Not only did this year mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, it was also the first anniversary of the last day of the People's World Conference for Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (PWCCC). I'll be posting a few blogs debriefing my thoughts on the experience in the coming days, but for the time being I wanted to post one of the highlights of the conference for me - President Evo Morales dancing with the people on earth day at the PWCCC. Thanks to Juan Parras for filming! My flip camera happened to die minutes before Evo made his way into the crowd. I never met Bobby Kennedy but it struck me as the equivalent of what Bobby Kennedy would do, if he were Latino. Juan, who happened to meet Bobby Kennedy agreed.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
United in Song and Spirit for Mother Earth, aka Pachamama
The power of the people united here is impressive.
United in song and spirit across the globe, this is bigger than any one of us. Without exception everyone I have interviewed to date at Cochabamba is clear that the power of change belongs to the people. Whether or not life will change will depend on us and our leadership.
Here they are stepping up to lead and they are taking the responsibility.
I have heard so many times at this conference those famous words from Hillel - If not us, who and if not now, when?
The folks gathered here believe that they are the change agents it will take for the world to change and their energy is driven organically by their desire to positively impact the world through their actions and voices. Though the energy is similar to the energy seen on political campaigns like the Obama campaign, this is not a political campaign that is finite with an election cycle. And if they keep that in mind I think that the folks here have the wherewithal to change the world.
It is inspiring.
We draw from different traditions, cultures and countries but we have all taken responsibility for our relationship with this planet, our earth - Pachamama and the world can only be the better for it.
United in song and spirit across the globe, this is bigger than any one of us. Without exception everyone I have interviewed to date at Cochabamba is clear that the power of change belongs to the people. Whether or not life will change will depend on us and our leadership.
Here they are stepping up to lead and they are taking the responsibility.
I have heard so many times at this conference those famous words from Hillel - If not us, who and if not now, when?
The folks gathered here believe that they are the change agents it will take for the world to change and their energy is driven organically by their desire to positively impact the world through their actions and voices. Though the energy is similar to the energy seen on political campaigns like the Obama campaign, this is not a political campaign that is finite with an election cycle. And if they keep that in mind I think that the folks here have the wherewithal to change the world.
It is inspiring.
We draw from different traditions, cultures and countries but we have all taken responsibility for our relationship with this planet, our earth - Pachamama and the world can only be the better for it.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Pachamama, Cochabamba and Our Grain of Sand
I've been in Cochabama, Bolivia now for the People's World Conference for Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth for maybe 15 hours but I feel like its been much longer than that. There has been no time to acclimatize to the altitude. There has been no time to sleep after the red eye journey from IAD that started out yesterday afternoon. There is much work to be done and only a few days to do it and so we have all jumped right in.
The delegation that I am traveling with is a phenomenal group of folks of color from the US who want to make a difference on this front and I am clear that the conversations that we are having among ourselves and others will make that vision a reality. Folks are passionate, hungry for change and gifted.
Earlier today a question came from the twitterverse asking me what we were doing in Bolivia, why we were here. I asked eight of my colleagues who I happened to be eating with at the moment and their answers were as follows- see below and welcome to Bolivia. (I will be posting some video soon.)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Musings on Start Ups and Entrepreneurship
My friend Chris Rabb (from AfroNetizen, writer, consultant, speaker, fellow at Demos and visiting researcher at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) just sent me some information for his upcoming book.
Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity
- Reveals the true landscape of opportunity and the hidden assets entrepreneurs benefit from that improve business viability
- Shows how invisible capital tilts an already uneven playing field
- Offers solutions that empower individuals and communities by democratizing entrepreneurial opportunity and leveraging invisible capital towards building commonwealth enterprises.
I've been planning to write this blog post for a while now, but seeing his email in my inbox seemed like a sign that now was the time. So here goes - my musings on start ups and entrepreneurship (Take I).
Earlier this year, I resigned from a comfortable and established job with a large non-profit to head up a start up. Several colleagues in New Media have asked me - "How could you do that?" and "Why would you do that?"
The answer is simple, I thought that the upside in such a venture was huge. The lack of security - financial and otherwise - was indeed daunting but more daunting was what I was facing if I did not step out of that comfort and into the venture, my never knowing if this start up could truly flourish if I never gave it a chance.
The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. -Sven Goran Eriksson
Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something. -Frederick Smith
This is not my first time stepping into entrepreneurial shoes. As of 2003, I became a serial social entrepreneur. In the subsequent years I teamed up with several folks to start up: CrossLeft.org, Progressive Women in Politics - now the Good Ol Girls Club in SF, the Institute for Progressive Christianity, Promigrant.org and most recently Latinos in Social Media. Moreover, I was one of the first board members of the New Leaders Council back when it was just starting up in the Bay Area.
What keeps drawing me back to these start up ventures is the opportunity and promise that each of them hold. Any and all organizations, businesses, non-profits even governments started with an idea. When I see a good idea that I believe in, I am inspired to see if I can bring the breath of life to it and help it succeed.
Unfortunately, the numbers of those that do succeed are dismally small. My friend Chris writes, "But a slew of government data on entrepreneurial activity tells quite a different story: The chances that a newly minted entrepreneur builds a business that survives 5 years, employs 20 workers and generates significant profit is about 1 in 1,000! The 999 entrepreneurs who didn’t make it to this threshold “failed” not because they “didn’t want it badly enough”, but often it was due to a lack of intangible assets that play a crucial role in business viability."
So the risks are huge. But the upside is tremendous as well. And that's what makes me continue to come back to the plate for more and in some cases, like this last one, put everything on the line - my salary, health care, benefits, security all of it on the line - because I dare to dream.
No regrets.
No regrets.
There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them. - Tom Krause
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. - Colin Powell
Each time we set out on a new venture, I am hopeful that we will succeed but in the words of Ghandi, ultimately,
My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet. - Mahatma GandhiOr in the words of the more cynical Ben Franklin,
I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
My most recent musing to date, "One of these days I am going to have to think of starting up my own for profit business so that I can fund all of these non-profits that I've helped to start up!"
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Cochabamba PWCCC - Latinos and the Environment
This blog post was written by Angela Adrar, Lane Rios and myself (Kety Esquivel).
"As a Colombiana naturalized in the US, going to Cochabamba for the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, makes sense on two main fronts. One is the environmental/climate justice front and the other, is to show solidarity to my fellow Latinos and support initiatives held in the countries of the South."
-- Angela Adrar (Environmental Communicator)
-- Angela Adrar (Environmental Communicator)
"On behalf of everyone at Being Latino, I am more than ecstatic to join this movement. Our aim at Being Latino is to educate, inspire and connect with other people across the global spectrum and with this opportunity we'll have the opportunity to do all 3!"
--Lance Rios (Founder, Being Latino)
--Lance Rios (Founder, Being Latino)
"I am inspired not only by the following line in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's proposal for a Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth, "...the 21st century has to become the century of the Rights of Mother Earth and all natural beings," but also by the opportunity of what I can contribute as a US born Latina of indigenous ancestry."
--Kety Esquivel (Latinos in Social Media)
--Kety Esquivel (Latinos in Social Media)
In the US, there is a general misconception that rights of Mother Earth are to be protected elsewhere; in Africa or Asia, where people are struggling with extreme floods and droughts and where environmental degradation is interfering with the basic human rights to food and shelter. However, the historical equation for environmental injustice in the US is just as significant.
According to a Sierra Club National Survey, 66% of Latino(a)s in the United States, work and live close to toxic sites, add to that, the African Americans and Asians that live in highly polluted urban neighborhoods, the farmer migrants that are exposed to pesticides when picking US food and the Indigenous peoples that are having their lands mined and degraded and we have a big hot mess that makes the US majority generally and environmentally disadvantaged.
Eco-Hermanas (Eco-Sisters), a program of La Trenza Leadership has designated 12 Inter-generational, Indigenous, migrant, Afro-descendant and Latino leaders to represent these "dignified yet vulnerable voices" across the US at Cochabamba.
This group includes outstanding women and men that include Penny Williams, the radio host for the Talking Feather, a radio and blog show that honors indigenous knowledge, issues and culture. Ophelia Rivas from the O'Odham Nation and 2010 "Woman on the Border", award Winner. Roberto Borrero, from the United Confederation of Taino People and a Senior Program Director for the American Museum of Natural History. The youngest member of the group is 21 year old Latino, Ian Viteri, from the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, an extraordinary environmentalist and role model for urban youth in Chicago. Diana Lopez from the SouthWest Workers Union in Texas is representing worker environmental rights.
Lance Rios from Being Latino, Kety Esquivel from Latism, Angelica Salazar an innovative online community organizer, and Angela Adrar from La Trenza Leadership will be sending along with the other inspirational leaders from the group regular social media updates from Cochabamba. We will be distributing a press release with our blog URLs, and media outlet information, so that you may see that we, the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural of the United States do have a voice, that we support any initiative that will invite the People to speak, and that we can speak for ourselves. The link to the Press Release will be added once it is available.
Our hope is to work in solidarity with all of the folks who are going to Cochabamba for this conference and produce something that will move us forward in the conversation on Climate Change in an inclusive way that has never before been seen in the Climate Movement. In an effort to begin to organize ourselves, we have created two Google Groups - one for the attendees of the conference and the other for people who want to support our work there and beyond.
If you are interested in joining either of these groups please contact Kety at @KetyE on twitter or by email at Kety.Esquivel@gmail.com.
Thank you and we look forward to continuing the conversation with you from Cochabamba, Bolivia!
Friday, April 9, 2010
So We Marched - Now What?
Last month hundreds of thousands of immigration advocates came to DC to march in favor of immigration reform. On most fronts it was an inspiring show of support intended to show politicians that immigrants, the Latino community and their allies mean business as it relates to immigration reform. Some folks even went so far as to remind the president that he had fallen out of integrity with his campaign promise to pass immigration reform during his first year in office (Since we are now in the second year and no immigration reform has been seen to date.)
So... We marched. The pictures were beautiful - although the media coverage sparse. That was March. We're now in April. Now what?
Rumor has it that the same politicians who promised our community immigration reform in return for votes are now asking the community to hold off until the next election. Go after the Republicans they say... but wait that just won't work. It was the Democrats that had promised immigration reform. Neither party has taken up the gauntlet for the community, though both parties are in different ways courting both the Latino community and the immigrant community for our votes. So shouldn't both parties be held accountable?
Over the course of the last few years we've been trumpeting the strength of the Latino vote. If now is not the time for us to exercise that muscle then when?
The buck is not going to stop with partisan politics. The buck will stop with individual politicians being held accountable and the community voting for and mobilizing votes and campaigns for those who do support immigration reform in fact as well as in word, regardless of party affiliation.
One group of immigration advocates that is ready to take action and demand accountability across both sides of the aisle are the DREAM folks. This group of activists are phenomenal both offline and online. They are both traditional organizers and technologists and social media leaders - oh and did I mention that many of them are undocumented youth? These are youngsters who came to this country because they were brought here by their folks. They did not ask to come here. They were brought by their parents. For many of them this is the only place that they know as home and English is the only language that they know; but our broken system keeps them stuck in limbo, unable to fully contribute their many gifts to our society and stuck in a second class level of existence riddled with unnecessary challenges because of their lack of documentation despite the many gifts that they have to share.
As a daughter of immigrants, a US born citizen New Yorker, I am keeping a keen eye on the prize as it relates to immigration reform and am hopeful that President Obama and other Democrats make good on his promise for immigration reform in 2010 - even though it will be one year later than what the original promise had been. I am also keeping an eye on the Republicans and hopeful that they get that the time is now to step into leadership on this front away from the hatred of the nativists and back into the golden years of Republicanism as exemplified by President Lincoln. And I am keeping candles lit for the DREAM youth. I am praying that they are given the chance to succeed and contribute fully to this country by those in elected office.
Many say that those are sueños de una Mexicana - I say that they are dreams of an Estado Unidense that still dares to dream of integrity and honest leadership that ultimately is not held collectively by one party but rather by individual people who choose a career of public service to represent the U.S. people and the greatness of what we as a nation can be if we bend that arc of the moral universe towards justice.
So... We marched. The pictures were beautiful - although the media coverage sparse. That was March. We're now in April. Now what?
Rumor has it that the same politicians who promised our community immigration reform in return for votes are now asking the community to hold off until the next election. Go after the Republicans they say... but wait that just won't work. It was the Democrats that had promised immigration reform. Neither party has taken up the gauntlet for the community, though both parties are in different ways courting both the Latino community and the immigrant community for our votes. So shouldn't both parties be held accountable?
Over the course of the last few years we've been trumpeting the strength of the Latino vote. If now is not the time for us to exercise that muscle then when?
The buck is not going to stop with partisan politics. The buck will stop with individual politicians being held accountable and the community voting for and mobilizing votes and campaigns for those who do support immigration reform in fact as well as in word, regardless of party affiliation.
One group of immigration advocates that is ready to take action and demand accountability across both sides of the aisle are the DREAM folks. This group of activists are phenomenal both offline and online. They are both traditional organizers and technologists and social media leaders - oh and did I mention that many of them are undocumented youth? These are youngsters who came to this country because they were brought here by their folks. They did not ask to come here. They were brought by their parents. For many of them this is the only place that they know as home and English is the only language that they know; but our broken system keeps them stuck in limbo, unable to fully contribute their many gifts to our society and stuck in a second class level of existence riddled with unnecessary challenges because of their lack of documentation despite the many gifts that they have to share.
As a daughter of immigrants, a US born citizen New Yorker, I am keeping a keen eye on the prize as it relates to immigration reform and am hopeful that President Obama and other Democrats make good on his promise for immigration reform in 2010 - even though it will be one year later than what the original promise had been. I am also keeping an eye on the Republicans and hopeful that they get that the time is now to step into leadership on this front away from the hatred of the nativists and back into the golden years of Republicanism as exemplified by President Lincoln. And I am keeping candles lit for the DREAM youth. I am praying that they are given the chance to succeed and contribute fully to this country by those in elected office.
Many say that those are sueños de una Mexicana - I say that they are dreams of an Estado Unidense that still dares to dream of integrity and honest leadership that ultimately is not held collectively by one party but rather by individual people who choose a career of public service to represent the U.S. people and the greatness of what we as a nation can be if we bend that arc of the moral universe towards justice.
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice, but here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice...." - Then Senator Barack Obama on 4/4/08 speaking on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Places I've Lived
In the course of my life I've lived in New York, France, Brazil, Ethiopia, Mexico, China, Florida, Arkansas, California, Texas, New Jersey, Maryland and DC. A few weeks ago my fiancé suggested I map the places that I have lived on Google's My Maps. This week I decided to give it a whirl.
View Places I've lived in a larger map
View Places I've lived in a larger map
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