Publications

Our team in Colombia and the US have worked together on numerous publications. With brilliant illustration and design, the booklets breaks down for the reader many complicated situations and what is REALLY happening here – a feedback from the front line.

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RESEARCH

2020 Report for the Truth Commission:

From the Beginning to the End: The United States in the Colombian Armed Conflict

In 2020, we submitted this report to the Truth Commission along with School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) and SICSAL.

Click here to view.

Report: Military Assistance and Human Rights:
Colombia, U.S. Accountability, and Global Implications

Research-mapU.S. military aid flowing to Colombia is having a direct, negative effect on the human rights of Colombians. Though the “Leahy Law” prohibits aid to military units that have committed gross violations, the United States continues to support such units in Colombia. Worse, areas where Colombian army units received the largest increases in U.S. assistance reported increased extrajudicial killings on average. The scale of U.S. training and equipping of other nations’ militaries has grown exponentially since 2001, but there are major concerns about the extent to which the U.S.government is implementing the laws and monitoring the impact its military aid is having on human rights. This report by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and U.S. Office on Colombia examines these issues through a detailed case study of U.S. military aid, human rights abuses, and implementation of human rights law in Colombia. READ MORE >>

POPULAR EDUCATION BOOKLETS

Booklet: “What’s Land Got to Do With It?” Demilitarizing Land and Life Series #1

WhatsLandGot2dowithITEver tried to explain Colombia’s conflict to someone who knows little about it? Or to understand it yourself, and the ways natural resources and territory are at the center of the conflict and the U.S. role?What’s Land Got to Do with It? is a 36-page pocket-size booklet made for grassroots education of Colombia, land, and how the armed conflict affects ordinary people. With lots of graphics, pictures, quotes, and written in language accessible for kids and adults, What’s Land Got to Do with It?describes the history and human face of the violence in Colombia and its focus on land. Print orders are no longer available, unless a bulk re-print is requested. You can download a digital copy here (large PDF file, 25 MB) to view on your computer.

Booklet: “Blown Away” Demilitarizing Land and Life Series #2

BlownAwayHave you ever asked yourself how it’s possible to fight a “war” against drugs? Wars are traditionally defined as conflicts between two nations or, at the very least, between two armed parties. How does theUS military and government seek out and hunt down substances like cocaine, heroine and marijuana? Who are the enemies? The plants? The people who transport the substances? Those who sell them or those who consume them?Welcome to installment number two of FOR’s Demilitarizing Life and Land series:
Blown Away — The War on Drugs: Feedback from the Frontline. Last year, our first popular education booklet,  What’s Land Got To Do With It?, explored how we are connected to land in other places through our everyday activities. Now we’re back with another complex issue — the 40-year-old war on drugs. The drug war is a global enterprise involving politicians and governments, the mafia, drug traffickers and illegal armies, the police forces and militaries of several countries, millions of ordinary civilians and your tax dollars. Through true stories from real people, we look at who the drug war impacts, analyze some of the big interests involved, and offer a few alternatives. Read more about FOR’s campaign on stopping U.S. militarism in Latin AmericaAvailable in bulk orders, for $25 for 20 copies postpaid, $50 for 50 copies. Individual copies are $1.75 postpaid. Click here to order your copies for your community group, you, and your friends.You can also download a digital copy here (large PDF file, 6.2 MB) to view on your computer.

MAGAZINE

Fellowship Magazine by FOR USA

magazine Fellowship is a quarterly print magazine published by FOR USA. Selected articles are available online. Want access to all of the articles? Subscribe for just $40/year, or free with any donation of $50 or more!

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

“I WILL NEVER BE SILENCED: Testimonials of Hope from Colombian Women”
Fellowship Accompaniment Issue

IWillNeverBeSilencedFOR and the American Friends Service Committee have released a report documenting the first-person experiences of women peace activists in Colombia. “I Will Never Be Silenced: Testimonies of Hope from Colombian Woman” highlights the words and work of 17 women from throughout Colombia – rural and urban, old and young, Afro-Colombian, indigenous and mestizo, artists, religious, political, feminists. These women have tirelessly and fearlessly worked to create peace and justice.Elizabeth Lozano explains in the report’s introduction:”The violence faced by women is not only inflicted by the machetes, guns, and landmines of the ‘enemy.’ It is also carried out by ‘friendly’ fire, so to speak, in the woman’s daily life. This is the normalized violence exercised without the weapons of war, and manifested in abusive marital relations, implicit or explicit threats of rape, absence of education opportunities, lack of sexual education, and in the general expectation that her right place is the kitchen and the bedroom.””I Will Never Be Silenced” brings to readers women who endure these various forms of violence to speak about their experiences and their work to end the violence and impunity in their country. Read the Introduction or download sample testimonies here. The 40-page report is available in a paper bound version for $6 postpaid for individual copies, or $30 for 10 copies, postpaid. For a digital PDF version (3.7MB) of the full report, write to us at johnlp[at]igc.org.To order your print copy, please send a check to the FOR office at: 436 14th St. #409, Oakland, CA 94612