Minutes are in reverse chronological order.

Feb. 28, 2012 P&SC Committee meeting minutes: Present were Charles, Walter, Liz, Judith, and Josefina.

Charles clerked the meeting.

We discussed matters related to Austin Tan Cerca for almost all of the meeting, with some discussion at the end of the priorities for FCNL, which will be taken up again at the next meeting, which was set for 7 PM, Tuesday, March 27th. T

he following two commitments emerged: (1) P&SC will ask Adult Religious Education for a forum time for ATC; and (2) P&SC will ask the Communications Committee to establish a link to ATC at the www.austinquakers.org website. Please note other needs mentioned in the notes below.

Notes from the meeting:

1) Austin Tan Cerca The removal of the support of the national AFSC has impacted the CFO with which ATC works in the Mexican border towns, because the national AFSC had provided the CFO with many kinds of support, including significant assistance with its website and internet connections. See: http://www.cfomaquiladoras.org/english%20site/index_en.html ;

It is no longer possible for ATC to rent an SUV to go to Mexico. It's almost impossible to rent anything now that's going to Mexico.

Militarization of the border towns is going hand and hand with the growth of big business. In April last year, the ATC vehicle was stopped two or three times by police in Piedras Negras and the occupants were asked where they were going. This had never happened before. There are various check points in the city. Army trucks are notable, filled with kids in uniform wielding automatic rifles. Close to the entry to Piedras Negras, there used to be a wonderful, lively plaza that was a community center. It has been replaced with a giant Mexican flag and (oddly) a huge statue of an ant.

ATC has been advised not to go to Reynoso anymore. So it doesn't. Josefina and Judith are confident that, as long as they follow the advice of those who know the terrain in northern Mexico, everyone will be fine on the ATC trips.

The April 2011 trip provided a wonderful opportunity for members of the three women's sewing collectives supported by ATC to come together: a Mayan collective from Chiapas, Fuerza Unida from San Antonio, and the Dignity and Justice maquiladora in Piedras Negras. The women were enabled to travel and meet by a small grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, which is given for two years, and which J&J hope to be able to renew. The northern and southern Mexico cultures are very different. The Chiapas women wanted to know what the non-indigenous northern women were doing. Although they speak little Spanish, the Chiapas women are fearless. The exchange of traditions and weavings was a great success.

The Dignity and Justice maquiladora greatly needs to have a marketing person here in the United States to help them distribute their products. John Flory (who seems more or less to be North Country Fair Trade, http://www.ethicalgoods.org/ ), gave D&J its sewing machines. North Country Fair Trade is a part owner of D&J. D&J produced a lot of goods for NCFT to distribute. However, John Flory became sick a few years ago and cannot make the drive from Minnesota to the Texas border in order to market the stuff. John apparently has huge debt because he paid for the machines and D&J's rent, but then he stopped, leaving D&J "in the lurch." John has a bunch of uninventoried D&J products in Minnesota.

Marketing D&J products would mean, in part, selling blank T-shirts in bulk to schools, faith groups, and NGOs, who would put their own logo on the shirts. The women are skilled at using cotton, organic cotton, and bamboo. When they have the resources, the D&J women are tremendous workers. The women were able to produce at a rate that allowed them to have a salary three times that of usual maquiladora workers. But the marketing end let them down. If Flory doesn't get the orders, they don't get the fabric.

It was also discussed that ATC could use some website assistance, as well as the CFO.

2) Friends Committee on National Legislation

Liz gave us a copy of the FCNL Priorities for the 112th Congress, which is attached here in PDF. [see http://fcnl.org/assets/about/govern/priorities112th.pdf ] These priorities are broad. I believe FCNL wants us to give them local Meeting feedback on these, with attention to more specific items that may fall under the priorities. We will discuss this at the next P&SC meeting.

Walter