In November 2009 Reyna Dominguez, a Honduran union activist from the closed Jerzees de Honduras Fruit of the Loom factory toured the UK speaking at various events as part of Boycott Fruit of the Loom campaign. The ‘Stitched-up in Honduras’ tour was also joined by Rod and Shaun from United Students against Sweatshops, the pioneering student anti-sweatshop organisation who kicked of the campaign in the US and Canada. This blog is the collective diary of that hectic and tiring tour, enjoy!

21st/22nd November 2009
Shared Planet: Manchester
Matt McMullen, University of Derby

The tour kicked off at Shared Planet 2009 in Manchester with Reyna, Rod and Shaun opening the weekend with a main stage appearance. But this wasn’t any ordinary main stage speech; Reyna had some news to share with the network.

Just before Reyna was due to visit the Fruit of the Loom caved in to global pressure, and agreed to all the campaign’s demands; this was an unprecedented victory for the global justice movement against a huge corporation. They had agreed to recognise the union, making the SITRAJERZEESH union the first recognised union in Honduras and the first time in history that a closed factory has been forced to re-open! This was a wonderful surprise, and so now our speaker tour was not to elicit solidarity, but to celebrate success!

As Reyna shared the news on the opening morning of the conference the lecture theatre erupted with applause and the whooping and banging of over 600 students. There were also quite a few people trying to keep the tears back, and plenty failing; it was a historic victory that will shape the anti-sweatshop movement for years to come, proving that solidarity is a powerful tool and if people come together we can win.

Throughout the weekend Reyna, Rod and Shaun facilitated and took part in various panel debates, workshops and other main stage appearances with another inspiring speech from Rod and Reyna at the end of the conference. But without a moment for the network to catch its breath and as soon as Shared Planet was over the nationwide Stitched-up in Honduras speaker tour had begun.

For more information on the victory check out the New Internationalist.

24th November
Edinburgh
Ruth cape, University of Edinburgh

It felt wonderfully empowering to be sitting in a room packed with
people and planet activists, many of whom devoted hours of the last term
campaigning for the people of the Jerzees de Honduras factory -
personally remembering gathering petitions outside my university library
dressed as a grape – and listening to Reyna speak about the reality of
her and her colleagues lives only a few months previously and how that
has changed for the better. The collective feeling that the seemingly
small actions really do make a real and tangible difference felt like an
invaluable part of the campaign and gives me that refreshed motivation
to keep pushing for justice in so many of the other places in the world
where it is needed.

25th November

Birmingham
Edd Bauer, University of Birmingham

Students are the main reason that the factory has been re-opened”. Having Ms. Martinez come to our student union and say that after hearing about all the abuses she and her community had been put through was very powerful.

26th November
Oxford
Nishma Doshi, Oxford University

I helped to put on the night in Oxford, which was in a Chaplaincy at
Oxford University, so the talk was in a church-like room with a huge
crucifix, which made it very atmospheric. It was incredibly motivational
to hear about the struggles Reyna had been through, but also how our
actions, when we work together, can beat the mightiest giants! The
Chaplain himself came up and supported the idea of Oxford University
affiliating to the Worker Rights Consortium. It’s so exciting to be
gathering so much support for the campaign.

Any people that want to join this campaign at Oxford Uni or Brookes
should contact me on nishma.doshi@peopleandplanet.org I’m a Campaign
Advocate for the Buy Right campaign so I can help you in your campaign too.

27th November
Bristol
Mipsie Marshall, UWE

Reyna, Jim from the support office, and Rod and Shaun from United
Students Against Sweatshops had not turned up by an hour after they were
supposed to. I’d heard two hours before that they were stuck in traffic
their phones were off and the audience was getting restless. My friend
and I had been playing them some songs before the main event. Eventually
the main event was 1 hour and 40 mins late! But they said it was their
favourite tour date because the audience were in such a good mood after
all the music!

The night really blew people away and we all had a really wide ranging
debate and workshop afterwards, which stretched to global politics and
talk of the coup in Honduras. A woman from UNISON trade union was so
impressed by the massive campaign victory and the display of solidarity
that she gave £10 towards the campaign without being asked. It was an
excellent evening. We’ve used it to put life into our Buy Right
campaigning, and have had lots of early victories already at UWE. Get in
touch if you want to know more. rebecca.marshall@peopleandplanet.org

Blog pulled together by Matt McMullen, a campaign advocate for the Buy Right campaign
matt.mcmullen@peopleandplanet.org

Tags: &, Buy right, corperate power, fruit of the loom, Honduras, People, People & Planet, Planet, Rights, Speaker, Tour, United Students Against Sweatshops, USAS, Workers

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