Glossary of Terms
Glossary of Terms
Scroll down for definitions of useful vocabulary, organizations, and movements related to the exhibit.
Scroll down for definitions of useful vocabulary, organizations, and movements related to the exhibit.
CASA: The Central America Solidarity Association is a nationwide organization with local chapters, one of which is at UMass. Building on its decades of history, CASA is a multifaceted organization, with initiatives for popular education, policy, immigration reform, and many forms of justice. Check them out: https://wearecasa.org/
CISPES: A self-defined leftist group, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador provided a necessary link between armed revolutionaries, US solidarity groups, and the broader US public. CISPES organized armed revolutionary speaking tours in the US, connected the FMLN with US journalists, and even published its own monthly journal, The Alert! The journal disseminated information the US government and press aimed to keep quiet - for example, the El Mozote massacre.
Death Squads: These groups have ties to the state and use a range of tactics, from intimidation to murder, to terrorize their opponents. Death squads are also called paramilitaries, due to their military function on behalf of the state. In Latin America, these groups have historically had fascist politics and defended the interests of landowners, capitalists, and corporations.
Disappeared: A person who is kidnapped, tortured and likely murdered by the state clandestinely. Forced disappearance is an act of state terrorism; it brings fear and mental anguish to communities who never learn the fate of their loved ones.
Mass Organization: Mass organizations invite large masses of working-class people to discuss and organize around a common need in the hope to deepen participants' political consciousness and pressure the ruling class. Mass organizations' memberships were centralized around a common identity, as can be seen in the names of some of the largest mass organizations in Central America during the 1970s and 80s: Luisa Amanda Espinoza Association of Nicaraguan Women (AMNLAE), Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC) in Guatemala, National Association of Salvadoran Educators (ANDES).
Peacemakers: Originally the Students Against Militarism, this pacifist group opposed militarism on campus and throughout the United States, including the expansion of nuclear arms.
Pledge of Resistance: Engineered by religious leaders in 1984, the Pledge of Resistance called US citizens across the country to commit civil disobedience if the US military invaded Nicaragua. Throughout the 1980s, many of the 80,000 signatories protested and were arrested, including UMass students.
PSRU: The People for a Socially Responsible University was formed after the anti-CIA protests. This organization of community members and students from UMass and Hampshire College staged multiple protests and sit-ins from 1988 to 1992 targeting the University’s military ties. The UMass Administration never officially acknowledged PSRU.
Repopulation Movement: The repopulation movement sought the return of displaced Salvadorans to their villages, many of which were still in war-zones. Salvadoran refugees, interfaith organizations such as Salvadoran Humanitarian Aid, Research and Education Foundation (SHARE), Christian Committee For the Displaced People of El Salvador (CRIPDES), the US-El Salvador Sister Cities Project, and human rights workers often collaborated with great success.
Sanctuary Movement: Churches disobeyed immigration law by providing ‘sanctuary,’ along with legal and humanitarian aid, to Central American refugees who would otherwise have been deported. Sanctuary churches worked in secret until 1982. By the end of the 1980s, the Sanctuary Movement operated nation-wide and played a prominent role in US solidarity.
Stop CIA Recruitment Organizing Committee: Founded by four members of the Radical Student Union on October 4, 1986, this group aimed to prevent CIA recruitment of UMass students. The protests this group organized and the ensuing arrests led to the widely-publicized CIA on Trial in Northampton in 1987.
United Fruit Company: The United Fruit Company was a gay theater group in Boston that used its platform to oppose U.S. foreign policy in Nicaragua. The group took its name from a US-owned banana company that exploited Central American workers and land. Gay and lesbian solidarity groups, which emphasized the links between anti-imperialism, anti-militarism, and queer liberation, played a crucial role in organizing for a liberated Central America.
US-El Salvador Sister Cities Project: In the 1980s, Salvadoran migrants created 53 sister city relationships between villages in El Salvador and US cities. Sister Cities participated in other established projects, including the Sanctuary and Repopulation Movements, and provided a necessary link between US solidarity activists and revolutionaries on-the-ground.
Western Massachusetts Latin American Solidarity Committee: One of many regional solidarity groups across the U.S., WMLASC collaborated with student groups and nationwide organizations to bring speakers to campus and plan demonstrations aimed at raising awareness of U.S. violence in Central America.
Witness for Peace: Established in 1983, Witness for Peace sent US citizens to Nicaragua to literally stand in solidarity with Nicaraguans and ‘witness’ Contra violence firsthand. By 1990, thousands had traveled to Central America and returned home to report on what they saw.