid to deliver the messages that people need to hear, as well as the ones that people want to hear. For example, on Father’s Day, he delivered a speech in a predominantly African American Chicago church – his message was that all fathers – and African-American ones in particular – had a responsibility to be there for their children. He was blunt about it. If he gets elected, we should be seeing this as a moment to re-launch the civil rights movement. This one would not necessarily be race based. Instead, it would see many different people working towards equal opportunity. Obama is a perfect example of an individual who has benefited from the public system, and then made himself a success. He is the right person and this is the right time.

And then there is our second alternative, a McCain victory. I have less to say to say about this. The potential triumph of a septuagenarian with a 26 year history of working in the Washington establishment won’t change much in the perception of those who view the US from abroad. Electing John McCain would reinforce stereotypes of Americans as distrustful of change and yes, a little bit racist.

For the African American community, a McCain win would undoubtedly be seen as a setback. The status quo would prevail. The message would be that you can work very hard and get very close and still go home disappointed. That’s been the experience of many African-Americans, as well as other minorities and women. It’s not a positive message to send to any person regardless of their race, gender or creed.

So no predictions…just hope.

Could the US election be stolen?

MRG intern, Marissa Burik, tells us how junk mail and the credit crunch could be used against new minority voters

One might assume that, in democratic countries, voting is a right not a privilege. This is what I have always assumed about the United States of America. But very recently, there have been major challenges to this inherent right. These challenges diminish the trust between the government and the electorate. And they are particularly relevant to this election, because of the massive numbers of newly registered voters.

This election season has seen over 660,000 new voters register to vote in Ohio alone. The majority of those new voters are from previously underrepresented groups, such as the economically disadvantaged, young people, and minorities. But what many of these new voters do not realise is that registration is just the starting point: many obstacles – political and legal – have to be overcome before they get to cast their vote on November 4th. The Obama campaign is certainly taking the issue seriously: it’s already been in touch with the justice department about cases of alleged voter intimidation.

The first major issue is voter suppression. Voter suppression is a method of legalized election fraud in which voters are intimidated or purged from voter rolls. In other words, if you can’t beat them, just get less of their supporters to vote. How does it work? Political organisers target new voters in a specific neighbourhood – often the poorer areas. They send a piece of junk mail. If it is returned, or goes unanswered, political operatives argue that the registration may be fraudulent, because voter may not live there. It sounds incredible – but I’ve seen the consequences of this on polling day. In the 2007 mayoral race in Canton, Ohio, while we were struggling to get out the democrat vote, the republican side was struggling to suppress it, by challenging the eligibility of ‘junk mail’ voters on the electoral register. In 2008, this political ‘technique’ will be even more relevant because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The tragedy is that as more and more people lose their homes, they could also lose their vote. A double-whammy, if ever there was one.

Another problem is the tighter identification rules in some states – often the key swing states. In 2002 Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. This new legislation was in response to the 2000 election, in which Florida was turned into a state of chads and butterfly ballots. The law made it possible for states to create legislation requiring identification. For example in my home state of Ohio in 2004, people were turned away from polling stations because they did not have proper identification. This – in itself – was illegal because even those without ID are allowed to vote provisionally. But even more worrying, it was a practise pursued by a Republican dominated legislature, executive and judiciary, and disproportionately affected those who were poor and from minority backgrounds. Or in other words, voters who were most likely to support the Democrats. How worried should we be about this in 2008? Well, Obama’s team is so concerned that it has amassed a formidable team of lawyers in Florida. Their job will be to challenge the challenges, and to ensure that any recount would be conducted without undue political influence. In other words, they are not going to be caught off-guard this time.

The biggest tragedy in all of this is the lack of respect for new voters. Instead of being pleased that millions of American citizens have decided to re-engage in the political process, we’re focusing on the downside. These seemingly endless conversations about the possibility of voter fraud and intimidation tell new voters that there is a potential for their vote to not count.

Talk about going negative.

Marissa Burik is blogging for MRG in the run-up to the US presidential elections.

Hasta luego Lima

MRG’s Fundraising Coordinator, Cecile Clerc rubs shoulders with Peru’s sporting VIPs and says a fond farewell to Lima

Here we are: my suitcase is packed and we’ve booked the taxi to take us to the airport later today. We actually should not have come back to the craft market for a last walk around… Samia and I have now huge and very heavy suitcases, full of surprises for our friends, family and colleagues. Hopefully, on this side of the world, they will be a bit more relaxed with baggage allowance.

It’s now time for my last impressions. You must have guessed from my previous postings that I’ve had a fascinating time in Lima. I especially liked meeting with our partners and participating in the discussions on the content of the work we will be jointly undertaking. I feel I’ve gained a real grasp of the Afro-descendants project which I hope will reflect in the funding applications I’ll be writing in the future. Having joined MRG not so long ago, it was also my first opportunity to see the work of my organization on the ground. I have to say, I’m very proud of what we all do.

The human dimension to this trip was also very intense: spending a day with Afro-descendant communities in El Carmen and listening to their personal stories of racism, discrimination but also of hope and motivation to overcome challenges, was truly inspirational.

And then, any such trips are full of anecdotes. I never mentioned for instance that we stayed in the same hotel as a very famous Peruvian football team and had a chance to shake the hand of one of the players – the most famous one according to some of our female partners.

The US Junior Judo team was also staying at our hotel. While we were discussing serious issues related to our project, they were preparing for their competition in the room next door. We could hear them screaming and falling on the tatami on a regular basis.

Samia and I became experts in negotiating the fares of our taxi rides – we started at 12 soles for the trip between Miraflores, where most donors have their offices – and the hotel and paid 5 soles today.

We’re not scared of the traffic anymore and are now able to keep our eyes open during a whole taxi journey…

But I’ll stop boring you all to death. From tomorrow I’ll be back at my desk and carrying on with my Fundraising life. And I will upload my photo on Facebook…

Being a Fundraiser (again)

MRG’s Fundraising Coordinator, Cecile Clerc, gets to meet the donors supporting MRG’s work in Latin America

Although I have very much enjoyed being part of the design of a project and meeting with partners, I have not forgotten that in essence I’m a Fundraiser. Since the details of the work to be undertaken in Latin America have been finalized I‘d been thinking which donors I could submit this proposal to and I actually had the chance to meet a couple of them, here in Lima. The donors I met were all institutional donors as most of the US foundations interested in this work are not based in Peru.

My first meeting was with the Spanish Cooperation Agency. Our contact expressed a strong interest in the project and I’ve already put the date of their next call for proposals in my diary! The Spanish have a strong presence in the region and they already support a number of NGOs working here on human rights and good governance – exactly what our project is about. We then met with the British Ambassador in Peru. Once again, the meeting was productive: Although funding from the FCO is limited, the Ambassador showed a real commitment to help MRG and our partners raise the profile of the work we are planning here.

The meeting in itself was also a truly unique experience, especially as the Embassy is located in the highest building in Lima, occupying its 22nd floor. From there, we had an incredible view of the coast and the sea. Yet, however nice and well located the offices of the FCO (and other donors) in Lima, I was expecting them to be in old colonial houses. I don’t really know why. Maybe this comes from my experience of the Embassies in Buenos Aires? On the contrary, all the donors we met have offices in modern buildings and it seems that it’s the representatives of other Latin American countries who have the pleasure (and good taste?) of working in historical and picturesque offices.

Thinking about donors, I can’t help mentioning the Big Lottery Fund, which has supported our meetings here. Indeed, too few donors are willing to support the design stage of a project, when it’s clear from what I have seen and experienced here that this is key if we want to develop projects that really meet the need of our beneficiaries.

And so back soon in London and start writing and submitting more proposals…

Travels in the Peruvian countryside to the ‘cradle’ of the Afro-descendant community

MRG’s Fundraising Coordinator, Cecile Clerc, travels outside Lima to meet Afro-descendant victims of the recent Peruvian earthquake, and hears chilling tales from the slavery era

[Sunday 4th] This morning my body was aching as if I had run a marathon the day before… The six hours spent in a van driving on the Panamerica Sur – the highway heading south of Lima – had apparently been more tiring than I had imagined.

Samia (MRG’s Head of Programmes) and I had been invited by Silvia from Asociacion Chincha Margarita, one of our partners in the project, to go to her community some 300 kms away from Lima. The opportunity was too exciting to be missed – this was our chance to go and meet with the people who will be the ultimate beneficiaries of our work and an opportunity to discover Peru a bit more. We did not regret it a second.

We had hired a van and a driver – there was no way we would be able to manage the Latin way of driving on our own – and Silvia joined us for the day, bringing with her her sweet one-year-old daughter.

We left the hotel by 8.00 am and 3 hours later arrived in the village of El Carmen, in the Province of Chincha. In El Carmen live 3,500 inhabitants, 85% of which are from Afro-descendant origin. The area is known as the cradle of the Afro-descendant community in Peru and people are incredibly proud of it.

More recently, it has also become famous as it was badly affected by the earthquake which hit Peru a couple of months ago. Many people are actually still living in tents providing by international organizations such as the EU as their houses are not fully rebuilt.

We walked around the area, meeting with Silvia’s friends and family who shared with us their experience of the earthquake. There is no doubt that this had a huge emotional and economic impact on the community. Yet there was also a general feeling that everybody was willing to start again.

On the way back to Lima we stopped at the Hacienda de San Jose, a typical house from the 19th century now converted into a famous hotel. Although the house was also badly destroyed by the earthquake – the epicenter was in Pisco, not far from there – it still conveys the splendour of the past times. And its horrors.

Indeed, in the past, the owners of this house had a huge number of slaves from Africa working for them, in the cotton fields around the house. Silvia showed us the room where slaves used to be beaten up and told us about the revolution of slaves which started in 1859 from this place. It was a chilling story but at the same time a story of hope and courage and of a fight for rights and liberty – the kind of fight our project is about.

A few things about Lima

MRG’s Fundraising co-ordinator Cecile Clerc samples Peruvian cuisine, and reflects on the challenging programme agreed with Afro-descendant partners

Last night [Friday night] was the concluding evening of the meeting we had with our partners. Those 3 days have gone by so quickly, it’s unbelievable! They were pretty intense too but so productive! The programme of work for the next 4 years that was agreed is ambitious but necessary if we want to achieve changes on the ground and improve the situation of Afro-descendant communities in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.

As soon as I’m back in London, I’ll be looking for possible funders for this work and I’m sure that this experience, meeting with the partners, inputting on the design of the work will help me.

We had a dinner with all our partners to say goodbye as some were leaving this morning. Peruvian partners insisted for us to try “Pisco Sour”, the national cocktail. It’s actually very good although it’s dead strong… I’m glad we only had one as I would never have been able to climb the stairs to my room.

They also invited us to try the “Chicha Morada” which is (thank God) a non-alcoholic drink made of brown corn. Not bad at all. Talking about beverage, I’m thinking of what we have been eating so far and… I have to confess that it has not been very diverse. We had rice for lunch and dinner, every single day.

When I asked one of the partners if he did not find the food too boring, he just laughed; rice is actually something Peruvian people eat LOTS. They even grow rice in some parts of the country. I have the feeling that back in London, I’ll be avoiding rice for a while though…

Today we went with Samia [MRG’s Head of International Advocacy] for a walk around Lima. We started by the Craft Markets on Avenue Petit Thouars where you can find lots of typical Peruvian objects such as jumpers/shawls made of alpaca, silver frames, jewels… We then headed towards Miraflores which is one of the commercial areas of Lima and ended up by the sea, in a small restaurant where guess what… we had rice!

I did enjoy very much walking around Lima and getting to know the city a bit more. Tomorrow we will leaving Lima to spend the day with Afro-descendant communities in the Province of Chincha. I’m sure it will be another great experience.

Afro-descendant communities

MRG is trying to build stronger ties with Afro-descendant groups across Latin America with the aim of helping to promote and protect their rights. Fundraising Coordinator Cecile Clerc finds the Gods of Technology are against her, but is moved by stories of shocking racial discrimination.

The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was to check the window to see if what I saw last night was real.

The buses have not grown bigger and the colours are still there, albeit less vivid than in my memories. The thing is, Lima is almost continously wrapped by a white fog, or neblina, which makes the atmosphere a bit melancholic and probably affect your perception of the colours, lights…

Today, we finally met all our partners. There are 7 in total, representing Afro-descendant communities from Ecuador, Brazil and Peru. 4 of them are women, representing women’s organizations. The purpose of the first day of the meeting was for each partner (including us) to present their work and for our partners, specifically, to give an overview of the situation faced by their communities in their individual country.

Although differences do exist (Brazil is clearly ahead in the implementation of the rights of Afro-descendants while in Peru the existence of a group called Afro-descendant is simply not recognized), racial discrimination is rampant across all the countries. To give you just an example: one of our partners in Peru is also a lawyer. Last week, when he went to court with one of his clients, employees there immediately assumed that he was not the lawyer!

And they all had plenty of stories like that.

We also discussed the poverty faced by Afro-descendant communities in all countries. Once again, these communities are facing the worst level of poverty compared to other groups. In Ecuador, for instance, 5 out of 10 Afro-descendants live on less than $2 a day. There is, therefore, lots to be done to challenge these issues.

The motivation of partners and MRG’s own commitment to do this work is really high.

Tomorrow we will be discussing in details our plan of action which I´m sure will lead to other passionate discussions.

A last thing before concluding. I got stuck in the lift yesterday for 20 min… When I was writing that the God of Technology is against me… I’m therefore walking up and down the stairs from now on… And don’t forget that my room is on the 10th floor!

Hola De Lima

Cecile Clerc, MRG’s Fundraising Coordinator blogs from a trip visiting MRG partners and donors in Lima, Peru

I know for someone who can’t even work out how to upload her photo onto Facebook that writing a blog is a bit of a challenge, but I’ve decided that this trip to Peru is really worth sharing. For MRG, it’s the first step towards developing, in partnership with local organizations, a programme of work with Afro-descendant communities across Latin America. For me, it’s the first time I’ll see how the money I raise from the office in London is actually used on the ground, and what difference it can make.

I have therefore promised myself – and MRG Media Team – to share what will be, I’m sure, a fantastic experience. My only worry so far is that the God of Technology seems to be against my plan: access to the internet from your own room at the hotel is reserved for those staying on the 1st and the 2nd floors – I’m on the 10th floor – and the digital camera I have doesn’t seem to want to collaborate (hence the lack of pictures with this first posting). But let’s give it a try.

So far, I have spent more time on the plane getting to Peru than in Lima itself. The trip was pleasant and, as usual, I spent 90% of the time sleeping. Arriving at the airport, we had the pleasure to discover that the director of one of our partner organizations in Lima, the Centro de Desarrollo Etnico (CEDET, the Centre for Ethnic Development) was waiting for us. It was really nice and a tad emotional to meet for the first time with someone I’d liaised with over the last 4 months to organize the details of our meeting. We experienced the rush hour in Lima, which I’d imagined would be a lot worse to be honest. Or maybe I was focusing so much on the local buses that I just did not care about the rush hour. There are no buses in Lima, only mini-vans – 12 seats maximum – and they are packed. I wonder how many of these buses run across the city?

After the buses, I was also highly surprised by the size of the buildings. There are no tall buildings in Lima. Apparently the highest building in the city has 23 floors. Only 23. It’s interesting how this contributes to creating a real sense of a human-sized city. Although it was night when we arrived, I noticed that colours seem to play a real part in the architecture; I’ve seen lots of yellow, orange, blue, green and red buildings. I’m now looking forward to seeing everything in daylight – who knows, the buses might look bigger?

I can’t wait to meet with all our partners and start discussing with them how MRG can support them in their day-to-day fight to end the discrimination faced by Afro-descendant communities across Latin America.

Hasta mañana.