The Project for Accompaniment and Solidarity with Colombia (PASC) is a collective based in Canada that was formed following the large mobilizations against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Since 2003, PASC has been facilitating international accompaniments for Columbian communities and organizations, spreading information on Columbian social movements, and confronting Canadian interests in the social and armed conflict in Colombia. For PASC, international accompaniment is a method of transferring the privileges of being Canadian to movements and communities in resistance.
Our strategies:
Accompaniment for threatened communities and social organizations
International accompaniment is one of the key strategies of solidarity employed by PASC. This consists of establishing an on-the-ground presence beside social activists and victims of political violence. Coupled with a campaign of political pressure, the presence of foreign observers can be a strong deterrent for perpetrators of political violence. Accompaniment is thus one method of protecting social organizers, providing them more space to do their work, and increasing their legitimacy in the eyes of local authorities. Furthermore, accompaniment provides a space for dialogue between social movements in the North and South and an opportunity to build important links of solidarity between them.
To learn more, consult the page: Accompaniment.
Information and Popular Education
By way of its website, its journal "La Piedra," its listserve, its publications and its public events, PASC distributes alternative information on the social and armed conflict unfolding in Columbia. This includes coverage of both community resistance as well as the economic interests which lie behind the systematic violation of human rights. PASC frequently organizes popular education activities on Columbia such as conferences, workshops, exhibits and video projections. Furthermore, upon their return, our international observers bear witness to the media and share their stories with community groups, unions and schools, etc.
Public Pressure and Condemnation
Through its "urgent action network" PASC distributes briefings on political threats and human rights violations that communities and organizations would like to denounce at an international level. These briefings include form-letters which can be endorsed and forwarded to relevant authorities in order to exert politic pressure.
The armed conflict afflicting Colombia is not merely a local conflict confined to national borders; it is intimately connected to imperialist objectives throughout the American continent. For this reason, PASC works to unmask the Canadian political and economic interests which both profit from and feed the violence in Colombia. For more on this subject, see our campaign "Confront Canadian War Profiteers!"
Our Organization
The PASC collective is comprised of anti-imperialist activists who meet regularly to define the priorities of the organization and assume a majority of the solidarity work. We follow a horizontal organizing model where decisions are made by consensus. The collective facilitates and coordinates a larger network of allies and sympathizers who sustain the different projects of PASC (such as translations, public events and distribution).