The Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Coalition (BALASC) is a broad-based volunteer coalition of organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. The SF Bay Area has been one of the strongest regions in the United States for groups that collaborate, provide support and work with social movements throughout Latin America. Some of the organizations in our group have only been around a few years while others have been working with Latin America for more than 30 years.
For centuries, the vast majority of Latin American people suffered under colonialism, and then imperialism, and then under the brutal military dictatorships that were supported by the United States and multinational corporations. During the 20th century, the people of Latin America demonstrated their will for change through elections and armed revolutionary struggle. However, every victory created a harsh backlash from the right-wing ruling class, supported by the CIA and US corporations. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, disappeared, imprisoned and tortured. For every step forward, such as the election of Allende in Chile, Latin American countries were overtly & covertly attacked and military dictatorships were installed to keep the people in line. During this same time, social justice movements in the United States were severely repressed by relentless persecution — the labor movements were fiercely attacked with repression and violence and social uprisings like the civil rights movement, the fight against the Vietnam War and organizations like the Black Panthers and SDS were systematically ripped apart by an illegal government political police campaign known as COINTELPRO.
However, in the Americas, the people showed this right-wing minority that the will of the majority could not be killed off. After decades of courageous resistance, the military dictatorships in the south began to crumble and, today, the underground resistance of yesterday has been elected into power today and Latin America is now a global leader in the cause of worldwide social justice.
BALASC’s goals are to connect the victories in Latin America with the struggles happening all over the hemisphere. We want to facilitate a hemisphere-wide mobilization by connecting with and supporting the unprecedented revolution happening in Latin America today. This includes the Cuban Revolution and the Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, the movement for 21st-century socialism, indigenous movements, justice for victims of the 20th-century military dictatorships, the free software technology mobilization and the broad-based social justice movements that are transforming Latin America.
We will inform communities on the popular processes being developed in Latin America and the Caribbean with the ultimate goal of a new América — an América that is for the people, not the tiny minority which has used its money and power to brutalize and oppress any attempt at bringing social justice to this hemisphere.
Our coalition is just getting started and our inaugural project is to fight back against the illegal military coup d’etat happening in Honduras. Our website and organization will solidify over time but we are starting off by taking action. We have already held a number of protests and cultural events in solidarity with the Honduran National Resistance Front and Venezuela.
You can get in touch with us by e-mailing balasc@balasc.org
