Projet accompagnement solidarité Colombie (PASC) is a collective based in so-called Quebec* whose mission is to build direct solidarity between resistance movements in the South and the North on an internationalist, anti-colonial and feminist basis. Since 2003, PASC has been accompanying Colombian communities and organizations in their struggle against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, disseminating information about Colombian social movements and condemning Canadian interests involved in the social and armed conflict in Colombia. For PASC, international accompaniment represents a means of transferring Canadian privileges to movements and communities in resistance. In so-called Quebec, the collective engages in popular education to build bridges between struggles in this territory and in Colombia in opposition to the imposed mega-projects of resource extraction.
PASC is a member of GRIP-UQAM (Groupe de Recherche d’Intérêt Public du Québec at Université du Québec à Montréal).
* The expression "so-called Quebec" refers to the fact that the area in which the Quebec state is located was colonized and that the indigenous peoples have never ceded their territories.
Our Strategies
Accompaniment for communities and organizations at risk
International accompaniment is one of our most important activities. Accompaniment consists of establishing an on the ground presence alongside social activists and communities at risk. Coupled with coordinated political pressure, the presence of foreign observers in Colombia can be a strong deterrent for perpetrators of political violence. In this way, accompaniment helps create space for social activists to carry out their work, while increasing their legitimacy in the eyes of local authorities. Accompaniment also facilitates dialogue between social movements in the North and South, building solidarity between the two.
To learn more, please visit the page International Accompaniment.
Information-sharing and raising awareness
Through its website, social networks, "La Piedra" newsletter, email list, publications and public events, PASC disseminates alternative information about the social and armed conflict in Colombia, the processes of resistance taking place there, and the economic interests behind the attacks on communities and social organizations. Furthermore, on their return from Colombia, the accompaniers provide testimonies to the media and/or share their knowledge in communities, unions, universities and other circles.
Popular education and links with struggles in so-called Quebec
PASC develops and participates in popular education projects in so-called Quebec to confront capitalism and its destructive relations with the territories. We support and take part in a number of social struggles in our home territory, from a decolonial, feminist and internationalist perspective. In recent years, we've organized a wide range of activities: forum theater, group games, reflective workshops, photographic exhibitions, video screenings and so on. We share our analyses of issues that affect our mission: privilege, the gendered impacts of extractivism, North-South relations, environmental racism, etc.
For more information, visit the Projects section.
Public pressure and denunciations
Urgent actions report on critical situations shared by partner organizations where human rights threats or violations are occurring or are likely to occur. When PASC disseminates these actions for wider endorsement, they may be accompanied by model letters addressed to the authorities concerned in order to exert political pressure on them. PASC also denounces situations of injustice in so-called Canada concerning various issues (extractivism, solidarity with non-status people, anti-detention campaigns, etc.). PASC works to unmask Canadian interests (political and economic) that profit from and fuel the conflict in Colombia, which is largely influenced by imperialist dynamics promoted by Canada and the United States. For more information, see our campaign Canadian War Profiteers!