The August 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” informs us about an interesting and inspiring community in Guatemala where refugees from the previous dictatorship have settled into a new community. These people are empowering themselves at the grassroots to meet their needs for education, clean water, social justice and democracy.
About 300-400 people live in Nuevo Amanecer, the Spanish words for “New Dawn.” The community was founded in 1998 by refugees who had fled the genocide and “scorched-earth” campaign of the 1980s and 1990s. The US funded and trained Guatemala’s brutal military to commit those crimes.
In June 2018 a volcano erupted, so the world’s people noticed Guatemala. But this was a brief and superficial awareness. The brutal realities in Guatemala had long existed, but the rest of the world paid little attention.
Now the “New Dawn” community of Nuevo Amanecer is making bold grassroots progress for self-empowerment and social justice. This one-hour interview provides inspiring information about this innovative community.
My guest is Joe Szwaja, who volunteers with New Dawn Guatemala, a Seattle-based non-profit organization that supports Nuevo Amanecer financially, through solidarity and in other ways. Joe and the Guatemalan community inspire us through their bold and positive efforts. Joe has worked skillfully as a high school teacher and has done other positive work to make our world a better place.
He has a long, impressive background volunteering for solidarity related to international communities struggling for peace, human rights and democracy. I interviewed him for my August 2005 TV program about the SW Pacific Ocean nation of East Timor, which had been violently abused by Indonesia and the U.S.
Watch powerfully insightful and important TV programs through your computer or on TCTV
Everyone everywhere can watch this interview – and/or read a thorough summary of what we said—through the “TV Programs” part of my blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org. Each program is also posted to one or more categories listed on the blog. Cable subscribers in Thurston Co can watch on TCTV—Mondays at 1:30, Wednesdays at 5 and Thursdays at 9pm.
Questions? Contact Glen Anderson, the TV series’ producer/host at (360) 491-9093 glenanderson@integra.net
Be First to Comment