The Water Defenders with Busboys and Poets
April 2 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Online
(Eastern time)
Join us online for
Busboys and Friends: A Virtual Dinner Party hosted by CEO and Founder, Andy Shallal with a
special dinner guests Robin
Broad and John
Cavanagh, authors of “The Water Defenders: How Ordinary
People Saved A Country From Corporate Greed“.
The David and Goliath story of
ordinary people in El Salvador who rallied together with international allies
to prevent a global mining corporation from poisoning the country’s main water
source. At a time when countless communities are resisting powerful
corporations–from Flint, Michigan, to the Standing Rock Reservation, to Didipio
in the Philippines, to the Gualcarque River in Honduras–The Water Defenders:
tells the inspirational story of a community that took on an international mining
corporation at seemingly insurmountable odds and won not one but two historic
victories. In the early 2000s, many people in El Salvador were at first excited
by the prospect of jobs, progress, and prosperity that the Pacific Rim mining
company promised. However, farmer Vidalina Morales, brothers Marcelo and Miguel
Rivera, and others soon discovered that the river system supplying water to the
majority of Salvadorans was in danger of catastrophic contamination.
Robin
Broad is an expert in international development and was awarded a
prestigious Guggenheim fellowship for her work surrounding mining in El
Salvador, as well as two previous MacArthur fellowships. A professor at
American University, she served as an international economist in the US
Treasury Department, in the US Congress, and at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace. Broad and her husband, John Cavanagh, have been involved
in the Salvadoran gold mining saga since 2009. They helped build the network of
international allies that spearheaded the global fight against mining in El
Salvador and have co-authored several previous books together.
John
Cavanagh is director of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Policy
Studies, an organization that collaborates with the Poor People’s Campaign and
other dynamic social movements to turn ideas into action for peace, justice,
and the environment. Previously, he worked with the United Nations to research
corporate power. Cavanagh and his wife, Robin Broad, have been involved in the
Salvadoran gold mining saga since 2009. They helped build the network of
international allies that spearheaded the global fight against mining in El
Salvador and have coauthored several previous books together.
Order your favorite meal and
beverage from Busboys and Poets, set your table, download one of our
optional virtual backgrounds, and tune in for a special dinner with
Andy, Robin, and John.
Endorsements:
“Bravo to the courageous
Salvadorans—and their likely and unlikely allies—who prove that victories
against overwhelming odds are possible. If they can defeat Big Gold, then surely
we can have other big wins too. The water defenders of El Salvador and their
international partners provide a powerful guidebook, poignantly retold by Broad
and Cavanagh, of how the struggles for justice in the United States can link
with allies abroad to build power and win.”
—Opal Tometi, cofounder, Black Lives Matter
“Broad and Cavanagh are masterful
storytellers. The words, deeds, and stories of people in El Salvador come alive
so vividly in these pages to reinforce what we in the Poor People’s Campaign in
the United States know well: the most powerful defenders of water, of the
environment—of justice across the board—are poor people. Read this book to
understand how determined people can build a moral movement and defeat policy
violence.”
—Rev. Dr. William Barber II, national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign
and author of The Third
Reconstruction
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