IF 160 Sunflower Lane Watsonville, CA 95076 Phone: 831-724-4108
Tax ID#510203813 501c3
page last updated 11-18-2021
IF Mission
IF is a nonprofit humanitarian, educational and social change organization located in the Santa Cruz, CA, area. We are a community of friends seeking hopeful alternatives to the violence, greed and destructiveness of our world.
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IF Fiscal Sponsorships
IF offers its legal and tax exempt status to qualified non-profit groups under a formal arrangement known as Fiscal Sponsorship. This arrangement allows a non-profit to request grants and tax-deductible donations under IF’s exempt status.
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Letter from Pietro Ameglio
For the last ten years, IF has raised funds to support the crucial work of Pietro Ameglio, who for decades has promoted active nonviolence in Mexico and across Latin America. An activist, popular educator, university professor, and author, his nonviolence education programs are in constant demand across Mexico and beyond, and he has helped organize and lead numerous nonviolent direct action campaigns.
Join the Fast for Peace and for Our Disappeared!
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
October 28, 2021
Dear compañeras and compañeros of IF,
I will always be thankful for the opportunity that the good spirit gave us in this life to cross paths in the building of a more human world, rooted in nonviolence, justice and peace. We don’t know how that spirit will continue to intertwine our connections between us. We leave that open in a spirit of trust and hope. Christmas is approaching, and the end of a year marked by this terrible, global pandemic and a human species that has not ceased to explore new forms of action, reflection and social relations. We sail on in this same boat of challenges and uncertainties.
I greatly value your material, moral and human commitment to support and get close to justice and peace projects in Latin America. I have had the opportunity to see up close some of those projects and groups, and I have been impressed by the opportune and key choices you had made. In turn, I believe that the form of the cooperation between you and I (which ostensibly is support for me personally but is actually collective because I always have worked with and for others) has been an experiment, as Gandhi would say, that has been challenging and that I hope has been positive and constructive for all involved. I have been very grateful to all of you and to the good spirit because it has made it possible for us here to work full time with whatever energy and skills we have to share, to accompany the struggles and the capacity building in nonviolent civil resistance in Mexico, and at times elsewhere in Latin America and in India. What I have most appreciated is the freedom and the trust that you have extended to me and to the groups with which we have worked in active solidarity, where we have learned much more than we what we have been able to impart.
I’m not entirely clear how this past year has been in your land. The year before saw so many radical, nonviolent social struggles, from which we learned and were touched deeply by, such as Black Lives Matter after the murder of George Floyd and other African-Americans, and the campaign against the re-election of Trump. The situation in Mexico is in some respects different. There are plenty of examples of racism and political polarization, but at least we have a government that has more dignity [than the Trump administration] and is closer to the people and the needs of the majority, and is not repressive.
October 28, 2021
Dear compañeras and compañeros of IF,
I will always be thankful for the opportunity that the good spirit gave us in this life to cross paths in the building of a more human world, rooted in nonviolence, justice and peace. We don’t know how that spirit will continue to intertwine our connections between us. We leave that open in a spirit of trust and hope. Christmas is approaching, and the end of a year marked by this terrible, global pandemic and a human species that has not ceased to explore new forms of action, reflection and social relations. We sail on in this same boat of challenges and uncertainties.
I greatly value your material, moral and human commitment to support and get close to justice and peace projects in Latin America. I have had the opportunity to see up close some of those projects and groups, and I have been impressed by the opportune and key choices you had made. In turn, I believe that the form of the cooperation between you and I (which ostensibly is support for me personally but is actually collective because I always have worked with and for others) has been an experiment, as Gandhi would say, that has been challenging and that I hope has been positive and constructive for all involved. I have been very grateful to all of you and to the good spirit because it has made it possible for us here to work full time with whatever energy and skills we have to share, to accompany the struggles and the capacity building in nonviolent civil resistance in Mexico, and at times elsewhere in Latin America and in India. What I have most appreciated is the freedom and the trust that you have extended to me and to the groups with which we have worked in active solidarity, where we have learned much more than we what we have been able to impart.
I’m not entirely clear how this past year has been in your land. The year before saw so many radical, nonviolent social struggles, from which we learned and were touched deeply by, such as Black Lives Matter after the murder of George Floyd and other African-Americans, and the campaign against the re-election of Trump. The situation in Mexico is in some respects different. There are plenty of examples of racism and political polarization, but at least we have a government that has more dignity [than the Trump administration] and is closer to the people and the needs of the majority, and is not repressive.
Grave site showing remains.
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VI National Search Brigade poses for a group photo with images of their disappeared family members.
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What continues to be a plague in our society is the war that besieges us. It is not a “war on drugs” but rather a war for monopoly control that groups, both legally constituted and criminal, are trying to establish on every street corner of the country. They seek free reign for their approximately 25 different kinds of criminal activity (according to research on the subject). Of those, drug trafficking represents around 60%, and in many cases it is not even the principal or the most lucrative criminal activity. Each one of these powerful groups has similar social identities, but with different people. They all include politicians and officials at the local, state and national levels, business people who handle money laundering, police and military personnel, both active and retired, organized crime cartels, and sectors of civil society who are on the payroll or allied in an infinite number of forms. On August 30, the government released updated figures on the number of disappeared: 91,000! The family members estimate that the real number may be three times that. Murders in the last ten years are well above 300,000, according to the organizations of family members of the disappeared. And now we have tens of thousands of people who have been displaced by the violence, since there are parts of the country where it is impossible to safeguard one’s life without working for one of the cartels.
This issue ties in with another that we face together, which is international migration, especially from Central America and the Caribbean. According to agreements with the U.S., Mexico is required to stop migrants here in Mexico. It is a situation of immense and terrible human dimensions. As I write, a caravan of at least 3000 people, mostly Haitians, has just set out from our southern border, headed for your border.
In truth, we don’t really know what to do in order to humanize these situations and move them toward peace and nonviolence. We discuss them and seek to act collectively. We organize ourselves in networks of all kinds. We try varied experiments all over the country, some very valuable and effective at the local level. We seek to emulate positive historical experiences from Mexico or from other countries, especially from Colombia. But there is an ever-growing fissure in the social and political fabric that we are not able to heal or to diminish as long as the violence and impunity continue. The national government has many positives that we have not seen in previous governments, but the state and county governments are full of corruption.
This issue ties in with another that we face together, which is international migration, especially from Central America and the Caribbean. According to agreements with the U.S., Mexico is required to stop migrants here in Mexico. It is a situation of immense and terrible human dimensions. As I write, a caravan of at least 3000 people, mostly Haitians, has just set out from our southern border, headed for your border.
In truth, we don’t really know what to do in order to humanize these situations and move them toward peace and nonviolence. We discuss them and seek to act collectively. We organize ourselves in networks of all kinds. We try varied experiments all over the country, some very valuable and effective at the local level. We seek to emulate positive historical experiences from Mexico or from other countries, especially from Colombia. But there is an ever-growing fissure in the social and political fabric that we are not able to heal or to diminish as long as the violence and impunity continue. The national government has many positives that we have not seen in previous governments, but the state and county governments are full of corruption.
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Brigade members digging.
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Even so, we believe we are a land of hope because of the courageous and creative people who seek to build truth, justice and peace where and how it is possible. For the last two weeks, we were with the VI National Search Brigade of Family Members of the Disappeared and Murdered in Morelos, where I live. It was organized by Enlaces Nacional (National Network of Family Members of the Disappeared), with its more than 160 collectives of family members from around Mexico. More than 250 family members traveled from all over the country (some of them supported by your generous funding), along with a large number of solidarity activists. These family members, some of them very poor, organized brigades to search for clandestine graves. They searched in all kinds of terrain: mines, forests, hills, canyons, roadsides. Others searched to find the disappeared alive in jails, hospitals, and dive bars. Some searched in forensic centers to identify human remains. Some visited schools, churches and mayors’ offices to raise awareness among the population and the authorities.
In order to find clandestine graves, the key is to get information about the places that the criminals use, which is a tricky, potentially treacherous, process. So this year we created a campaign called, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” using the famous phrase of Jesus, where the way is the route to the grave site, the truth is to know what happened, and the life is that that family might regain the capacity to live in a human manner, because people with disappeared relatives are barely surviving, rather than truly living. For this campaign, “mailboxes of peace,” simple cardboard boxes, were created and placed in churches of different denominations where people could anonymously leave maps and information about the graves. This worked very well, to the point where we received so many tips that the brigade is returning to Morelos in November to carry on the search.
In order to find clandestine graves, the key is to get information about the places that the criminals use, which is a tricky, potentially treacherous, process. So this year we created a campaign called, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” using the famous phrase of Jesus, where the way is the route to the grave site, the truth is to know what happened, and the life is that that family might regain the capacity to live in a human manner, because people with disappeared relatives are barely surviving, rather than truly living. For this campaign, “mailboxes of peace,” simple cardboard boxes, were created and placed in churches of different denominations where people could anonymously leave maps and information about the graves. This worked very well, to the point where we received so many tips that the brigade is returning to Morelos in November to carry on the search.
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“Mailboxes of Peace" placed in churches proved to be an effective means of collecting anonymous tips on possible clandestine grave sites.
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Morelos is a dangerous state because of the level of criminal activity. The message repeated by the family members in their public talks illustrates their level of courage, generosity and commitment: “We left our families and work to come here for two weeks, traveling from afar, knowing that our loved ones are not buried here. But what brings us here is that we don’t want what happened to us to happen to you. We are not requesting your help. What we want is to warn you what may happen if you don’t take action now.” I have seen over and over again over the last ten years, in a very moving manner, how average people, including mostly people who started out very conservative or politically unengaged, have become public figures defending human rights and social activists, not just on behalf of their loved ones but for everyone. They are the greatest peacebuilders and social activists in Mexico, together with the indigenous and campesino communities who are defending their lands, culture and natural resources.
Another phrase used by the families, 90% of whom are women, is, “We are not searching for the guilty; we are searching for treasures.” They are not seeking guilty verdicts or prison sentences but rather just to find bones or personal belongings and to be able to give their loved ones a proper burial so that they can finally rest in peace.
My other great teachers of peace and nonviolence these last few years have been the youth. Their questioning, challenges, indignation, and rebellion in the face of injustice and authoritarianism have been real sources of mutual growth. And always in actions and reflections regarding concrete situations, both close at hand and further away. We have created a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence Collective at the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). For me it is a small miracle, given my earlier experiences, that continues to be strong. Some of the youth have been working together with me for 8-10 years, and new ones are always joining. Important aspects of the work include formation in peace and nonviolence, social science research, and direct action. On their own, they have created many workshops, courses, and forms of action that they have taken to community centers, campesino and indigenous communities, migrant shelters, and schools and universities all over the country.
In July, in what was for us a new challenge, we made a film on the nonviolent struggle of the social uprising that began last April in Colombia. (Colombia: Stop in order to advance twice as far. National Strike and Nonviolent Resistence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22PB4i124aQ We have received a lot of positive feedback on the film, including from Gandhian activists in India. It is proving to be a useful tool for education in nonviolence. A couple of us went to Colombia earlier this year as part of an international human rights mission. Now we are putting together a second educational video on the nonviolence of the search brigades of the families of the disappeared here in Mexico. We are learning as we go. We don’t know much about video production, but we are passionate about peace and nonviolence, and we trust the good spirit and the power of the marginalized. Just as you do.
I send you a big and grateful hug. We carry on, united in the power of truth!
Pietro Ameglio
More on Pietro Ameglio.
Another phrase used by the families, 90% of whom are women, is, “We are not searching for the guilty; we are searching for treasures.” They are not seeking guilty verdicts or prison sentences but rather just to find bones or personal belongings and to be able to give their loved ones a proper burial so that they can finally rest in peace.
My other great teachers of peace and nonviolence these last few years have been the youth. Their questioning, challenges, indignation, and rebellion in the face of injustice and authoritarianism have been real sources of mutual growth. And always in actions and reflections regarding concrete situations, both close at hand and further away. We have created a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence Collective at the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). For me it is a small miracle, given my earlier experiences, that continues to be strong. Some of the youth have been working together with me for 8-10 years, and new ones are always joining. Important aspects of the work include formation in peace and nonviolence, social science research, and direct action. On their own, they have created many workshops, courses, and forms of action that they have taken to community centers, campesino and indigenous communities, migrant shelters, and schools and universities all over the country.
In July, in what was for us a new challenge, we made a film on the nonviolent struggle of the social uprising that began last April in Colombia. (Colombia: Stop in order to advance twice as far. National Strike and Nonviolent Resistence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22PB4i124aQ We have received a lot of positive feedback on the film, including from Gandhian activists in India. It is proving to be a useful tool for education in nonviolence. A couple of us went to Colombia earlier this year as part of an international human rights mission. Now we are putting together a second educational video on the nonviolence of the search brigades of the families of the disappeared here in Mexico. We are learning as we go. We don’t know much about video production, but we are passionate about peace and nonviolence, and we trust the good spirit and the power of the marginalized. Just as you do.
I send you a big and grateful hug. We carry on, united in the power of truth!
Pietro Ameglio
More on Pietro Ameglio.
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