[Marxism] Support The Democracy Center

[Dbachmozart@xxxxxxx]

Dear  Readers and Friends:
 
I am  writing to ask for your support.  For fifteen years and on five 
continents  we have been working to build real democracy by reporting on issues 
that 
would  otherwise be ignored, by training citizens in the art of advocacy, and 
by  leading global campaigns for social justice. 
All of  this we do on an annual budget less than the cost of one top salary 
at a  nonprofit in San Francisco, Washington, or New York.  And while we are 
able to get foundation  support for some of our efforts, donations from the 
people that support us are  essential for us to carry our work forward.  I am 
asking you to help us continue  our work by making a year-end financial 
contribution to The Democracy  Center. 
Thanks  to technology, you can make a donation by credit card via our fiscal 
sponsors,  The San Francisco Foundation Community Initiative Funds, at this  
link: 
_http://www.cifunds.org/store/democracyctr.shtml_ 
(http://www.cifunds.org/store/democracyctr.shtml)  
What We  Have Accomplished so Far 
Some of  you know us from our work here in Bolivia.  Our reporting and 
investigation helped  make the Cochabamba Water Revolt a global story and later 
we 
helped lead  the global campaign to block the Bechtel Corporation's $50 million 
World Bank  legal case against the Bolivian people.  Through our articles, 
our widely read Blog, and close work with foreign  journalists, we have helped 
define the world's understanding of this nation's  historic struggle to chart 
its own course.    
Where  We're Going in 2008 
Raising  'Latin American Voices' in the U.S. Elections: The War  in Iraq has 
reminded Americans how important it is that we pay attention to the  impact of 
U.S. policy abroad.  This  is particularly true in Latin America, where U.S. 
policy has been at the root of  dictatorships, drug wars, and conservative 
economic policy imposed from the  North.  In 2008, The Democracy  Center is 
launching a project from Latin America to bring Latin American voices  into the 
2008 U.S. elections, working  with social justice groups on both sides of the 
border.  We're also building a Spanish website  dedicated to helping Latin 
Americans understand and influence the 2008  debate. 
Have a  look at our launch of that project â a video question from Bolivia, 
about the  U.S. War on Coca, submitted to this week's YouTube Republican 
Presidential  Debate!   
_http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2007/11/bringing-coca-to-youtube-republican.html_
 
(http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2007/11/bringing-coca-to-youtube-republican.html)
  
Launching  our New Book on Bolivia and Globalization: Also in  2008, The 
Democracy Center will be releasing our new book: Dignity and  Defiance: Stories 
from Bolivia's Challenge to Globalization (University of  California Press).  
In 
a debate too  often wrapped-up in theory, Dignity and Defiance offers up 
eight  powerfully-written stories about what economic globalization actually 
means 
in  people's lives â from the Water Revolt and its aftermath to the tale of a 
 massive Enron-Shell oil spill that decimated a million acres of indigenous  
farmland.  We need your help to  support our efforts to bring these important 
stories to readers across the U.S.  and elsewhere.  
Writing  and Activism from Bolivia: Perhaps  most important of all, we need 
your financial support to continue our  investigation and activism from Bolivia 
and Latin America.  We will continue to publish our popular  Blog (now read 
by 2,500 people daily) and special reports.  We'll keep working with foreign  
journalists and investigators to help deepen their work understanding.  We'll 
also be adding our experience and  effort to global organizing campaigns, 
bringing, as we have before, an urgent  citizen counterweight to the power of 
multinational corporations like Bechtel  and global institutions such as the 
International Monetary Fund. 
Please  Help 
With a  talented and committed staff of five (a mix of U.S. and Bolivian) and 
volunteer  help of all kinds, The Democracy Center accomplishes a great deal 
and makes  every donation we receive go very far.  We need your help to keep 
this work going. 
Thank  you for making your tax-deductible contribution today, in one of two  
ways: 
1. By  credit card, at this link: 
<http://www.cifunds.org/store/democracyctr.shtml> 
2. By  check, sent to this address: 
The  Democracy Center 
P.O. Box  22157 
San  Francisco, CA 94122 
Thank  you all for your support of our work. 
Jim  Shultz 
Executive  Director 
The  Democracy Center




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