Join me today in supporting NISGUA’s important work!

From May 15th to May 31st, every donation up to $50,000 will be matched. By giving today, you can help ensure that NISGUA is able to continue its vital grassroots and transnational organizing.

What does NISGUA do?

NISGUA does work in four different areas (Defense of Life and Territory, Justice and Accountability, Trans-territorial Organizing, and the Guatemala Accompaniment Project) in order to “build and strengthen ties between the people of the United States and Guatemala in the global struggle for justice, human dignity, and respect for the Earth.”

How did I get involved?

I first learned about NISGUA from a group I was involved with at Oberlin College called OSSGUA (Oberlin Students in Solidarity with Guatemala). Before joining OSSGUA, I took a course led by OSSGUA entitled “Conflict and Resistance in Guatemala.” The class focused heavily on the Internal Armed Conflict and its legacy, especially as pertains to historic and ongoing U.S. imperialism in the country. In the Spring, I joined OSSGUA as a member, and we worked closely with NISGUA to organize a couple different events, including “Fighting for Water and Life: How Indigenous resistance stopped the Xalalá Dam,” a Zoom event featuring José Gómez of the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Land and Natural Resources (ACODET). Then, this past Summer, I interned with NISGUA. As an intern, I assisted and collaborated with NISGUA staff on a variety of tasks, predominantly editing and proofreading documents such as solidarity updates and fundraising letters, as well as provided support before and during NISGUA-hosted webinars. One such webinar was “On our own terms: Indigenous perspectives on forced displacement & immigration systems.” This webinar was moderated by a member of NISGUA’s staff and featured three different panelists: Dr. Floridalma Boj Lopez, Gerónimo Ramírez, and Natali Segovia. I found the webinar to be highly informative and elucidating, especially given that transnational Indigenous perspectives on immigration are almost completely neglected in mainstream US media. As part of my internship, I also developed discussion questions for a previous NISGUA-hosted webinar entitled “Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights in Migration.” These webinars, as well as reading Harsha Walia’s Border & Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism led me to write my own blog post addressing VP Kamala Harris’ June 2021 visit to Guatemala and the Biden Administration’s subsequent release of their “US Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America” document.

What will your donation support?

• International accompaniment of human rights defenders under threat. Our Internacionalista volunteers dissuade violence against our Guatemalan partners by being a visible international presence in their activities, documenting threats and attacks against them, and mobilizing our U.S. base in solidarity.
• Trans-territorial exchanges that connect our partners with similarly impacted peoples and power-holders. In March 2022, we welcomed Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Cori Bush, Rep. Jamaal Bowman to Guatemala to learn about the real root causes of forced migration. (Unfortunately, NISGUA had to chose not to be named publicly as organizers due to the terribly repressive political reality in Guatemala.)
• Grassroots education in the U.S. Our 2021 series of webinars about Indigenous migrants and root causes of forced migration educated and mobilized thousands of people.