Ann Frisch to speak on Guatemala

Ann Frisch will be speaking on Wednesday November 14 about her experiences as peace keeper in Guatemala. She will be speaking at noon at the monthly meeting of the League of Women Voters (China King Restaurant on Koeller Road Oshkosh at noon) and the Feast and Fellowship meeting of the Unitarian Fellowship (2600 E. Philip Lane, Appleton – Calumet and 441 across from Family Video 6 p.m.).

Ann Frisch was a peace keeper for Nonviolent Peaceforce in Guatemala from April through June of this year. With three other team members, she provided protective accompaniment for La Unidád de Protección de Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos, the Unit of Protection for Human Rights Workers. This group of Guatemalans has braved break-ins to their office and death threats to interview witnesses and victims of human rights violations and to try to get the Guatemalan government to prosecute the violators. The idea behind the protective accompaniment is that would-be assassins are less likely to attack human rights workers if the eyes and conscience of the world are shining a light on them.

The idea for an unarmed nonpartisan peace keeping force first originated with Mahatma Gandhi. If nonviolence works within countries, why not between countries? Nonviolent Peaceforce's aim is to replace the armed peace keeping forces of the world with unarmed protective accompaniment. The NP website is at http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/

Ann will speak about her experiences in Guatemala and the philosophy behind the peace keeping efforts. Her Guatemala blog is at http://www.annfrisch.blogspot.com/