Give Us Names works to resist displacement
We believe that justice is a basic human right. No one should live in fear of being forced to leave behind their homes, lands, neighbors, and community. We not only work to restore home to those who have lost it, we seek to confront the systems and structures that continue to displace.
Currently, Give Us Names is seeking to correct U.S. drug policy that has proven to be expensive, inefficient, and extremely harmful to the people and environment of Colombia. In 2000, under the provisions of a policy known as Plan Colombia, the United States started using aerial fumigations as a method of drug eradication. This procedure consists of spray planes that fly over areas of suspected coca growth to release a strong herbicide. Many times, these chemicals drift over legitimate farms, human settlements, water sources, livestock, and rain forests.
This policy has cost the U.S. taxpayers over $8 billion over the past decade, hasn’t impacted the supply of cocaine to the United States, and has forced many Colombians to flee their lands. We are calling on our government to halt this program and to seek more efficient, cost-effective, and humane ways to address the problem of drug consumption.
