Activists seeking land rights, water rights, and fair trade in Latin America have scored a number of victories recently. We share them with you here, and at the same time invite you to help the people of Gaza by making a donation to an innovative local food aid program.

We're also excited to bring you the first in a series of staff profiles. Meet Grassroots International staff and learn how they are helping build a movement for human rights, social justice, and fair resource allocation around the world.

In this issue:

• Brazilian Women Take Over Corporate Tree Farm
• Freedom for Salvadoran "Terrorists"
• Farmers Pour into Mexico City
• Personal Stories of the Gaza Siege
• Immediate Relief for Gaza
• Egyptian Soccer Star "Raises" Gaza Awareness
• Staff Profile: Planting Roots: Marty Wrin

Brazilian Women Take Over Corporate Tree Farm

The 900 peasant women who bravely seized and occupied a vast multinational corporate tree farm in southern Brazil earlier this month exemplify the kind of courageous activism that has spread throughout Latin America in response to corporate agribusiness overreach. The women, members of the Via Campesina, staged the takeover just before dawn, and then proceeded to cut down the corporation's non-native trees and plant native trees in their place. At least 50 women were injured by rubber bullets when police forcefully removed them from the 5,200-acre farm. Hundreds of them were arrested. "We carry with us the energy and courage of millions of women peasants around the world that are fighting against the commodification of life and nature," the women said in a statement issued by the Via Campesina.

At Grassroots International, we take this opportunity to express our appreciation for, and solidarity with, women and men around the world who are fighting to defend their native ecosystems. Learn more about the struggles in Brazil here.

They were peacefully protesting water privatization in a corner of their home country, El Salvador--until the Salvadoran government arrested them and labeled them "terrorists." Now, the 13 protestors from Suchitoto are free, following a recent decision by El Salvador's attorney general to drop terrorism charges. The governing, right-wing ARENA party wants to decentralize Salvador's public water administration, and citizens throughout the country believe this is the first step towards the privatization of El Salvador's water. Amnesty International believes that the arrest of the protestors on July 2, 2007 was meant to discourage further peaceful protests around the issue.

Learn more about international struggles over water rights on Grassroots' web site.

Driving their tractors and greeting supporters along the way, Mexican farmers recently traveled 1,200 miles over 14 days, protesting the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and demanding that the agricultural section of NAFTA be renegotiated. The farmers, including members of Grassroots International's partner the National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA), left Ciudad Juarez on January 17th and reached Mexico City on January 31st. There, they rallied with tens of thousands of protestors from farmers' and farmworkers' movements across the country. "Sin maiz, no hay pais," was their call - "Without corn, there is no country."

On January 1st, Mexico removed its last remaining tariffs on imported corn, beans, sugar, and other agricultural goods, as part of its obligations under NAFTA. Read about the negative consequences of NAFTA on farmers here.

Personal Stories of the Gaza Siege

What's really going on in Gaza? How bad is the situation on the ground? The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, a Grassroots partner, is collecting stories from citizens who are struggling through daily life in the besieged Gaza Strip. They show how Israel's severe restrictions on ordinary Gazans are destroying people's lives, livelihoods, and families. Please share these stories with friends and family who may not be aware of the humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza today.

One of our partners, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), has a fund that is providing immediate relief for the suffering people of Gaza. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now at its worst since the Israeli occupation began in 1967, according to groups such as Amnesty International and Save the Children. Your contribution to PARC's Farmers to Families Program will allow local Gaza farmers to provide fresh healthy food to hungry households, create jobs, and help members of women's cooperatives who are trying to market their products at a fair price. Please consider donating to this important effort through Grassroots' web site.

When Mohamed Aboutreika, a star soccer player for the Egyptian Al-Ahly Pharoahs, lifted his jersey following his team's victory in the African Nations Cup recently, it wasn't just another sports stunt. Under his jersey was a T-shirt that read "Sympathize with Gaza." For a brief moment, people around the world were reminded, or even alerted to, the plight of residents in Israel-occupied Gaza. (See a photo of Aboutreika here.) As might be expected, Aboutreika was cited for breaking a no-sloganeering rule instituted by the organization that governs soccer matches in Africa. But the result was an outpouring of support for Aboutreika, who often uses his position as a star player to advance humanitarian causes.

Grassroots International is working hard with partners in the Middle East such as the Gaza Community Mental Health Program to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Planting Roots: Marty Wrin

Chances are, if you call Grassroots International to make a donation, you'll speak with Marty Wrin. As the Individual Giving Coordinator, Marty is responsible for processing all donations and managing the organization's 25,000-supporter database. He also sends out various mailings, including our newsletters, annual report, and fundraising appeals. When he's not doing behind-the-scenes work, he supervises the many volunteers and interns who work out of Grassroots' office.

Being a member of the organization's 3-member development team is a far cry from his previous work as a project manager for a Fortune 500 hotel company. After Marty left that corporate job, he spent some time volunteering at Grassroots before joining the staff in 2005.

"I was really attracted to the social justice aspects of the organization, especially its involvement with Palestine," he says. A resident of the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain (where Grassroots is located), Marty, 39, once walked 123 miles from Boston to Provincetown in 36 hours to raise funds for a shipment of essential medicines to a Grassroots International partner in the West Bank. Thank you for all your work for global justice, Marty!