Colombia Urgent Action:

CPT Colombia has concluded that its URGENT ACTION system and system for other calls for action on behalf of Colombians is almost completely ineffective, beyond repair, and has therefore been replaced with the all new CPT COLOMBIA ACTION & SOLIDARITY NETWORK. Your active participation is needed! Please click on the link and sign up now!!

Colombians need your helpWe, the Christian Peacemaker Team in Colombia , have come to realize that the system we have been using to communicate urgent actions and other calls to action is largely ineffectual and in need of a major fix. For instance, the CPT Colombia team issued a request for letters of support for the people of Garzal, who may well be dispossessed of their land if something doesn't change soon. That call to action, complete with sample letters, went out on both of the team’s Yahoo list-serves (Spanish and English), CPTnet and is also on the CPT Colombia Web Page. That request generated a mere 7 letters!!?! (Much thanks to those seven people who did respond --the people of Garzal have those 7 letters, and despite the small quantity, will use them in their struggle to attain titles for the land they have occupied for decades.)

While CPT ’s occasional physical presence in that community may temporarily deter violence against their threatened leaders, and create an illusion of international solidarity, it is only the tangible response of the international community that will create the conditions for peace and justice for this and other communities of marginalized and oppressed peoples in Colombia . Your active participation is needed.

The new system –CPT COLOMBIA ACTION & SOLIDARITY NETWORK—is CPT's own interactive list-serve that will be used exclusively for Urgent Actions and other calls to action:

* Subscribers will no longer have trouble spotting the occasional URGENT ACTIONS and other calls to action which currently come into their inbox mixed in with a host of informative and reflection pieces by CPT Colombia and other team members. (There is no assumption or expectation that subscribers are committing to respond to every action request that they receive. Some calls to action will be directed to US citizens, others to Canadians, and others will be general.)

* Subscribers will be empowered and encouraged to post on the list-serve, which will:

* enable them to inspire and encourage the team and fellow subscribers through sharing of how they responded to a particular request for action.

* encourage the communities and organizations CPT accompanies, who will be both relieved and delighted to know their voices are being heard and that things are being done on their behalf.

* provide the CPT Colombia team with feedback that allows them to gauge how large a support base the team has for calls to action (the number of subscribers); provide our Colombian partners and the communities and organizations we accompany with feedback and encouragement; and monitor and measure the effectiveness of our calls to action system and make necessary adjustments

* contribute to making the structural changes in their own countries and here in
Colombia that are prerequisites to sustainable peace with justice and an end to violence in Colombia .

For its part the CPT Colombia team commits to providing subscribers with:

* issues that need your attention and solidarity

* suggestions (in consultation with those we accompany) about how subscribers might respond.

* current information about whether an issue has been resolved or whether further action is required.

Together we can go beyond violence reduction and actually contribute to Peace-building –helping replace oppressive structures of marginalization and domination with ones that allow for life with dignity –abundant living—for all Colombians. Please subscribe to the CPT COLOMBIA ACTION & SOLIDARITY NETWORK!