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<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;" align="left"><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;" size="5" color="#000000" face="Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><b>Rights Action</b></font></div>
<p style=""><b><span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 10pt;">OVER 1,260,000 HONDURANS DEMAND NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY & REFOUNDATION OF HONDURAS</span></b></p><b>September 14, 2010</b> <br><span>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span> </font></td></tr></tbody></table>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">September 14, 2010</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>OVER 1,260,000 HONDURANS DEMAND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY & THE REFOUNDATION OF HONDURAS</strong></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong> </strong></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>BELOW</strong>:<span> </span>Article by Karen Spring, in Honduras</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">* To support & get involved: see below</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">* Join our listserv: http://visitor.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?m=1103480765269</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">* Please redistribute this information</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Thank-you, ... Annie Bird, annie@rightsaction.org; Grahame Russell, info@rightsaction.org; Karen Spring, spring.kj@gmail.com</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">* * * </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>OVER 1,260,000 HONDURANS DEMAND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY & THE REFOUNDATION OF HONDURAS</strong></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">By Karen Spring, Rights Action, September 14, 2010</font></p>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">The incredible pro-democracy resistance movement (known as the National Front of Popular Resistance-FNRP) has collected 1,269,142 million signatures (and counting) demanding a National Constituent Assembly (NCA) that will mark an important step in their struggle towards the refoundation of their society and their country.</font></p>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">In the last 5 months, volunteers from all the various groups and organizations that come together under the name of the FNRP, have gone to villages, departments, neighbourhoods, cities, parks and door-to-door all over country to educate the Honduran people about the NCA and to collect the signatures.</font></p>
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<p style="">(A gathering in La Esperanza, Honduras in March 2010 organized by COPINH called the 'Refoundation of Honduras' where various organizations and individuals, including the FNRP participated in a mock Constituent National Assembly. This event is one of the many carried out to help educate and prepare Hondurans for the Assembly that they are working to form.)</p></font>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Despite widespread repression, murders and torturing by death squads of resistance members, day-to-day the collection occurred. Given the severe repression, the FNRP reports that many were reluctant to give their signature for fear that they would later be identified and then threatened or killed for participating in the process.</font></p>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Along with many other organizations, the indigenous and campesino organization COPINH (Counsel of Indigenous and Popular Organization of Honduras) was part of this process, collecting thousands of signatures in the four western departments where they work, during community workshops, gatherings, assemblies and other "places of struggle."</font></p>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">COPINH reports that their efforts in the collection are "a tribute to the martyrs of the Honduran society in the struggle for the refoundation of Honduras."<span> </span>COPINH also denounced that it was not an easy mission as many of the volunteer members of the organization were detained, repressed, threatened and jailed during the process. At one point, police even tried to confiscate papers containing signatures that COPINH had collected.</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">TAKING MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">The very day President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown on Sunday, June 28, 2009, Hondurans were going to participate in a non-binding, national opinion poll as to whether they supported including a question on the ballot, during the November 2009 elections, concerning the formal establishment of a National Constituent Assembly.<span> </span>Along with electing their president, congressman and mayor, people would have indicated - in a 4th ballot - whether or not they were in favour of a National Constituent Assembly.</font></p>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">The opinion poll and the hopes and rights of the Honduran people were crushed that day by the military coup, an attempt by the oligarchy to stop a process that would challenge their power and position in Honduran society.</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Recognizing that the Congress and Supreme Court, the oligarchy and the two dominant political parties would never permit nor support a process that would give the majority of Honduras a voice in the political, social and economic processes of the country, the FNRP announced their commitment to the campaign and began to gather signatures to demand the Assembly in July 2010.</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">NOT JUST ANY INDEPENDENCE DAY IN HONDURAS</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">In Honduras, Wednesday, 15th of September will not just be like any Independence Day marked by the typical Central American-wide celebrations with firecrackers, marching bands and parades that will mark 189 years of "independence" from Spain.</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">This Wednesday, the resistance movement will participate in the celebration of the hard work carried out to gather the 1.26 million signatures and the end of the collection campaign.</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Although it is still to be announced, the FNRP are planning to present the signatures to national and international institutions to continue in their struggle for the Constituent National Assembly. COPINH has proposed that ex-President Zelaya, the elected coordinator of the FNRP, present the signatures to international institutions including the United Nations, ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the People's of the Americas), UNASUR (Union of South American Countries) and SICA (Central American Integration System).</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Stay tuned; stay involved.<span> </span>The amazing pro-democracy people's movement in Honduras can use all the support they can get as they march resolutely forward.</font></p>
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<p style=""><font face="Courier New">* * * * * * * </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>WHAT TO DO?</strong> (info@rightsaction.org, www.rightsaction.org)</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>MAKE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS</strong> for community based groups in the pro-democracy movement.<span> </span>Make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to:</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">UNITED STATES: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">CANADA: 552 - 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS: http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm; STOCK DONATIONS: info@rightsaction.org</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>FALL 2010 SPEAKERS:</strong></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Contact us to plan educational presentations in your community, school, place of worship, home, about the tireless and courageous Honduras pro-democracy movement.</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"> </font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>EDUCATIONAL DELEGATIONS TO CENTRAL AMERICA:</strong></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">Form your own group and/ or join one of our educational delegation-seminars to learn first hand about community development, human rights and environmental struggles.</font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong> </strong></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New"><strong>Rights Action is a not-for-profit organization ...</strong></font></p>
<p style=""><font face="Courier New">with tax charitable status in the USA and Canada. Since 1995, Rights Action has been funding and working to eliminate poverty and the underlying causes of poverty.<span> </span>Rights Action funds and works with community-based development, environmental, disaster relief and human rights projects and organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, as well as in Chiapas [Mexico], El Salvador and Haiti. Rights Action educates about and is involved in other work aimed at critically understanding unjust north-south relations and global development, environmental and human rights issues and the challenges of poverty eradication.</font></p>
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