Brazil Strategy Network Forms in 2003
On March 15, 2003 forty academics, social movement activists, trade union leaders, and friends of Brazil met at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. to discuss the 2002 election of the Workers Party candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to the Brazilian presidency. Stan Gacek, Associate Director of the AFL-CIO's International Department and Americas region, and James Green, currently professor of Brazilian history and Director of the Latin American Studies Center at Brown University, jointly organized the one-day strategy meeting. Participants discussed the new political situation in Brazil, how to educate U.S. government officials and the public about the new Workers Party led government, assure accurate reporting on events in Brazil, and avoid U.S. government policies that might undermine the progressive agenda of the new government and Brazil's social movements.
The participants included:
Linda Chavez-Thompson
Executive Vice-President of the AFL-CIORalph Della Cava
Senior Research Associate at Columbia University and a Brazilian HistorianBarbara Weinstein
Professor of Brazilian History at the University of MarylandEugênio Conolly Peixoto
Secretary of Agrarian Reform under the Lula administrationStephen Schwartzman
Director of the International Program of the Environment Defense FundDawn Plummer
Friends of the MSTMyriam Marques
Brazil's Workers PartyCliff Welch
Professor of Brazilian History, Grand Valley State University
At this meeting, the participants resolved to form the Brazil Strategy Network. Participants also decided to invite both Stan Gacek and James Green to coordinate the newtwork's meetings and activities. Cliff Welch volunteered to set up the BSN list-serve.
National Meetings
Since its founding, the Brazil Strategy Network has organized a number of follow up meetings. On September 20, 2003 participants met in New York City at the Riverside Church. This meeting featured the ample participation of Brazilian immigrant leaders and representatives from over a dozen NGOs working in Brazil. At the meeting, participants resolved to support and sponsor Nourish the New Brazil, a project coordinated by Eric Leenson to support the Lula government's Fome Zero program.
On October 31, 2003 a west coast meeting of the BSN was held at the Center for Latin American Studies, University of California at Berkeley. This meeting featured presentations by Marcos Arruda, an economist from Política Alternativa do Cono Sul in Rio de Janeiro, and Maria Helena Moreira Alves, a political scientist and the International Coordinator for Viva Rio (http://www.vivario.org.br/ ) .
In November, 2004 the BSN held its third national meeting in New York. The meeting was hosted by Eryck Duran and the Brazilian Rainbow Group. Participants at his meeting discussed efforts to organize a national coordinating body for the Brazilian immigrant community among other issues of concern. At this meeting, a formal leadership structure was approved and composed. Stan Gacek and James Green were appointed as Co-Chairs of the BSN Coordinating Committee, and Mark Langevin was appointed as National Organizer. In addition, a BSN Coordinating Committee was appointed and included: Eryck Duran, Myriam Marques, Fred Morris, Eric Leenson, Lidia Santos, Cliff Welch and Wendy Wolford. The BSN Coordinating Committee approved the launching of a website and the legal formation of the BSN as a non-profit, educational association.
The last BSN national meeting was held in November of 2005 in New York, and featured a presentation by Sergio Haddad, co-founder and Vice-President for International Relations for the Brazilian Association of Non-governmental Organizations (ABONG). Also, participants discussed the BSN's coordination of Minister Luiz Dulci's trip to the U.S., Minister Fernando Furlan's trip to California, and BSN's role in the Brazilian Leadership Conference held in October, 2005 in Boston, MA. Jeff Vogt, now of the AFL-CIO, and Juan Reardon, National Coordinator for the Friends of the MST, were added to the BSN Coordinating Committee. Lastly, it was approved that the BSN would compose a National Advisory Committee to strengthen the network and expand its activities in the coming years.
Organizational Structure
The Brazil Strategy Network is an official project of Social and Environmental Entreprenuers (S.E.E. website: http://www.saveourplanet.org) for the purposes of maintaining a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-deductible status. The BSN functions as a social network, bringing individuals and organizations together for the purposes of supporting progressive social movements and policy reforms in Brazil, and developing cooperative links between the peoples of Brazil and the United States. The BSN is led by its National Coordinating Committee and is co-chaired by Stan Gacek and Jim Green. Mark Langevin is the National Organizer and is reponsible for the operations of the network. Currently, efforts are underway to compose a National Advisory Committee.