The Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE) is a plural network of civil society organisations, with a presence in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, which promotes social mobilisation and political advocacy to defend the human right to a transformative, public, secular and free education for all, throughout life and as a responsibility of the State.
An education that responds to the dimensions of availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability, that recognises diversities, promotes citizenship and the realisation of human rights, as well as overcoming all forms of discrimination.
In order to fulfil its mission and carry out its political agenda, CLADE uses the following strategies: advocacy in public policies; social mobilisation; political and legal enforceability; inter-institutional articulation with regional and international actors and national forums; knowledge production and research; and internal and external communication actions.
Four years after the last face-to-face assembly, CLADE will once again bring together its entire network at the XII Regional Assembly, which will be held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, from 7 to 12 November 2022 and will be hosted by the Dakar Forum. In preparation for the assembly in person, a series of virtual assembly meetings will begin this week to map out strategic horizons, to strengthen our network, to strengthen and create new forms of collective action.
In its communiqué, CLADE points out that, in recent years, we have lived through a period of intense change in our region. The pandemic and the sharpening of conservative political trends in Latin America and the Caribbean have led to an increase in multiple forms of inequalities, restrictions to civil society participation and have brought new challenges, such as the impact of digitalisation in education, the increased presence of corporations in education and in decision-making spaces on educational policies.
This 12th Regional Assembly of CLADE seeks to reflect on these challenges, but especially to let the political, artistic, intellectual and sensorial imagination flow collectively in order to effectively be able to propose new looks for education and build possible alternative paths.
CLADE calls for care, transformation and social justice. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare”, said writer, activist and radical feminist Audre Lorde, reminding us that self-care and collective care during political advocacy is an act of rebellion against the capitalist and neoliberal system, which puts our productivity above our wellbeing.
We need to take care of ourselves, to reflect on how we put our bodies and spaces in this relentless struggle for the right to education. Radical self-care is a political act that bell hooks and Gloria Anzuldúa recommend for historically marginalised and marginalised people, particularly during human rights struggles, and for it to make a stand against the daily attacks of racism, sexism, lesbo/homophobia and class oppression.
With radical self-care we advance the struggle for the human right to education. A struggle that is also for social, environmental, fiscal justice. For the realisation of all human rights, good living and human dignity. For a radical transformation of collective life, the overcoming of colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy.
The global trends of this unjust and inequitable system challenge us to critically enrich the analysis, reflections and actions around the Human Right to Education in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Undoubtedly, the coming weeks will be hopeful for those of us who defend the human right to a transformative, public, secular and free education for all, throughout life and as a responsibility of the State.
Vice-coordinator of CLADEM in Mexico,
Research Professor at UdeG, medium.com/dra-lupitaramos,
@dralupitaramosp lupitaramosponce@gmail.com
Youtube Channel Dr. Lupita Ramos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ_bKrt9f4rkb7VST7-sYrg
www.cladem.org – clademjalsc@gmail.com
