CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAM ACTION AT CHICAGO BODY SHOP

Chicago – Monday 19 July 2010. I was part of a group of people participating in the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) Chicago training from July 12 to August 12, 2010. We picketed, handed out leaflets, and sang outside of the Body Shop on State Street (at Madison), Chicago to raise concerns about 123 families forcibly displaced from their land in Las Pavas, Columbia. CPT called on the Body Shop, headquartered in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England, to discontinue the purchase of palm oil from the Daabon Organic Cooporation, headquartered in Santa Marta, Colombia. The Body Shop obtains 90% of its palm oil from Daabon Organics, a company involved in the forced eviction of Las Pavas families. Christian Peacemaker Teams delivered a letter to the Body Shop that called attention to the fact that Daabon sought a court order to have the farmers evicted and riot police carried out that order July 14, 2009. The CPT letter indicated that Daabon has also cut down a communal forest and is drying up wetlands in order to plant palm.

CPT asked the Body Shop to live up to their expressed values, found on their Website, of community trade, Human Rights, and Protection for the planet by publicly announcing to Daabon that they must give the land back to the Las Pavas families and pay compensation for the damages they suffered because of the forced displacement. The Body Shop and Daabon both claim to maintain high standards for human rights and environmental protection, and they receive a premium price for their products as a result of their public image. Daabon is also a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and has committed to upholding the principles of that association. Daabon's acquisition of Las Pavas, the eviction of the families from the land, and the destruction of trees and the alteration of waterways on that land, violate the stated values of the Body Shop and Daabon.

Four CPT members were arrested in the action and charged with criminal trespass. JoAnn Fricke of Chicago, Marcus Armstrong of the United Kingdom, The Rev Lor Breyley an ELCA pastor from Berkley Michigan , and Carol Rose (CPT Director)of Chicago, were handcuffed and taken to jail when they sat down on the floor of the Body Shop to share bread and show their solidarity with Las Pavas farmers. The four have court appearances on August 31, 2010.

CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAM TRAINING

I participated in Christian Peacemaker Team training from July 12 to August 12, 2010 in Chicago. Christian Peacemaker Teams arose from a call in 1984 for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to non-violent peace making that armies devote to war. Christ Peacemaker Teams (CPT) embraces a vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peace makers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power of God's truth.

Initially sponsored by the two largest North American Mennonite denominations and the Church of the Brethren, CPT has the additional sponsorship of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilians), Every Church a Peace Church, Friends United Meeting, On Earth Peace, and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Most of CPT’s support comes from church members, congregations, and Friends meetings. (For more information: www.cpt.org)