Solidarity Movements

The loose ends have finally been tied up on another workshop (thank goodness. It's all nearly over now and the pub beckons...).
The session on solidarity movements is intended to take a critical look at some of the issues that international solidarity movements have faced over the past three decades. Why do certain solidarity groups take root strongly in certain countries (for instance, why did the East Timor movement gain more foothold in Australia than the UK?). How do solidarity movements cope when the liberation struggles they support become governments, themselves running the security forces and economic policies? How should solidarity movements react when the organisations they support overseas have sexist, homophobic or nationalist views at variance with solidarity values? And in an era whan plane travel is (hopefully) becoming ethically less acceptable and financially more difficult, how will solidarity movements adapt to a potentially less mobile international political population?
The speaker/facilitators will be:
Matt Fawcett, who has spent time in Chiapas with Zapatista solidarity groups and in Guatemala with the human rights observation organisation Peace Brigades International, and;
Sarah Irving, who visited Nicaragua with a Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign work brigade in 1996 and has remained involved with the organisation since, and whose three visits to Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement have led to 7 years of engagement with the region through fair trade and educational travel groups and journalism.