NEWS RELEASE about SolidarityIndigenous posted on January 10, 2011 by dawn

VMC solidarity with the Tejido de Comunicación in Cauca, Colombia

by vmc

Below is a letter sent from the VMC collective to the Communications Network (Tejido de Comunicación) in Cauca, Colombia. The Spanish version is attached as a PDF below, and is available on the Tejido's website.

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January, 2011

To the journalists, editors, video makers and coordinators of the Tejido de Comunicacion,

Please receive this letter of solidarity and support on behalf of members and editors of the Vancouver Media Co-op, an independent media organization based in Vancouver, Canada.

As a team of volunteers working to expose injustices and document social movements in Vancouver and British Colombia, we have at times carried stories and opinion pieces that have generated criticism not only from the right wing, as well as calls for censorship from people that we had previously assumed were our allies.

Though these instances have sometimes been difficult and trying, they have also strengthened our organization, and through it all we have continued to publish local, independent news and videos that challenge the status quo.

From day to day, members of the Tejido are working in an environment permeated by terror, where threats against independent media come from a host of armed actors as well as from established organizations whose positions are questioned by community based media. Too often, these threats are carried out. That members of the Tejido have been forced into exile, beaten, and assassinated for carrying out their work weighs deeply upon our hearts.

The journalistic work of the Tejido de Comunication is exemplary in the context of terror and authoritarianism within which you are working. Given this, we wish to extend our deepest support and solidarity with you at this time.

In struggle,

The Vancouver Media Co-op Collective