Elise Roberts: Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective

Traveling to sixty countries in ten years? Working for the United Nations? Elise Roberts has done it all.
Roberts is a Macalester graduate who is currently a core member of the Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective, a workers collective continuing the work of an organization called Witness for Peace. The Solidarity Collective works towards supporting peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas. They do so by conducting educational delegations in Latin America and by influencing policy change in the United States. With popular education programming at the core of their work, the Solidarity Collective aims to influence policy change in the United States’ systems that often tend to have an impact on governments across the world.

I got the opportunity to interview Roberts for an assignment that was part of my Environmental Justice class at Macalester. The interview was conducted on the 17th of April, at the Dunn Bros on Grand in order to learn about her involvement in Environmental Justice work. Roberts explained how a large part of the work she does involves supporting Environmental Justice movements in Latin America. Further, she spoke about the interdependent nature of human rights and environmental justice and how both are equally crucial to the establishment of sustainable governments and economies. This report covers my interview with Elise Roberts, on her journey to Witness for Peace and her work within the organization.

Her Journey

Roberts graduated from Macalester in 2003 with a double major in Sociology and Literature. Post graduation, she took a gap year and backpacked over Latin America by beginning her trip to Mexico. She then went on to conduct programs for gap year students that mainly focused on analyzing power and privilege in society. Following this, she worked for several international justice organizations including the United Nations. Through this journey, she began to realize how the broader power structure in place still continued to privilege certain systems, mainly systems in the US. She called this a “giant mis-serving charity model” that actually did not achieve any justice. Reflecting on her position in these various systems, she began looking for ways in which she could influence change in the US. Roberts explained how a part of this process was recognizing how she as a white woman from Minnesota needed to be cognizant of the space she took up while trying to create this positive change.

She began seeking work that would allow her to make a change in US systems connected to broader systems all over the world. She got her masters in international justice and non-profit management at Columbia University after which she began working for Witness for Peace. Witness for Peace was founded in Nicaragua during the Contra War. And ever since, the organization has established themselves in countries where they see the most drastic impact of US intervention. Roberts, who worked as the national coordinator and was a founder of the Solidarity Collective, described that Witness for Peace was different from most international justice organizations that work around building institutions in different countries to create change. The Witness for Peace organizations, on the other hand, works more on self-reflection on the broader systems the US supports and further works toward understanding the responsibility that they have related to that support.

Witness for Peace achieves this in three ways: conducting education programs, influencing policy change and building transnational solidarity. The education programs take delegations to countries in Latin America to participate in an immersive learning experience connected to grassroots social movements. The most recent delegations have travelled to Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico and Honduras. When these delegations return to the US, they are encouraged to use their experience to create policy change. This could be through a presentation to a local congressperson or even a media story by American journalists who continues the movement of their counterparts in Latin America.
At their core, Witness for Peace is a popular education organization that focuses on making connections to support people’s advocacy. Roberts herself has conducted several of these educational trips. She spoke of one in particular that she deemed very successful, where she took Ilhan Omar on a delegation to Honduras. On returning from the trip, Omar introduced a resolution in the state legislature to support the Berta Cáceres Act. Hence, through Witness for Peace, Elise ensures that the delegations from these trips create ripples of change in US policy which is connected to larger systems across the world.

Through the work she has accomplished as well as her goals for the future, it is evident that Roberts is a woman who has a passion for social change. It is noticeable that while carrying out this work, she is aware of the place she occupies and the privilege she carries. Roberts mentioned multiple times during the course of our meeting that there is a need to undo certain colonial structures that work in and around our lives. She then pointed out how this is related to “how we are distributing wealth, access to media and access to the opportunity to travel internationally.”

Environmental Justice Work

Elise Robert’s work as mentioned above largely focuses on maintaining human rights, nonviolence, social and economic justice, and sustainable development in countries in Latin America. A huge part of this work is supporting closely related environmental justice movements and activities. Environmental justice is integral to the preservation of peace and justice in these communities. Environmental justice is integral to the preservation of peace and justice in these communities. The environmental injustices faced by the communities stems from US government and/or US business interest for a hydroelectric dam, solar panels, mines or free trade zones etc. In uncovering and resisting these injustices, Roberts places a large focus on supporting the local indigenous and religious leaders and their movements.
One particular activist that Roberts was especially passionate about supporting was Berta Cáceres, a Honduran environmental activist. Witness for Peace is largely located in countries in Latin America as this is where they see the most drastic impact of US intervention. Honduras saw a rise in the number of mining projects in the past thirty years, which resulted in an increase in the demand for energy. For this reason, the government sanctioned off large areas of land and rivers to private companies for dam projects. Several of these private companies were US-based and were hence backed by US taxpayer money. This large-scale privatization resulted in the uprooting of indigenous communities.

One such community was the Lenca people who had to face the consequences of the Agua Zarca Dam. The construction of this dam would occur on the Gualcarque River which would cut off their access to water, food and medicine. This violated international treaties governing indigenous peoples’ rights, and additionally also violated the right of the Lenca to sustainably manage and live off of their land. Berta Cáceres, a Lenca woman, was at the forefront of the resistance against the construction of the dam on the river which was of spiritual importance to the Lenca people.

One of Witness for Peace’s largest campaigns had been on their interaction with Berta Cáceres and the construction. They had worked with Cáceres and her family for several years and had provided human rights accompaniers for them up until her death. Ultimately, the people who carried out her assassination were not only connected to the corporation that has ties to the United States but also the military which is trained and funded by the US. Hence, Witness for Peace took up the responsibility to influence the way US taxpayer money was being used by US businesses and the military. Within three and a half months of Cáceres’ death, Elise became the organizing coordinator of legislation into the Congress to cut funding to military aid. This is one of the ways that Roberts, as the national coordinator, guides Witness for Peace to identify links between US policy and injustices across to world and then induce change through those links.

On speaking about her involvement with Witness for Peace, Roberts explained how she is largely working for what is essentially a policy organization. “How do we undo existing colonial structures as they do their work – ie. how are we distributing wealth, access to media, access to the opportunity to travel internationally?” She said, “we believe that we need to change policy to change the world; but we don’t think the representatives are going to be the ones doing it.” So some the overarching questions that guide their work are: “How do we undo existing colonial structures as they do their work – ie. how are we distributing wealth, access to media, access to the opportunity to travel internationally?”
Additionally, Roberts is cognizant of the space taken up within the organization as well. Initially, most of the delegations comprised of older, white men. But over time Witness for Peace has increasingly worked towards creating delegations that have young, queer, people of color. Currently seven of the delegations are all people of color, and one is an all black women delegation. Roberts says that this change within the organization has allowed to place those at the heart of building intersectional movements at the forefront of the work done at Witness for Peace.

Roberts also made sure to clarify that the educational trips by the delegations were serious work. They aren’t only educational, in the sense that the individuals who return from the trip have a weighty responsibility of using their experiences to create impactful change while continuing to support the grassroots movements. In supporting these movements, Roberts clarified how important it was to understand that the activists in these countries are the bosses, and that their agendas were amplified by Witness for Peace and its delegations. This reflective of Roberts’ efforts to support local movements in a way that is not intrusive and overbearing.

In conclusion, Roberts spoke about what success means to her. Owing to the arduous nature of her work, she mentioned how it’s often difficult to remain optimistic when death threats and the murder of close colleagues are rampant. However, amidst the often harrowing work, Roberts looks for small successes. She believes that any impact, regardless of the size, has the ability to create meaningful change. And therefore, by reflecting on her personal experiences, Roberts advised that appreciating all the small successes helps power through larger failures.

References

Berta Cáceres. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/berta-caceres

Who We Are. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.solidaritycollective.org